system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why is mordern sci-fi so predominantly dystopian?
gpt
Back in the golden age of science fiction you could captivate readers with imaginings about future technology and wonders.  Just "going to an alien planet and seeing strange stuff" was already enough of a mental thrill to make your audience fall in love.  This was, to me, one of the things that really defined science fiction as its own genre.  It didn't need your typical dramatic story elements or plots because it could simply rely on the pleasure of imagining ideas playing out.  

Like in every other art for however, the audience can only take so much of one thing.  We are imagined out.  

Now the audience wants the more familiar fiction story elements but with a science fiction wrapper (setting, idea, etc.).

And that means conflict.  That means at the start of the story something is terribly wrong that needs to be set right by the end of the story. In science fiction the most obvious candidate for what is wrong is the technology, the science aspect.

If you have some time, watch the first episode of Star Trek TNG and then the first episode of DS9.  TNG starts with this wide eyed wonder and sense of exploration and moral uprightness.  We are going to go out there and do great things because we are great people!

Star Trek DS9 starts on a MUCH darker note.  Internal rivaly, disgust...  Imagine the balls it took the writers to have the new main character DESPISE the single most well liked character in Star Trek lore (Picard).  Picard invites Sisko to have tea and sisko basically tells him to pour it up his butt.  Amazing stuff and it goes directly to the evolution of science fiction.