Sci-Fi Parody and Satire

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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally a 1978 radio show written by Douglas Adams, broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC radio 4. It is about finding the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything, as well as the demolition of earth for a hyperspace Bypass, and Arthur Dent, the supposed last surviving human of Earth's demolition, among many other interesting characters and events. Full of conscious robots, aliens, time travel, hyper evolution, infinite improbability drive, and dry humor
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sounds like it would be a serious journey into science fiction. However its dry humor is more than just comic relief, it is satire and parody at its best. This radio series uses the science fiction genre as its vehicle to deliver several cultural assumptions that are not futuristic, but current. 

For example, The company that wants to demolish Arthur Dent's house to build a new bypass in its place parallels the Vogon constructor fleet coming to demolish Earth to build a hyperspace Bypass. Both of these "companies" don't care about the "common man" they are about to destroy, they want to get on with their job and make money in the process. When they receive complaints they try to pin the situation on the complainer by throwing out a plethora of red-tape hoops to jump through. This is not a lofty idea of the future, but a remark on current society.  

The show goes on the establish multiple times over that in the future there will not be any change from this viewpoint, because species superiority, greed, apathy, and unscrupulous behavior will always be a large part of any "higher thinking" society. Scams, social bias, social injustice, depression, popularity contests, and ridiculous consumerism still exist, but on a galactic scale.

In order to illustrate some of these points the event being described is exaggerated. For example, there is a planet full of birdlike creatures on which an entire sedimentary layer of shoes is found. Why would there be an entire sedimentary layer of shoes on a planet that is home to only birds? This is because of the Shoe Event Horizon. 

A huge company, Dolmansaxlil Shoe Corporation, tried to make shoes the most important commodity by using the fact that depressed people look at the ground often and thus might want to buy a new pair of shoes to cheer themselves up. They sold shoes that were poorly made and sized to cause a higher demand for shoes, because they would have to be replaced more often. This would result in worse quality shoes and higher demand until the planet's society collapsed and the current lifeforms gave up on feet entirely, evolving into birdlike creatures that had no need of them.

This has a direct correlation to current society in that people want what they don't have, but as soon as they do get it they move on to something else. Likewise, if they never get what they want they never stop trying to achieve it or achieve it better. 

In this way Science Fiction is important to society in that it has a way of either pointing out current things that could be made better or predicting a near future, in which the current situation has evolved into a more aggravated state.