“Inventions reached their limit long ago, and I see no hope for further development.”
Julius Frontinus
Engineer
C1st A.D.
“That any general system on conveying passengers would go at a velocity exceeding ten miles an hour is extremely improbable”
Thomas Tredgold
Civil engineer & writer
1835
“This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”
Western Union, internal memo
1876
"I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of the expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of ... I would not care to be a member of the Aeronautical Society."
Lord Kelvin
President, Royal Society
1895
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Charles H. Duell
Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents
1899
“Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.”
Marechal Ferdinand Foch
Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre
1911
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
H. M. Warner, Founder, Warner Brothers
1927
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Thomas Watson
Chairman of IBM
1943
“With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.”
Business Week
1968
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
Ken Olson
Founder, Digital Equipment Corp.,
1977
“If our language, our programs, our creations are not strongly present in the new media, the young generation of our country will be economically and culturally marginalized.”
Jacques Chirac
7 comments:
proves the saying - never say never.
Interesting!
Internet has changed so many things in the last decade that the world would shut down if it collapsed!
It won't collapse i*maginate, the Man will just make sure it's safe for your kids and that you are encouraged through appropriate legislation to use it the way a good citizen would. Which doesn't include user generated media, by the way. For your convenience, your government approved ISP will bundle access to websites for you and call them channels just so you don't get confused.
Now go read up on network nutrality.
Good compilation. I've seen a few of them before but they're none the worse for that.
PG. Yes, there's a similar list that's popular around the web. I took that as the basis (It did tickle me) but validated them, deleted those that didn't stand up and added others as they amused.
I like the Chirac quote best of all because it applies so directly to our own situation right now and the detrimental effects of the blocks on social media sites that we're still seeing...
1. the Watson quote is heavily disputed2. Wasn't it Ken Olsen ?
Signed: the IDN (Irrelevant Detail Nazis)
SOGT: I don't care if it's true or not. It sounds good and I'm keeping it. So thjavascript:void(0)ere.
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