Deniers Repent! Experts Can See The Future

Ignorant lay people are simply not qualified to question the wisdom of the experts.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899

“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?”
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

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

“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.

Stupid People – Bad Predictions

About Tony Heller

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11 Responses to Deniers Repent! Experts Can See The Future

  1. Traitor In Chief says:

    Hysterical post about Rising Oceans: Read the last few lines…

    http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=187911

  2. Jim Asherman says:

    I have to borrow this post to deflate someone. May I?
    Thank you Steven. Nobody snarks like you.

  3. Jimbo says:

    Here’s another reason why consensus in science is not a good thing. It discourages the inquisitive and curiosity is the mother of invention and discover.

    Nobel Prize in Chemistry for dogged work on ‘impossible’ quasicrystals

    Daniel Shechtman, who has won the chemistry Nobel for discovering quasicrystals, was initially lambasted for ‘bringing disgrace’ on his research group

    A scientist whose work was so controversial he was ridiculed and asked to leave his research group has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry……

    “His discovery was extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings, he was asked to leave his research group,”
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/oct/05/nobel-prize-chemistry-work-quasicrystals

  4. Jimbo says:

    Here’s another.

    19 April 2013
    The student who caught out the profs
    This week, economists have been astonished to find that a famous academic paper often used to make the case for austerity cuts contains major errors. Another surprise is that the mistakes, by two eminent Harvard professors, were spotted by a student.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22223190

  5. Depends what the topic is about. Some things are better understood than others. If you want a consensus of expert opinion on a poorly understood subject, then tossing a coin is about just as accurate.

  6. BobW in NC says:

    Sorry this is late, but had to add Ernest Monitz’ quote from his swearing in:
    “I am not interested in debating what is not debatable…” From Huffington Post’s article (which is just as — well — solid?

    Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz: Climate Change Is ‘Not Debatable’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/energy-secretary-ernest-moniz_n_3332401.html

  7. gator69 says:

    I remember in the seventies scientists were saying the laser would never amount to anything more than a light show. Wish I could find the exact quotes, they would be priceless today.

  8. bkivey says:

    “But what … is it good for?”
    Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

    That’s almost exactly what my father said about the Apple II when we went to a store in 1979 and I wrote a quick program on the display machine. In fairness, the list price at the time was $1100; nearly $3500 today.

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