Even if we're talking about humans on Earth in the future we need to know their "past". I tend to write near-future SF that flows out of today's issues, but I still need to link the characters' present to our present day. In Panthera : Death Plain that's as simple as imagining Africa having enhanced information systems throughout the continent, however remote the people are. And I invented a New Africa Connectivity Authority to be in charge of them.
But if we're talking about genuine aliens we have to invent their past. Did they become a group mind in order to develop the ability to store memories? I've done something like this in my novel Jade, where the planet has developed crystal memory storage.
What's the history of your world and it's people? Who did your powerful leaders trample on on their way up to power? Those people are likely to be the source of future conflict. Who wants revenge on the leader of a powerful empire? Given the mechanism of evolution, with its competition for scarce resources, It's likely that war exists in some form in your society too. It would be nice to see a society where it didn't, but I suspect the very nature of evolution precludes this.
The language of your people will be shaped by their history and the things that are of most importance to them. This could involve elaborate caste or class systems with their own vocabularies, or religious organisations with their own metaphysical way of seeing the universe. Language will also define the 'untouchables' of your society.
There's a lot of inventing of the past to be done before we move on to writing the future, but knowing this back history makes for a richer story, and might just provide you with ideas for several other books.
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