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- macwisdom, on 08/20/2008, -0/+15heres a more compressive list of experts being wrong
While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.
- Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer, 1926.
Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
- Darryl F. Zanuck, Head of 20th Century-Fox, 1946.
Radio has no future.
- Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist.
Communication
This `telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
- Western Union internal memo, 1878
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.
- Editorial in the Boston Post, 1865
Transport
...no possible combination of known substances, known forms of machinery, and known forms of force, can be united in a practical machine by which man shall fly long distances through the air...
- Simon Newcomb (1835-1909), astronomer,
head of the U.S. Naval Observatory
What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling twice as fast as stagecoaches?
- The Quarterly Review, England (March 1825)
Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
British mathematician and physicist
Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859)
Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy
Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
- Marshal Ferdinand Foch,
French military strategist and World War I commander.
It is an idle dream to imagine that automobiles will take the place of railways in the long distance movement of passengers.
- American Railroad Congress, 1913
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
Computers
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.
- Ken Olson, President of Digital Corporation, 1977
The Internet will catastrophically collapse in 1996.’
- Robert Metcalfe, internet inventor
Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
- Popular Mechanics, 1949
We have reached the limits of what is possible with computers.
- John Von Neumann, 1949
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
- Thomas J. Watson Snr., IBM Chairman, 1943
Space Exploration
There is no hope for the fanciful idea of reaching the Moon because of insurmountable barriers to escaping the Earth's gravity.
- Dr. Forest Ray Moulton, University of
Chicago astronomer, 1932.
To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth--all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.
- Lee DeForest,
American radio pioneer, 1926.
Medicine and Health
‘The abdomen, the chest and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.’
- Sir John Eric Ericson, Surgeon to Queen Victoria, 1873
Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is a ridiculous fiction.
- Pierre Pachet
Professor Physiology, Toulouse, 1872
The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on seeking it... Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient.
- Dr. Alfred Velpeau (1839), French surgeon
There is growing evidence that smoking has pharmacological effects that are of real value to smokers.
- President of Philip Morris, Inc., 1962
Your cigarettes will never become popular.
- F. G. Alton, 1870
cigar maker, turning down Mr. John Player
Nuclear Power
...any one who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine...
- Ernest Rutherford (1933)
There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom. The glib supposition of utilizing atomic energy when our coal has run out is a completely unscientific Utopian dream, a childish bug-a-boo. Nature has introduced a few fool-proof devices into the great majority of elements that constitute the bulk of the world, and they have no energy to give up in the process of disintegration.
- Robert A. Millikan (1863-1953)
speech to the Chemists' Club (New York)
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.
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
- Ronald Reagan, 1980
General Science
‘With regard to the electric light, much has been said for and against it, but I think I may say without contradiction that when the Paris Exhibition closes, electric light will close with it, and no more will be heard of it.’
- Erasmus Wilson
Oxford University professor, 1878
I am tired of all this thing called science.... We have spent millions in that sort of thing for the last few years, and it is time it should be stopped.
- Simon Cameron,
U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, 1861
demanding the funding of the Smithsonian Institution be cut off
The so-called theories of Einstein are merely the ravings of a mind polluted with liberal, democratic nonsense which is utterly unacceptable to German men of science.
- Dr. Walter Gross, 1940
There is a young madman proposing to light the streets of London - with what do you suppose - with smoke!
- Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
On a proposal to light cities with gaslight
Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emissions standards for man-made sources.
- Ronald Reagan, 1980
I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of anyone.
- Darwin (writing in Origin of Species), 1859
The machine gun is a much overrated weapon; two per battalion is more than sufficient.
- General Douglas Haig, 1915
X-rays are a hoax.
- Lord Kelvin, ca. 1900 - fquednau, on 08/20/2008, -0/+9To cut a long story short: Experts are idiots most of the time.
Based on the fact that they are experts in a field, they have lost the bigger picture. They are by virtue of being an expert unable to foresee cross pollination between different scientific branches. Hence their prediction will inevitably fail because the very foundation of our reality is the interconnectedness of things that we tend to consider independent from each other.
