Month: March 2011

I Wish I Hadn’t Said That:
The Experts Speak – and Get it Wrong!

Sometimes, history will tell us, that our visionaries sometimes lack vision.

That’s what Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky have to say in their book, I Wish I Hadn’t Said That: The Experts Speak – and Get it Wrong!  

In other words, just because you are super-smart and know what you’re talking about, it’s possible to blurt out your opinion on a topic and have that thrown back at you years later by people who want to point out how funny you sounded at the time. 

Let’s take a look at some examples:

• Lee deForest, the inventor of the vacuum tube, said that “To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth–all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.”
• Kenneth Olsen, founder of Digital Computer Corp: “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home”
• Advice given to Henry Ford’s lawyer: “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.”