I think that in a lot of Sci-fi the people still play a critical role in the story, alongside the ideas. Not all sci-fi stories are about the ideas. They can often contain how the ideas impact people, how people use the ideas to shape their world and so on.
I'm fine with that. I like people. I guess my main objection is against critics arguing sci-fi should look like regular old human story, but with sci-fi flavour. For me, the setting is an important part of the story, not just some irrelevant background styling.
