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Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Next time someone tells you that you "can't" do something - think of this!

This was sent to me in email... :)

Quote:

Outstanding predictions by 'experts' in their fields.

"Man will never reach the moon, regardless of all future scientific advances." - Dr. Lee DeForest, Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television.

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." - Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project Manhattan

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." - Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." - Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." - The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"But what is it good for?" (commenting on the microchip). - Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981

"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

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" in response to urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s. " - David Sarnoff' Associates

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible," - A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express.

"I'm just glad it will be Clark Gable who falls on his face, not Gary Cooper," - Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in Gone With The Wind.

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," - Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," - Lord Kelvin, president Royal Society, 1895

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." - Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy," - Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil, 1859

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." - Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," - Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." - Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself. " - the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." - Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." - Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873

And last but not least...

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, president, chairman, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

- Dien

Re: Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Thanks for sharing that, Dien.

The thing that's scarey about these is that these folks were, supposedly, on the cutting edge of things when they said/did these things. Makes one a lot less likely to believe the wisdom of 'follow the leader' or 'see what the leaders are doing and then go and do likewise'. Uh-huh....

Imagine a lot of us can look back and wish we had jumped on one 'hare-brained idea' or another when it was just an idea whose time hadn't quite come yet...or so we thought.

Sandi Bowman

I made a few predictions myself ...

When a subscriber by the name of Wozniak wanted me to invest in his new computer company ... 10% of the company ... I asked, "Who, in their right mind, would buy a computer called an apple?"

Shortly after the movie "The Lone Ranger" flopped miserably, I was offered a 10% position in the newest movie "Superman." I told myself, "Another Lone Ranger."

There have been countless others but these are the 2 I regret the most.

Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.

Jim

Re: Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Thanks Dien,

On the mention of Predictions & Apple...

Try making your own Predictions... :)

A couple Excellent presentations to get you Thinking... ;)

Patrick Dixon... Great resource to the Future...
http://www.globalchange.com/ppt/index.htm

Guy Kawasaki - The Art of Innovation
http://zentation.com/viewer/index.ph...de=epbcSNExIQr

Phil

Re: Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Hi Sandi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman (Post 15798)

Thanks for sharing that, Dien.

The thing that's scarey about these is that these folks were, supposedly, on the cutting edge of things when they said/did these things.

I think it can make you more modest too... If these "experts" can get it wrong, then maybe we can too. So it can be good to keep an open mind about new opportunities... :)

Cheers,

Dien

Re: I made a few predictions myself ...

Hi Jim,

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfstraw (Post 15800)

Wow, that's quite amazing! Oh well... At least you were in the position to turn down such deals... I'm sure there were also those you took up, which reaped great rewards!

Cheers,

Dien

Re: Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Hi Phil,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil (Post 15801)

Try making your own Predictions... :)

A couple Excellent presentations to get you Thinking... ;)

Patrick Dixon... Great resource to the Future...
http://www.globalchange.com/ppt/index.htm

Guy Kawasaki - The Art of Innovation
http://zentation.com/viewer/index.ph...de=epbcSNExIQr

Thanks Phil!

I watched part of the Guy Kawasaki video... Fantastic stuff, as usual with him. :)

I hadn't heard of Patrick Dixon before... I'll be checking some of his presentations out!

Cheers,

Dien

Re: Outstanding Predictions By The "Experts" In Their Fields...

Dien,

The problem with Academic Experts and Self Proclaimed Experts who've published is: they closed off their mind to other information which may prove their current thinking wrong.

Science is Riddled with this to the point of New Ideas suffering the same fate as Copernicus and Galileo and Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy. It's only after those who would lose face have died, can the new idea take shape. And even then, it's tough.

Michael Ross