>Sci-Fi has largely escaped this trap. Why, I don’t entirely know. Probably because there’s still a sensed future realism (like, “we could be heading towards a Bladerunner reality”). Fantasy is fantasy.

Science fiction has often been an exercise in imagining the future to comment on the present (or on the general human condition). It is therefore more likely to connect with the average person, as an interesting thought exercise.

Fantasy has a lot less of that. It tends to be more worldbuilding for its own sake.