Computer proverbs

[James A. Landau]

Time magazine (URL http://www.time.com/time/europe/forecast2003/) has put
together a list of bad predictions.  Some of them have been discussed here in
ADS-L previously, such as

     I think there is a world market for maybe five computers
        THOMAS WATSON,
        chairman of IBM, 1943 on seeing the first mainframe computer

As I have previously commented, the attribution to Thomas Watson [Sr.] is
highly suspect.  Also TIME added a mistake to this mistake by using the word
"mainframe" which was not coined until years later and which cannot be
applied to any computer before Great Britain's EDSAC, first operational in
1948.

A few others which might comtend for the honor of being "computer proverbs"

      Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to communicate
      electronically across or under the stormy North Atlantic Ocean
          Dr DIONYSYS LARDER (1793-1859),
          professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College
London

This one is suspect because of the word "electronically" which is a 20th
Century term and which refers to devices which were not invented/discovered
until circa the 1880's.  Another from the same predictor:

     Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers,
     unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia
     Dr DIONYSYS LARDER (1793-1859),
     professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London


     Radio has no future
         LORD KELVIN,
         Scottish mathematician and physicist, former president of the Royal
Society,
         1897


     [By 1985], machines will be capable of doing any work Man can do
        HERBERT A. SIMON,
         of Carnegie Mellon University — considered to be a founder of the
field of
         artificial intelligence — speaking in 1965


       Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop — because women
       like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be
able to
       change their minds
         TIME,
         1966, in one sentence writing off e-commerce long before anyone
         had ever heard of it


        This antitrust thing will blow over
        BILL GATES,
        founder of Microsoft


      You wouldn't want to be in an airplane, you wouldn't want to be in an
elevator,
      and you wouldn't want to be in a hospital... contingency plans need to
be put
      into place to minimize the harm from widespread failures
        Sen. CHRIS DODD,
        Year 2000 Tech Committee Senate Hearings into the Millennium Bug,
       June 12, 1998

       Sterility may be inherited
       PACIFIC RURAL NEWS

Huh?

and I can't resist this one, even though not computer-related:

        A short-lived satirical pulp
        TIME,
        writing off Mad magazine in 1956. Mad is still going. (So is TIME)

               - James A. Landau
                 systems engineer
                 FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
                 Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA