Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

The Wiki Man | 20 June 2009

Whenever you make an optimistic prediction, you risk being wrong twice.

issue 20 June 2009

Whenever you make an optimistic prediction, you risk being wrong twice. First there is the risk that the prediction itself is wrong: 1,000 Concordes by 1973; flying cars; food in pill form. More often, though, it isn’t the prediction that’s wrong but the optimism that accompanies it.

The commonest failing of techno- optimists is to be right about future technologies but naively idealistic about the lasting enjoyment they will bring.

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