A fictional setting for a novel doesn’t have to seem magical or wondrous, in my opinion, it needs to be hopeful, and frankly when it comes to future worlds we’re not allowed to be hopeful.
We’re not allowed to even want to go into space without a good deal of mandatory guilt. Consider that a certain percentage of people get all ideologically upset about the idea of asteroid mining here in our own solar system or of humans going to Mars and giving it human cooties.
I don’t think we’re tired of the future at all. I think that what’s the point of imagining something that you’re supposed to feel shame about? Who would enjoy that?
Sometimes the negativity is subtle. My take on a popular science fiction website is “We come from the future – and the lights are out.”
It’s not often obvious things. It took me YEARS to even recognize the undercurrent of negativity in what purported to be a pro-science fiction space. Not negativity toward space or future worlds, but negativity toward humanity. Fault finding and critical spirits.
Which is where some people decide that we shouldn’t even really be planning to mine asteroids because somehow humans are involved and it creates immorality.
We need to start talking about the grand necessity of human diaspora. Life itself demands to expand into the universe and the task of humans, with our minds that can conceive the tools and habitats necessary for space travel, is to carry that life outward to the stars.