It also seems the space thing took a decline when we actually went into space--and discovered our limitations. Sixty years ago a lot of people dreamed we'd be flying to Venus soon. Just like cyberpunk was at its hottest at the sunrise of the IT era when people have already tasted what computers could do but haven't yet realized just how much they couldn't. But... futuristic? Genetics-related? Biotechnology? Moving from dystopia (by the way, wasn't it once a subgenre of social SF?) to other visions.
Well, the only problem is engine technology, chemical rockets are expensive, we need a really good ion drive or a fusion rocket for space travel proper...remember, when you are in orbit, you are halfway to anywhere. (The hard part is getting into orbit, see, cause the Earth's gravitational pull is a real bastard).
Previously, someone mentioned "Transhumanism shown as a not a bad thing", and I'm writing a few books like that.
But some people here might not know what transhumans are!
Basically, transhumanism is a philosophical movement that believes in using every form of technology possible to augment and improve the human condition. Using cybernetic limbs to make us stronger, genetic tweaks to remove flaws like aging, cancer, or diabetes, and nanotechnology to create material plenty unlike anything we've ever seen.
My novel that I'm working on - Walkabout - takes place an undetermined number of years after The Weaponless War, a "conflict" with mega-corporations and governments on one side...everyone else on the other. Basically, the mega-corps wanted to keep "Fabbers" out of the people's hands, as a fabber (a box stuffed full of nanobots that create objects from the molecular level) removed scarcity that makes market based capitalism WORK.
So the people left the cities, left the factories, and the world collapsed...and it's never been better.
The MC - a teenager growing up in an anarchist community - is going on walkabout...a global journy wherein he will walk from community to community, to see all the different ways that people live. Hive minds, nano-socalists, recreators, and other stranger types of humanity.
And all he has is his wits...and his handheld fabricator.
And a spunky love interest named Tara-22, whose a member of a hive mind named Tara-Prime, who is curious about the world outside of their walls.
I should finish that...