Ok, the very very simple version: Science fiction is set in the future. Star Trek is deliberately set in the future. Star Wars is deliberately set in the past ("A long time ago") and therefore is something other than science fiction.
Future technology. When they set foot on the nautilus they set foot into a possible future. 20,000 poses the question of what might happen should that sort of technology be developed. It was very predictive of the power that such technology would place on a single man. Nemo is latin for "no man", telling us that no man should have such power.