Which prediction of future technology has turned out to be the most wrong?

Which prediction of future technology has turned out to be the most wrong?
For example, the head of the US Patent Office during Abraham Lincoln‘s administration suggested that in a few years they’d be able to close the Patent Office because everthing that was worth inventing already had been patented.

What other predictions about technology have been collossally wrong?

Answer by jeannielunchbox
“640KB ought to be enough for anybody.” – Bill Gates, 1981

This is one of my favorites as I’m typing on my computer that has 80GB.

Answer by L
flying cars

time travel (or is it?)

Answer by Bob
“The US has enough oil to last a thousand years.”

Likely the most damaging, since we acted like it was true.

Answer by Geico Caveman
Here’s a few:

“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.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?”
David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

“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 Corp.

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and 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.

“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’”
Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

“Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.”
1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard’s revolutionary rocket work.

“You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can’t be done. It’s just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training.”
Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the “unsolvable” problem by inventing Nautilus.

“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 in 1859.

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

“This fellow Charles Lindbergh will never make it. He’s doomed.”
Harry Guggenheim, millionaire aviation enthusiast.

“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.

“Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances.”
Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father of television.

White House: Confidential

In the introduction to this book on presidential sinners and scofflaws, Greg Stebben poses the following questions: “Are we, the people, really this callous? Petty? Shallow? Or easily amused?” Stebben and his coauthor, Jim Morris, are betting that we, the people, are all of the above. This book is packed with trashy tidbits and lighthearted hearsay. Although the authors admit that “this work contains absolutely no groundbreaking or earth-shattering new research on the behavior of presidents past or present,” much of this “information” will be new to many readers. Most people probably have an inkling that John F. Kennedy had an extramarital affair or two, but may not know that Richard Nixon once worked as a carnival barker. According to Stebben and Morris, President Calvin Coolidge enjoyed having petroleum jelly slathered on his head while he ate breakfast in bed; Coolidge believed it was good for his health. Some factoids in this book are fun; others are just factoids. For example, it was not astonishing to learn that Ronald Reagan believes that knocking on wood is good luck. The authors devote chapters of the book to presidential scandals, tempers, fatalities, and money problems. A presidential “scorecard” near the middle of the book shows readers at a glance which presidents cheated on their wives and who their mistresses were. Stebben and Morris rank the presidents according to their entertainment value, which makes Warren Harding a winner and George Washington a big loser in their book. Harding had mistresses, scandals, and a corruption-ridden administration; Washington was noble. The authors’ central point is that presidential eccentricity and scandal are not a new development but have been part of the history of the presidency all along. –Jill Marquis

List Price: $ 10.95

Price: $ 4.09

“The foundations” preserved: A discourse delivered in the Presbyterian Church of Washington, Penn’a on Thursday November 26th, 1863, the day appointed … of the mercies of God during the past year

Price:

First month of Lincoln’s ?
When Abraham Lincoln became president (year 1960), was it in the month of November?

Presidents nowadays are inaugurated in January, but Lincoln passed was in office in December 1960; would that mean he was inaugurated in November 1960?

Answer by pakli1988
Presidency.

Answer by Veck
1860, not 1960

Was on March 4

Answer by gosam777
First off, Kennedy JFK was elected in 1960. Lincoln was 1860. Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861, JFK in Jan 1961

Answer by Dennis K
No, Abraham Lincoln’s First Inauguration took place on March 4, 1861. He became the 16th President of the United States on that date. In the 19th century we inaugurated our Presidents in March. Today it is on Jan. 20TH every (4) years.

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• s s titanic

Tagged with: future • most • prediction • technology • turned • wrong

Filed under: Abraham Lincoln Bicentenial

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