People are not quite able to predict the future well. Zeerust comes about from the simple fact we tend to assume things that simply make no sense, like fashion not changing much or that technology will get better in the directions it is going but not realize we might find a new avenue for expansion.
It is particularly cool to see the ones where it is obviously outdated but at the same time still looking futuristic and somewhat on point. Cassette futurism for example still looks good even to normies who normally don't care, the sort of Art Deco stuff from Raygun Gothic is still appreciated in some places and so on. Some Zeerust ages like wine, some like milk. I guarantee if you gave people a choice between say a Laptop with a design inspired by cassete futurism and one from the early 2000's design queues of beige and weird overdone design with rounded corners (think default Windows Media Player skin for Windows XP, no idea what it was called) and such they would like the cassette one better.
People didn't realize Jupiter was literally all gas until quite late. A lot of stories assumed it was just like Earth and Mars but really big so the atmosphere ended up being strong enough to hold hydrogen and helium, causing a very VERY thick layer of it to exist. I remember a story, I think from Asimov actually, about some sentient robotic probes sent down to Jupiter to talk with the inhabitants and try and establish contact. Another from a 1940's pulp magazine where some writers were spitballing and the artist shows a guy hunched on a tiny tractor tankette looking ass vehicle to wander the plains of Jupiter and talk to the locals. Pretty fun.
The reason Gibson suposedly finds the quote to be now hilarious along with everyone else is that he accidentally future proofed it into showing how much of a computer dork the main character is. In the 1980's that quote would bring about the image of gray overcast skies. But with digital TV signals the default tends to be bright blue. Meaning the nerd is seeing a perfectly nice day and all he think about is a screen.
en.m.wikipedia.org
