In recent days, an editorial published 120 years ago, in October 1903, by The New York Times, circulated. After a failed attempt to fly a predecessor to airplanes, the newspaper mocked “Flying Machines That Don’t Fly” to conclude that such development could only “evolve with the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanics” in at least one year. million years.
With that anecdote, the BBC took up other major failed technological predictions, in a lesson about the unpredictability of history and the need for caution before ruling on definitive victories (or defeats).
Listen to Pablo Corso’s complete column on Radio Perfil.
