clipped from paul.merton.ox.ac.uk Embarrassing Predictions "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949 "But what ... is it good for?" Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip. "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. "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929. "Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899. "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981 "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.