Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Quotes from the Experts

I thought you might enjoy a short list of predictions from experts. These are from Joel Barker’s Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future

1. “The phonograph…is not of any commercial value.” - THOMAS EDISON remarking on his own invention to his assistant Sam Insull, 1880

2. “Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.” - SIMON NEWCOMB, an astronomer of some note, 1902

3. “Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.” - GROVER CLEVELAND, 1905

4. “It is an idle dream to imagine that…automobiles will take the place of railways in the long distance movement of…passengers” - American Road Congress, 1913

5. “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.” - ROBERT MILLIKAN, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1920

6. “[Babe] Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching.” - TRIS SPEAKER, 1921

7. “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” - HARRY WARNER, Warner Brothers Pictures, 1927

8. “I think there is a world market for about five computers.” - THOMAS J. WATSON, chairman of IBM, 1943

9. “The odds are now that the United States will not be able to honor the 1970 manned-lunar-landing date set by Mr. Kennedy.” - New Scientist, April 30, 1964

10. “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.” - KEN OLSEN, president of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

Source: Joel Barker, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future

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