New Technology And You
Are you skeptical/sceptical about some new inventions or technology yet to come? Don’t be but if you insist, don’t talk about it too much. Some very bright and knowledgeable people made colossal fools of themselves in the past. Don’t let the same happen to you.
I have a few examples here for you, in the reverse sequence that it happened, of how people have made giant arseholes of themselves. Many of them were proved wrong with-in their own lifetimes. Bill Gates and Ken Olsen were proved wrong within ten years, Lord Kelvin in two years and Admiral William Leahy swallowed his words within months.
"640k ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates, 1981
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
Ken Olson, founder, chairman & president of DEC, 1977
"Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
Producer Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946
"The atom bomb will never go off - and I speak as an expert in explosives."
U.S. Admiral William Leahy in 1945
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
IBM chairman Thomas Watson, 1943
"A rocket will never be able to leave the earth's atmosphere."
The New York Times, 1936
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Robert Milliken, 1923
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates during the 1920s.
"Airplanes are interesting toys, but of no military value."
General Marechal Foch, Professor of Strategy. Circa 1910
"Everything that can be invented has already been invented."
Charles H. Duell, director of the U.S. Patent Office, 1899
"Radio has no future, x-rays are clearly a hoax and the aeroplane is scientifically impossible."
Royal Society president Lord Kelvin, 1897-99
"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
An internal Western Union memo, 1876
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
"Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value."
Boston Post, 1865
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy!"
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859
My advice – Don’t comment on future technology.
A great day to ya all.
Comments (27)
our electricity is off for some reason. I hope it comes on before my battery runs flat.
Awww! You Should Get Out Of That Country. Having No Lights! And Still Having To Pay The Light Bill....
Cannot - I'm stuck here.
I can never leave here between the exchange rate and fiscal control they will empty me out.
Well! You chose to live there.....
Well! You Chose To Be Born There.....
It is a natural phenomena for a baby to be born in very close proximity as his mother.
I really cannot help that my mother chose to be somewhere around here at the time.
Boring but safe.
I think we've all seen so much happening in such a short span in terms of technological advancement that we can now quite easily believe anything is possible in the future. But yea I agree its better to remain silent/patient and let time handle such matters.
They say that even an idiot can be mistaken for wise as long as he keeps his mouth shut.
Everything we have today was once thought to be impossible but here we are.
You appear to have lost some weight since I saw you this morning. Did you opt for that suction treatment or are you just a meal behind?
Something is only impossible until somebody works out a way to do it.
Our science fiction writers have a poor vision of what is to come.
Food Replicator. .
Universal Translator.
Tablet Computers. ...
Tricorder. ...
Holodeck. ...
Communicator Badge. ...
Tractor Beam. ...
Natural Language Queries.
(mentalfloss.com)
I think that more Star Trek thingies have probably been invented as well, but we have not been told about them yet
Jules Verne, Da vinci and the likes missed things like microwave ovens, TV, communication satellites and many other things.