I, too, think space is exciting, and I've read 1% of the science fiction you have. Saw a tweet the other day; what do you think?
I've given this some thought. My answer is mean. I've taken my family camping twice in the past couple of months. Nothing special - you can rent yurts up on the water for not a lot and bloody hell they have futons and electric light. When you've got a six-year-old, though, and a practice where you might get called away at any minute (despite having a whole 'nuther midwife handling first call - we had three births in 36 hours), cooking over a Coleman and roasting marshmallows over bracken is "camping." What I've noticed is that the minute I say "yurt" everyone I'm talking to - no matter what - says "oh you mean 'glamping.'" They're quick to denigrate the fact that we aren't hiking in on moccasins to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. One of them did this in the same conversation she mentioned the 35' fifth wheeler she just bought. Another one, the last time he went camping was with me - in 1992. A third one I asked "when was the last time you stuck your toe in a sleeping bag?" The answer was "I went to a boy scout camp once when I was eleven. It was so comfy!" Can I characterize sci fi fans? I think I can. I wrote a novel, I was a member of LASFS, I helped organize a 'con. I think I can say that they are not adventurers. I think I can say with no quaver in my voice that if you could get to the mutherfucking moon as easily as you can get to Yellowstone, sci fi fans are the ones that would watch the Kardashians go there on the Discovery Channel. Sci fi fans are the ones that can hold erudite arguments about the canon and non-canon colors of lightsabers but have never so much as looked to see if the YMCA has a fencing class. They're the ones that can tell you about which podracer has better stats but are afraid to let their kids on those rolling animals at the mall. They're the ones that absolutely believe in our mission to return to the moon but don't know why we need to spend all this money on climate research. There's a certain class of human that lives most of their lives vicariously and it doesn't matter that they'll never get within a dozen timezones of the frontier, the fact that it hasn't tripled during their lifetime means the downfall of humanity. I'm getting fucking sick of them. They don't want adventure they want to know that adventure can be had and safely avoided but partaken in by buying the commemorative plate from Franklin Mint. Or whatever the fuck those Funko things are. You know what would satisfy that "existential hunger?" Taking a fucking risk. And I don't mean crossdressing cosplay.
I don't think it's related to "pop culture consumption." I know plenty of pop-culture mavens who are great people with a lot going on. I think it's "consumption." If you rely largely on passive entertainment, your worldview and lifestyle reflect that which you consume. If you are more about active entertainment - building things, making things, doing things, participating in things - then you have more input into what makes up your makeup. If your primary hobby is watching television, you get whatever you get out of television. If your primary hobby is blogging television, you are actively attempting to craft a narrative out of your life and inflict it on others.