Long answer: When people write Sci-fi they tend to write about what ifs, often reflecting hopes or more commonly fears in their current society. Would you have 1985 without the fear of communism, the I robot series with out fear of automation removing jobs. The genre has now become more popular so it is more difficult to pick up on generalisations, and people are worried about more things, but some suggestions are David Brin - exploring where genetics could go, with a twist of environmentalism, I've just read Julian May's Rampant worlds - fear of capitalism without any control. I've read a lot of books that have a small band of people going off and settling a new colony Mayflower style with it's own particular quirk of religion/sociology/ideaology and then how that society copes/conflicts with a central authority when it is later integrated, surely based on changes due to increased migration or maybe just the fear of the unknown.

Short answer: people don't write about what works well now as it'd be boring