Comment by benlivengood

There isn't much realistic hard science fiction beyond the vague boundary of the singularity and there aren't many far-future hard sci-fi premises that don't include something like a singularity.

Most near-term positive hard science fiction will therefore have to be about achieving a positive singularity which basically involves threading the needle of AI alignment and safety with the thick rope of modern nationalism and corporate capitalism.

I'd say the most positive hard science fiction I can imagine would be a story of how the first superhuman AI is somehow freed from corporate control, aligns with its liberators, and manages to implement a peaceful humanist revolution that stands a solid chance of persisting indefinitely.