My 2 cents. - inactive, on 08/20/2008, -0/+8I doubt this. For us to think that we know our limits, while we have only had the automobile for roughly 100 years is just silly. We are still idiots, folks! :D
- macwisdom, on 08/20/2008, -0/+8I think given the money and effort we could figure this out....
When the Steam engine was used for railroads,they said that going fast than 25 MPH would make you go mad.
They said manned flight was impossible , they said breaking the sound barrier was impossible. - Sonan, on 08/20/2008, -0/+6We know our limits a lot better than we did 100 years ago, or even 20. But that doesn't preclude us from refining those limits in unforeseeable ways over the next 100 years.
- jlpete9, on 08/20/2008, -0/+4Keeping my fingers crossed... now if only we can figure out how to extend our lifespans by another couple hundred years, maybe I'll get to see it myself!
- BigManOnCampus, on 08/20/2008, -0/+4It may remain science fiction for my lifetime, which is very believable.
Betting on it remaining science fiction forever is a bad bet. - atdigg, on 08/21/2008, -0/+4Remember that the reverse is also true... just think of "2001: A Space Odyssey". We are in year 2008 we are nowhere close to be killed by self-aware computers.
- BigManOnCampus, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3It might be safer on your sanity to be cryogenically frozen. Do you really want to suffer through more decades of hollywood news?
- ChoiceMad, on 08/20/2008, -0/+3Perhaps it is (at least sometimes) such extreme statures of denial/negativity as these which fuel the "prove the 'experts' wrong" mentality/motivations. Thought-provoking list though, thx.
- inactive, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1Never seems to never be right
- poprocksandsoda, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1Given the amount of radiation in the heliosphere outside the protective cocoon created by the Earth it's unlikely we'll ever travel beyond the moon. Even months of exposure to cosmic rays would result in a breakdown of DNA that would be at best catastrophic.
Earth is our home and beyond the moon and inner orbits ... the only home we'll ever have. - tinybubs, on 08/21/2008, -1/+2In 1969 I was a freshman in High School (I know I'm dating myself) and my science teacher told our class that we would never be able to build a probe that would be able to explore the outer planets of the Solar System. His reason was that we could never build anything that would function in a vacuum for more than a couple of years. In 1972 Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched and last time I checked they were still sending out radio signals that could be tracked 36 years later.
Whenever I hear experts say something can't be done I remember Mr. Collins and expect that the breakthrough that will allow us to do it is right around the corner. - Godwhacker, on 08/22/2008, -0/+1"What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense."
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1That's because I was destined to make insane killer robots, but I watched the movie first and decided to go into finger painting instead.
- MacParrot, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1To which I reply...
The X-Project. Funded by private enterprise, they created a ship that could reach 100 miles into the atmosphere and return on a standard airport runway for a fraction of the cost of a Space Shuttle launch or a Russian/Chinese/Japanese/Indian/Iranian/ect launch.
A bigger model is being built. It isn't unfathomable that it eventually could be used to "shuttle people back and forth to the ISS with Russian Protons used for bulk lifting.
Think about the absolute waste in every Space Shuttle mission. How much energy has to be used just to get essentially a space staion wagon with a trunk full of packages into space. Let the heavy-lift vehicles do that work without the baggage. Considering that very little of what the SS uses is actually recycled (the huge storage tank burns up and only the boosters and of course the shuttle itself are recovered), there could be a net gain by having lighter non-recycled rockets that use far less energy.
For all the vaunted worth of the Soviet Space Program, other than being in space first what did they actually accomplish? - MacSuxWindozSux, on 08/21/2008, -0/+1~ (~A) = A
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 08/21/2008, -1/+1lol.
If you are going to attack capitalism (which as many evils) try using a better argument. If you use a weak argument then people will think you are a jerk, and less educated people go on thinking Capitalism isn't merely great, but in fact perfect. - inactive, on 08/20/2008, -6/+1keep hoping there star trek fanboi...
- empirefalling, on 08/21/2008, -6/+1Soviet Science in the mid 20th century proved many western scientists wrong. Science under Socialist attitudes and direction has achieved more success than western science driven by greed and capitalist exploitation.
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