As I recall, the inference of something byond batteries was made in "The Mysterious Island." Today we think more on sociological changes, and increasingly, on the structural changes of mind and society that come about from new forms of information transfer. Viewed through these filters, Star Trek does no better than Jules Verne does at predicting the future. Even on the subject of technology, most of what Star Trek had was simply contemporary items in new housings; phasers acted like pistols, communicators like the old Marine portable radio, hypo-sprays like ordinary needles. There was little sense of the re-organization of tasks that new technology brings.