Flutterby™! : It'll never work

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It'll never work

2011-03-08 17:22:26.637796+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

It'll never work! A bunch of amusingly wrong predictions.

[Edit: jims points out in the comments that Snopes has debunked this quote]

The dangers are obvious. Stores of gasoline in the hands of people interested primarily in profit would constitute a fire and explosive hazard of the first rank. Horseless carriages propelled by gasoline might attain speeds of 14 or even 20 miles per hour. The menace to our people of vehicles of this type hurtling through our streets and along our roads and poisoning the atmosphere would call for prompt legislative action even if the military and economic implications were not so overwhelming... [T]he cost of producing [gasoline] is far beyond the financial capacity of private industry... In addition the development of this new power may displace the use of horses, which would wreck our agriculture.

- U. S. Congressional Record, 1875.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Invention and Design Work, productivity and environment Pyrotechnics Economics ]

comments in descending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2011-03-08 19:34:00.007394+00 by: Dan Lyke

Awesome! Thanks, Jim!

#Comment Re: made: 2011-03-08 18:37:39.165219+00 by: jims [edit history]

Curse you Snopes! I was enjoying this until I tried to properly attribute it and found the Snopesing of it instead. 1875 Horseless Carriage COmmittee Report