Zeerust, now-hilariously dated predictions of the future. Or are they? Postulate that something that hasn’t been taken seriously by science fiction in decades in fact comes true in the end.
My entry: scientists discover a nuclear reaction that is the key to unlocking total mass-to-energy conversion. And it uses… radium. That’s right, radium is the super-energy source of the future!
And the radiations from this power source, while relatively harmless to organic matter, are hell on electronics. So you have to do all your calculations at the power plant using slide rules.
And it generates gamma rays.
And we all KNOW what that means!
And the radium-powered space fleets make contact with the cavemen living in the jungles of Venus, as well as the decadent desert civilization of Mars.
(Apologies for the double post)
The jungles of Venus are under a layer of clouds whose unusual composition had led scientists to overestimate the temperature of the surface by an order of magnitude. The population of Mars id spread very, very thinly, and their agriculture and engineering works are difficult to distinguish from orbit.
Or possibly your Curta Calculator.
The Internet never progresses past message boards, causing earthly inhabitants to idolize troll posters and look to them to solve all worldly problems.
Flying Cars! And going to the moon in a modified V-2!
I think it might be cheating to steal actual examples from famous science-fiction novels…
I thought these were examples from sci-fi novels that I hasn’t read :smack:
I’m pretty sure they are, especially the one about the slide rules. We’re just making up modern explanations for old story ideas.