[BenLurkin]

So....people who invested in the Radio Telephone Company. Did they get rich, or did they lose their money?

[yarddog]

Around 1952, I was 5 years old. My 10 year old Brother knew everything. He belonged to a gang, not a bad gang, just a bunch of local kids.

One day we were standing around an old barrel which was burning tar. The question came up: Will man ever land on the moon.

Joe thought for a few seconds and said, “no”.

That was it, I knew we would never land on the moon.

[hardspunned]

11. Jeff Sessions is about to spring his trap.

[OttawaFreeper]

In 1962, Decca Records refused to sign the Beatles, saying “guitar groups are on the way out” and “The Beatles have no future in show business,”.

[aberaussie]

bttt

[Steely Tom]

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the learned wizards of smart were all crowing about how Japan’s “Fifth Generation Computer” was going to be the next wonder of the world.

[SES1066]

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[Gay State Conservative]

Look at Star Trek (TOS).Portable communication devices came true.So did the ability to hold huge amounts of data in a small plastic object smaller than an old fashioned matchbook.

[Dr. Sivana]

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years." - Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.

If a nuclear power plant generates electricity, and that electricity in turn powers a vacuum cleaner, can't you argue that his prediction came true?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years." - Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.

Electric vacuum cleaners are commonplace - and nuclear powered electric power plants are not rare either. Does that count?

[Revolutionary]

I have found that the vast majority of people can not tell sh*t from shinola. Working with some of the brightest minds in the U.S., I had them rank a lot of tech items. In every case it came out totally random. I had to come up with a methodology to solve that problem. There are only so many resources. One can not afford to waste them. But unfortunately it is done every day.

[VeniVidiVici]

“The world will run out of oil in 10 years.”
- U.S. Bureau of Mines (1914)
“The world will run out of oil in 13 years.”
- U.S. Department of the Interior (1939 and 1950)
“The world will run out of oil and other fossil fuels by 1990.”
- Paul Erlich, Limits to Growth (1973)
“The world will run out of oil in 2030, and other fossil fuels in 2050.”
- Paul Erlich, Beyond the Limit (2002)

[mrsmith]

Great quotes!

[stylin19a]

In his book, "The Road Ahead", Mr. Gates admitted that he believed the technology for "killer applications" was inadequate to lure consumers to the Internet.

the 1995 version. He revised his opinion in a later release.

[NonValueAdded]

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943

[Henry Cavendish]

When I was in high school the school newspaper published predictions made by the class of 1950 about the year 2000. Among them were atomic powered typewriters, atomic powered cars and atomic powered escalators.

[higgmeister]

You may have heard the infamous 1977 quote by Digital Equipment Corp. president Ken Olson -- "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home"

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduced the VT100 video terminal, in August 1978, for remote Main Frame computer interface. The poor man was betting on the only thing he understood.

[higgmeister]

"With over fifteen types of foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself." -- Business Week, 1968.

And then the world discovered the Toyota Corolla.

[Teacher317]

I have to stand up for my old buddy Al...

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." -- Albert Einstein, 1932.

HIS notion of "harnessing nuclear energy" is taking the energy that holds the atom together and converting it into energy. We don't do that. We take 2 radioactive materials, put them in close proximity to create intense heat, and we use that heat to boil water to generate steam pressure turn a turbine (not much different from the technology of the earliest steam engines of the 1800s) and that turbine (made of copper) spins within a magnetic field, and we then direct the shed electrons... HUGE difference.

We are not nearly close to cracking open atoms in a controlled environment and using that energy for anything useful (even though we are able to level cities by using it in an uncontrolled environment).

[Inyo-Mono]

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