With some of them, it’s not clear whether they were even intended as predictions; they may have been intended as statements about the technology at the time. Taken in that sense, they may have been true:
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”—Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Was there much demand for computers as they existed in 1943?
There’s also the problem that some of the claims may not have been intended as claims about what will happen, but about what should happen. For example, the Darwin quote:
“I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone.”—Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species, 1869.
That doesn’t entail people’s religious sensibilities won’t be shocked for bad reasons.
Also, these lists don’t cite their sources very well.
Can we compile better lists of false predictions?
With some of them, it’s not clear whether they were even intended as predictions; they may have been intended as statements about the technology at the time. Taken in that sense, they may have been true:
Was there much demand for computers as they existed in 1943?
There’s also the problem that some of the claims may not have been intended as claims about what will happen, but about what should happen. For example, the Darwin quote:
That doesn’t entail people’s religious sensibilities won’t be shocked for bad reasons.
Also, these lists don’t cite their sources very well.