The Consolidator (1705)
Although it’s primarily a political allegory/satire, Daniel Defoe’s (yes, he of Robinson Crusoe fame) The Consolidator, or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions From the World in the Moon still manages to get some sci-fi in there. Admittedly, the protagonist gets to the moon by a chariot pulled by two winged creatures—the titular Consolidator—but once there he meets the Lunarians, who used advanced telescopes to examine life on Earth and mostly note how dysfunctional the British government was. The Lunarians also had a “thinking machine” that could visually transmit what a person was thinking to a pair of goggles, so make of that what you will.
