<rant>People like to tell me that the purpose of science fiction isn't to prognosticate. I always find this a bit strange.

Once someone has published some science fiction you're free to do whatever you like with it (modulo whatever copyright laws you respect). Regardless of whether an author says they were prognosticating you're free to look at how good they were at prognosticating.

Why would you do this?

1. It's fun
2. It's a great seed for conversation about an author
3. Sometimes authors are modest and say they weren't prognosticating when actually they were and they were really good at it
4. When thinking about the state of the world it's good to compare with ways the world could have been. That's a common way for humans to reason. Authorial intent is irrelevant here. Scavenge whatever tools for thought you can from wherever.
</rant>