r/SipsTea • • 23h ago

SMH Museum of Useless Inventions

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u/D3SK3R 22h ago edited 22h ago

Personal computer (mid-1970s): Dismissed as a hobbyist toy. Established firms (e.g., HP, Atari) declined to back Apple’s prototype.

Laser (1960): Described by its own researchers as “a solution looking for a problem.” It is now foundational to fiber optics, surgery, barcode scanning, and manufacturing.

Transistor (1947): Announcement received minimal press coverage. The New York Times reportedly placed it in a short radio-news item.

Television (1920s-30s): Widely judged impractical or a passing novelty. In 1946, a major film executive predicted it would not hold an audience after the first months.

all of these were considered useless when invented, guess I don't even need to explain how much they are being used today, right?

it's not just because it's Elon Musk that you guys have to blindly hate it, you can simply appreciate something cool just because... it's cool.

edit: well based on the downvotes you guys DO need to hate it just because of Musk, guess childish people will keep on hating then.

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u/OzymandiasKingofKing 22h ago

All of the things this car can do (use of compressed-air jets, downforce suction, etc) are things that already exist and have no place on a road car. This was a gimmick. 

Which, fine, marketing. We're just all sick of Elon's marketing shtick at this point.

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u/starkrampf 18h ago

Most inventions are combinations of other established ideas.

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u/thetruebigfudge 16h ago

The light bulb was just a vacuum glass (which anyone can do) and a carbon filament (which already existed)

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u/OzymandiasKingofKing 16h ago

Jesus Christ. It's a car with some jump jets. Take a deep breath and go outside.

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u/thetruebigfudge 4h ago

Lol what the fuck?