What’s the purpose of scifi?

I expect a range of answers for this, but what do you think is the purpose of science fiction?

Asked in a few other ways, What is the goal in writing scifi? What value does scifi provide? What is the essence of scifi? What is the advantage of making your story a scifi story, rather than a regular story?

In theory, I feel scifi allows us to frame moral dilemmas in a new light and often anticipates future technology and trends in society and therefore predicts future moral dilemmas and helps us navigate such dilemmas.

In practice, none of my stories focus on those kinds of dilemmas and instead, ask questions that are more fundamental to human nature. The scifi aspects are for entertainment purposes and occasionally used as tools to exaggerate symbolism surrounding moral dilemmas and other story elements. But sometimes I feel my stories could be simplified and the aim of my writing doesn’t necessarily demand scifi elements.

What do you think?