5 Predictions that were Thankfully Ignored

Since the beginning of humanity, there have always been critics of innovation and change. Fortunately, millions of inventors did not let these crtics stop them from developing their ideas, even if the inventors were successful, educated individuals. In fact, the inventors of these 5 particular creations proved these critics wrong. 5. In 1876, an internal memo by Western Union declared that the telephone had "too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." This couldn't be more wrong: even if the idea of the telephone was not fully developed, the idea in itself was revolutionary. In fact, if developed, it could be of great use to the world of communication. This came into fruition throughout the 20th century. 4. When the President of a bank tells you to do something, it's usually wise to listen to this person, but in the case of Henry Ford's lawyer, he was right to disregard the Michigan Savings Bank President's advice. This bank president claimed that the automobile was only a "novelty, a fad" and that it was surely not there to stay: the horse, on the other hand, was. Although the first automobiles were quite expensive and even dangerous, as they lacked safety regulations and even seat belts, this president's claim was wrong. And it is great that this lawyer did invest in Ford's company, for without his and others' investments into this car company, the car industry may have not reached the wide-scale success that it has in our modern world: today a car is a necessity to most Americans, while owning a horse is more of "a novelty" than car ownership. 3. What Darryl Zanuck, a movie producer from 20th century Fox, failed to consider in 1946, when he said that television wouldn't last because people would "get tried of staring at a plywood box every night," was that the human mind could be very easily entertained by images displayed on wooden boxes, and that if he got tired of the plywood box, man would continue to improve this idea so that he could be less "bored." Zanuck could probably not even begin to fathom the existence of television screens. Fortunately for Fox, millions of viewers around the world don't get tired of staring at their screens for large periods of time and Zanuck was very wrong indeed. 2. Being King of Prussia and all, King William I must have had a lot of free time on his hands, which is probably why he proclaimed in 1864 that "no one" would "pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour" when one could simply "ride his horse there in one day for free." Poor William must not have heard the phrase "time is money," as an entire day of travel could be well spent by an American businessman into making a company millions of dollars. If trains would not have been created, transportation would still be very slow. Moreover, thousands of business men are actually quite willing to "pay good money" to get to their destinations in faster periods of time. 1. The Chairman of IBM in 1943, Thomas Watson was being very near-sighted when he predicted that the world market for computers would be "maybe five computers." He failed to see that the computer in itself was a great idea, and that great ideas can only be improved throughout time. Unfortunately, Watson did not live to see our modern world that is full of computers and computer buyers. The computer has become indispensable to millions of people's lives, which is why I'm glad that IBM ignored Watson's prediction by producing and improving computers.