We can all make guesses about how the future will go, and sometimes, we’re even right. After all, with a little forethought and intelligence, one can make an educated guess about what’s to come.
Then again, even the smartest people can’t always be right.
Below are 23 predictions from some of the world’s most successful, intelligent people – all of which turned out to be 100% wrong. Check out their quotes below for a reminder that even the upper echelons of wealth, power, and brinas can’t always call it correctly. We’re betting the guy who predicted №16 is feeling pretty dumb right about now, or №10 is so wrong it’s funny.
1.“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” – H. M. Warner, founder of the Warner Brothers.
2. “It will be gone by June.” – Variety Magazine, giving a prediction on the future of rock-and-roll in 1955.
3. “X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” – Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, spoken in 1883.
4. “A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” – What the New York Times surmised in 1936.
5. “The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.” – Sir John Eric Ericksen, a British surgeon in the 1870’s.
6. “There will never be a bigger plane built.” – A Boeing engineer, shorty after the company had built a twin engine plane that only held 10 people.
7. “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” – a rare bad conclusion made by Albert Einstein in 1932.
8. “Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.” – President of the Stevens Institute of Technology Henry Morton’s thoughts on Edison’s lightbulb.
