Farðu rólega í að fullyrða um framtíðina! Nokkur fyndin dæmi...

Mark Twain sagði, ‘It is not what we don’t know that gets us into trouble; it is what we think we know for sure.’   Margir miklir hugsuðir hafa verið mjög staðfastir í trú sinni á framtíðina.   Hér eru nokkur klassísk dæmu um mikla menn sem voru ekki alveg með það:

 

1. Simon Newcomb (1835-1909), the leading US astronomer of his time and a professor of astronomy and mathematics, declared that flight by heavier-than-air objects was completely impossible. After the Wright brothers made their first flights he still claimed that airplanes were impractical and worthless.
2. Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816-1892), the great German engineer who developed the telegraph industry and founded the company bearing his name, declared, ‘Electric light will never take the place of gas.’
3. Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) was a distinguished British mathematician and physicist who developed the law of conservation of energy. The Kelvin scale of absolute temperature is named after him. He scoffed at the idea of radio and stated, ‘Radio has no future.’ He also said, ‘X-rays will prove to be a hoax.’
4. H.G. Wells (1866-1946) the eminent British author and one of the first science fiction writers said in 1902, ‘I refuse to see any sort of submarine doing anything except suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.’
5. General Douglas Haig (1861 -1928) the commander of the British Army in WWI said in 1914 of the machine gun, ‘Make no mistake, this weapon will change absolutely nothing.’
6. In 1927, H.M Warner of Warner Brothers asked, ‘Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?’
7. Dr Albert Einstein said in 1932, ‘There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.’
8. Rex Lambert, Editor of The Listener, wrote in 1936, ‘Television won’t matter in your lifetime or mine.’
9. Don Rowe was the director of Decca Records who turned down the Beatles. He said to their promoter, Brian Epstein, ‘We don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups of guitarists are on the way out.’
10. Ken Olson, CEO of DEC said in 1977, ‘There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.’