Futurological progress, or Deceive me about the future

Despite the usual formula for the mass reader "science fiction predicts the future" in reality it does not happen as often as we expect. And it almost never really helps. Among Stanislav Lem's many predictions, many came true - but how much did his works influence this? And is fiction really able to influence the future: not just predict it, but change, shape, even avert some unwanted scenarios?