I recall when people were saying that personal computers could never compete with big iron.
Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean.
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.
They will never try to steal the phonograph because it has no `commercial value.’
- Thomas Edison (1847-1931).
What use could this company make of an electrical toy?
- Western Union president William Orton, responding to an offer from Alexander Graham Bell to sell his telephone company to Western Union for $100,000.
What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?
- The Quarterly Review, England (March 1825)
That the automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced.
- Scientific American, Jan. 2, 1909.
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.
I confess that in 1901 I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for fifty years. Two years later we ourselves made flights. This demonstration of my impotence as a prophet gave me such a shock that ever since I have distrusted myself and avoided all predictions.
- Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) [In a speech to the Aero Club of France (Nov 5, 1908)]
Computers in the future may...perhaps only weigh 1.5 tons.
- Popular Mechanics, 1949.
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
- Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
The laws of economics show no favorites and no allegiances. In a free market, the law of “supply and demand” favors that which is most advantageous for the aggregated market. Cheap oil is bad for drillers, but good for everyone else. Henry Ford put buggy whip manufactures out of business, but the advantage to the market was undeniable. If there continues to be less exploration, scarcity will result in higher fuel prices to consumers which will in turn lead to economic profits for exploration etc. If one is invested in a drilling company, it is time to adapt to the market, it is never a good idea to try to force the market to adapt to a particular business or business model.