oddly people thought computers when first invented were pointless and wasteful but here we are. Everything is pointless and wasteful. Sports, racing, trucks, gaming in 4k with a 6000 gpu... most of the things you do in your day are wasteful in one way or another.
really love how people dont know history - IBM and DEC thought they were worthless to everyone person outside of the govt.
"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home," stated by Ken Olsen at a 1977 World Future Society convention. In an earlier 1974 internal meeting, he similarly remarked, "I can't see any reason that anyone would want a computer of his own"
IBM - 1943 - "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers"
Then again IBM wasn't the only maker of personal computers was it. Also the Watson quote is a myth. What Watson said was about after asking 20 potential buyers for his IBM 701 he expected to sell 5.
"The Yale Book of Quotations quotes an I.B.M. source that this “… is a misunderstanding of remarks made at I.B.M.’s annual stockholders meeting on April 28, 1953. In referring specifically and only to the I.B.M. 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine … Thomas Watson, Jr., told stockholders that ‘I.B.M. had developed a paper plan for such a machine and took this paper plan across the country to some 20 concerns that we thought could use such a machine. … As a result of our trip, on which we expected to get orders for five machines, we came home with orders for 18.'”
Not quite the same is it?
So you say that because a few people you point to said something the rest of the world just rolled with it. There was a huge amateur market already open in the 70s. My friend built one from scratch. In 1943 the necessary technology didn't exist at the time. IBM made calculators and census counters with punch cards. Alan Turing was already building the precursors in the 1940s without mentioning Babbage even earlier.
Flying cars have been written about for a very long time and in no manner is there a market for what Musk is doing. He just put rockets on a Tesla and gave you a circus show. This is the Segway all over again.
This sure isn't the Wright Brothers. The Wright Brothers developed the design for airflow in a wing and paired it with an engine. The airplane opened up an entire space that was completely unoccupied except for the occasional hot air balloon. In a matter of a year there were more designs and expansion. They invented a complete new means of travel and unfortunately war. The Tesla with rockets built into a car is a side show.
That’s a really bad comparison if you understand ANYTHING about computers, or cars. The pace of innovation for computers, integrated circuits, and data storage between the 1950s and 1980s was incredibly fast. Much of it came directly out of government funding and military R&D, but once that ball got rolling, the advancements were quick in succession. And that’s just the hardware side. Advances in software occurred even more rapidly. When a technology advances that fast, it becomes notoriously hard to predict what will happen next.
Cars are a completely different ballgame. The auto industry in general is much slower to adopt widespread change. A decade or so after they became widely available, hybrid and electric cars are still facing obstacles. The US spent decades building a public infrastructure that runs on gas and diesel, and for reasons that are both economic and political, the government is majorly dragging its feet with electric car charging availability and renewable energy projects specifically.
And to state the obvious, most people just want a car that works. There is no real market incentive for mass-market “flying cars” or whatever you call this. The demand does not exist, and will not be coaxed into existence by Elon Musk of all people.
This.
At least computers DID and do still have a purpose.
No one needs a fucking car that can ‘jump’ (it’s not even a car it’s just a hollow thing, you can’t even sit in it), this is no different to putting little boosters on a rock, it serves no purpose, no one ‘needs’ it, it’s not ‘impressive’ in any sense.
Why the fuck are so many people defending a literal pedo because his shit company made a ‘cool car’.
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u/Beneficial_Bit1756 15h ago
oddly people thought computers when first invented were pointless and wasteful but here we are. Everything is pointless and wasteful. Sports, racing, trucks, gaming in 4k with a 6000 gpu... most of the things you do in your day are wasteful in one way or another.