There are plenty of SciFi books out there that have made a big impresion on mainstream culture--War of the Worlds, the Time Machine, etc. I think the problem is, though, that these books are classics, and there just aren't enough writers these days who will step up to the challenge of writing on a new, original subject.
If we can bring Fantasy books into the matter though, there is one writer who more than takes the challenge. His name is Garth Nix, and he wrote my favorite trilogy of books, the Sabriel series. Sabriel is a necromancer who has to help *gasp* save the world from hoardes of undead sent at her from a bad necromancer. Now, aside from it being about a necromancer, no one would cal that a very interesting plot, but I think that the way this is displayed and the way that Nix writes is different from every other writer I have read from.
Someone needs to learn to write like Nix, someone who can get their idea out and get it to the masses. If we can find someone who can do that, who can write a bestseller, who can kick Harry Potter off the stool he's standing on...THEN we will have someone who can spread the word of SciFi, and technology as a whole, to the world.
PS...
Sabriel Series can be found here:
http://www.garthnix.co.uk/ in the Old Kingdom Section.