"Stross' objections to ST are really along the lines that these questions are meaningless in the sense that the characters' actions are essentially identical to what they would be in a time with totally different technology."

They aren't though? Like what about Data??

There is a fundamental issue with the logic here that Stross is equating not explaining future tech in a believable, consistent way with characters not being meaningfully changed by the technology. Fantasy could not exist as a genre if one equalled the other.