The relationship between science and science fiction

[Siegmund]

Brought to mind by the favourite science fiction authors thread going on now, but didn't want to hijack the other thread:

How do forum members see science fiction and science being related? Do they symbiotically inspire each other, or is it more adversarial, scifi misleading the public mind as to what is possible and science throwing cold water on favorite fantasies? The other thread touched on the fuzzy boundary between scifi and fantasy genres: is science fiction somehow "closer to reality" than fantasy, or fiction in general is?

I will save my own opinion for after this thread gets going rather than biasing the direction the conversation takes.