Indeed, I can remember being told by experts that nobody would ever: - Use the W... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		arethuza on Sept 15, 2010 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Quora: Startup Ideas that Persistently Fail Indeed, I can remember being told by experts that nobody would ever: - Use the Web as it wasn't a very "rich" experience - Do banking transactions on the Internet - No airline would sell tickets online These were all predictions by real experts in their respective fields. Arthur C. Clarke's First Law of Prediction applies: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong."

panic on Sept 15, 2010 | [–]

All startup ideas persistently fail — until they don't. Maybe it's not the idea that failed, but the implementation?

tome on Sept 15, 2010 | [–]

So the only things that are likely to be impossible are the things that distinguished but elderly scientists don't talk about.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact