The issue was that they were not visionary ideas, they were just surface level tweaks to our current reality without explanation or reason. Great sci-fi normally asks “What if?” questions and answers them as realistically as possible.

Blade Runner asks what kind of social and economic circumstances we would face if there were androids in our society, Alien asks what would happen if we encountered a dangerous alien race. Both ask what corporations would do, and give realistic (albeit darkly cynical) answers.

CW’s short story sounded as if it didn’t ask this kind of question, it just threw out simplistic ideas like “The Anaren ride horses but the horses are actually robots.”

Why horses? Why are they robots? Would this be suited to what was initially a swamp planet?