“The phonograph has no commercial value at all.”
- Thomas Edison, 1880s
When it comes to pitiful predictions, Thomas Edison, the same mega-genius responsible for inventing the light bulb, the movie camera, and yes, the phonograph, has no peer. Somehow, though Edison could so clearly see the future in his own creations, he was noticeably more foggy when speaking of that future. His predictions for the phonograph were just one of many gaffs:
Edison, 1895: “It is apparent to me that the possibilities of the aeroplane, which two or three years ago were thought to hold the solution to the (flying machine) problem, have been exhausted, and that we must turn elsewhere.”
Edison, 1922: “The radio craze will die out in time.”
Edison, 1889: “Fooling around with alternating current (AC) is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.”
Yet for all these groaners, Edison also spouted more than a few gems. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work,” still cracks us up. And let us not forget his now ubiquitous nose-to-the-grindstone observation, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
We’ll leave you with this very astute Edison-ism: “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
Click through the different predictions below:
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The movie industry is going all-digital. The incandescent lamp is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The phonograph is strictly a (fading) niche market. Mimeograph machines (yes, Edison invented the mimeograph) are gone.
Basically, only one thing Edison invented is still in use (and likely for the foreseeable future).
Charcoal briquettes.
Metcalfe wasn’t too far off when he predicted the downfall of the internet. Although it didn’t completely crash, it may be worth noting the “dot com” bubble bust of 2000 was a significant blow to the internet’s growth and profitability.