In the past I have been very pedantic about drawing a hard line between Fantasy and Science Fiction, especially in regards to Star Wars which I am not alone in considering Fantasy not Sci-Fi.
However my escalating indulgence in Anime over the last 5 years has increased my appreciation for how blurry the line can be. But more importantly looking at the history of the Genre has made me realize that ALL Science Fiction is Fantasy but not all Fantasy is Science Fiction.
People Fantasize about many things, our more traditional definition of what a Fantasy story or world is comes from Fantasies about the Past. Urban Fantasy is our fantasies about those elements of the mythic past surviving into the modern world just out of sight. Fantasy's overlap with Horror is tied to our fantasies about what scares us.
But we also fantasize about the Future, and outer space, or alternate routes history could have taken. We fantasize about what technology could achieve in the future as it continues to advance, or perhaps has secretly achieved already but is being kept secret by the government or other cabal of elites. Or could have achieved long ago if certain mistakes were averted. We also fantasize about finding things Scientists speculate could exist but that we haven't found yet.
When you look at the history of what's called Proto-Science Fiction, Sci-Fi tropes and ideas in works that predate the birth of Science Fiction as a distinct genre. You'll notice that it's all Fantasy, the exact same works of the Ancient-Medieval past modern Fantasy authors look to for inspiration is exactly where the founders of Science Fiction drew their inspiration. But when directly adapted today they are classified as just Fantasy not Sci-Fi.
From the Mahabharata & Ramayana, to a Second Century Greek novelist seeking to Parody the Odyssey, to the 1001 Arabian Knights to Japanese Folk Tales to 18th and 19th Century Gothic Romances.
Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is sometimes called the first Sci-Fi novel. But the thing that surprises people reading the original book after entering it with assumptions driven by a century of Cinematic Adaptations, is just how Unscientific it actually is, the full title is referencing a Greek myth after all. The 2nd and 3rd editions actually try to make it more Scientific, the reference to Galvanism for example was not in the original 1817 edition, the only basis in the Book for the trope of the Monster having anything to do with Electricity is a Greedo Shot First/Riddles In The Dark style retcon. Science is only discussed at all in the book because of the Rationalism of those at Ingolstadt shutting down Victor's ideas. Victor's actual inspirations come from late Medieval and Renaissance era Alchemists, Sorcerers and Magicians, and one of the author's inspirations may have been Conrad Dipple.
In a way this makes the development of Science Fiction not unlike the development of Science itself. Chemistry emerged out of Alchemy, Francis Bacon arguably defined the modern "Scientific Method" but he was also an occultist, a student of John Dee. Isaac Newton believed the mystical symbolism of the design of Solomon's Temple could somehow unlock the secrets of the Universe.
Whether or not Technology can be considered a form of Magick kind of depends on how you define Magick. One definition used by some Occultists is that it's the manipulation of the energies that exist in nature.
That's why it makes sense that the roles played by Mages in RPGs are taken over by Scientists in more Science based adventures. White Mages become Medics and Black Mages become Mad Scientists.
Jules Verne was also pretty open about how Genre wise most of his major works were attempts to create modern Odysseys.
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