Prediction of the technological future has always been problematic...

Remember the "flying cars" predictions of the 50s? Even as a kid I knew that wouldn't work.

Also in the 50s, "peaceful" uses of atomic bombs, like widening the Suez canal.

Lord Kelvin...
"No balloon and no aeroplane will ever be practically successful."
"There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement."

Henry Ellsworth, patent commissioner, in 1843...
"The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end."

Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM...
I think there is a world market for about five computers. (said in 1943).

H. M. Warner, founder of Warner Brothers, in 1927...
Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?