# If Zeerust came true **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945 "2013-05-10T00:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/1 "2013-05-10T00:34:30Z")
[Zeerust](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/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](http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Exotic_atoms_hold_clues_to_unsolved_physics_puzzle_at_the_dawn_of_the_universe_999.html). That’s right, radium **is** the super-energy source of the future! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/2 "2013-05-10T00:37:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/3 "2013-05-10T00:47:24Z")
And it generates gamma rays. And we all KNOW what that means! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/4 "2013-05-10T00:51:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/5 "2013-05-10T00:58:18Z")
(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. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/6 "2013-05-10T01:18:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. Or possibly your [Curta Calculator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/7 "2013-05-10T12:59:25Z")
The Internet never progresses past message boards, causing earthly inhabitants to idolize troll posters and look to them to solve all worldly problems. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/8 "2013-05-10T13:51:57Z")
Flying Cars! And going to the moon in a modified V-2! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/9 "2013-05-10T14:03:53Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The Internet never progresses past message boards, causing earthly inhabitants to idolize troll posters and look to them to solve all worldly problems. I think it might be cheating to steal actual examples from famous science-fiction novels… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/10 "2013-05-10T15:36:22Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > 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: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-zeerust-came-true/657945/11 "2013-05-13T06:52:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > 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.