Comments on: 9 Life-Changing Inventions the Experts Said Would Never Work

By: jdm

jdm — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:57:53 +0000

Joseph Swann invented the lightbulb.

By: Cool Lists (From The Rest Of The Web) - Saturday Links #1 | Listfied

Cool Lists (From The Rest Of The Web) - Saturday Links #1 | Listfied — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:57:42 +0000

[...] 9 Life-Changing Inventions the Experts Said Would Never Work – Oh really? [...]

By: E P

E P — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:07:04 +0000

The statement under number 7, the automobile, I find pretty much correct. Currently in the world there are more bycicles than car used (example – China).

In a couple of decades when oil becomes secondary energy source for cars we might see that as a wrongful statement.

By: happyseaurchin

happyseaurchin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:11:52 +0000

hehehe
that made me laugh out loud twice
hehehe
thanks

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:09:59 +0000

Mike

Interesting article.

I think the best comment on the expert getting predictions wrong comes from the late Arthur C. Clarke:

” if an (older) scientist tells you that something is impossible, he/she is almost certainly wrong”

By: Bruce C Ziebarth

Bruce C Ziebarth — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:51:47 +0000

I greatly enjoyed your article. These are items we use everday (even possibility) but either ignore or take for granted. I also enjoyed your writing style. I have added your site to my favorites. Have a great day, Bruce C Ziebarth Bruce C Ziebarth's last blog post..American Idol Replaces Joanna Pacitti with Felicia Barton

By: Jomark Osabel

Jomark Osabel — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:24:27 +0000

I love this post. Its inspirational. As the the song goes "Don't Stop Believing". Jomark Osabel's last blog post..Pentax K2000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera: DSLR made simple

By: Mike Sowden

Mike Sowden — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:57:20 +0000

Many thanks for your comments, everyone!

It’s absolutely right to say that this is a list of the winners, and that the losers didn’t look any less promising before they ploughed into the dirt. And experts are indeed correct in the overwhelmingly vast majority of instances, which is why they’re experts.
But not 100%.

The spirit behind the article isn’t directly to promote green technology but instead, as Eli notes, to never regard an innovation as useless with unshakable certainty. No expert in the world can ever be truly certain of the total worthlessness of an invention. Those that are….well, they end up on lists that ridicule them!

Down with the naysayers.

By: Eli

Eli — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:36:10 +0000

Mr. Whig is right in that an awful lot of new inventions don’t work or just don’t catch on regardless of the enthusiasm with which they’re received, and that predictions of failure don’t automatically presage success, but the point remains that we need to exercise a degree of caution in knocking something just because it is new and doesn’t fit within our concepts of what should or shouldn’t work.

By: Wayne Whig

Wayne Whig — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:44:30 +0000

ps – I forgot to add.

There is a gap in logic here: just because one technology that (at least some) experts said could not work, actually did work, doesn’t mean that another invention will work in the future, just because in the present day some expert or another says will not work.

(other `next big thinga’ that went nowhere: commercial supersonic jet technology; as well as flying cars…)