Newsweek in 1995: Why the Internet will Fail(thenextweb.com)
thenextweb.com
Newsweek in 1995: Why the Internet will Fail
http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2010/02/27/newsweek-1995-buy-books-newspapers-straight-intenet-uh/#!qjm0k
3 comments
Here's Cliff Edwards telling us in 2001 that Apple Stores will fail.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-05-20/commentary-so...
We should create one list with all these predictions.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-05-20/commentary-so...
We should create one list with all these predictions.
what is with these cliffs haha
His commentary is very reminiscent of a lot of the Bitcoin doubters right now, short-sighted and ignoring the possibilities for innovation and improvement upon the current framework.
Of my many mistakes, flubs, and howlers, few have been as public as my 1995 howler.
Wrong? Yep.
At the time, I was trying to speak against the tide of futuristic commentary on how The Internet Will Solve Our Problems.
Gives me pause. Most of my screwups have had limited publicity: Forgetting my lines in my 4th grade play. Misidentifying a Gilbert and Sullivan song while suddenly drafted to fill in as announcer on a classical radio station. Wasting a week hunting for planets interior to Mercury’s orbit using an infrared system with a noise level so high that it couldn’t possibly detect ‘em. Heck – trying to dry my sneakers in a microwave oven (a quarter century later, there’s still a smudge on the kitchen ceiling)
And, as I’ve laughed at others’ foibles, I think back to some of my own cringeworthy contributions.
Now, whenever I think I know what’s happening, I temper my thoughts: Might be wrong, Cliff…
Warm cheers to all, -Cliff Stoll on a rainy Friday afternoon in Oakland
http://boingboing.net/2010/02/26/curmudgeony-essay-on.html#c...