What about the robots?

For all the gray matter in Davos this week, the assembled dignitaries aren’t always spot-on with their predictions.

In truth, there are probably more hits than misses. But the misses are so much more amusing. The Washington Post lists a few that caught our eye.

Take CEO Ken Lay boasting in 2001 that his wonderful company Enron was a model of a “21st century corporation.” Within five years, Enron was bankrupt and Lay had been found guilty of fraud.

Or Bill Gates’ 2004 pronouncement that “Two years from now, spam will be solved.”

Our favorite came in 1998 from two scientists who predicted the rise of smart robots and their inevitable global domination. Humans, they said, will be reduced to cuddly pets for their robotic masters.

Of course, the robot prediction hasn’t come true. Yet.

• Jan 27, 2010 7:16 AM — Dirk Mathison
• 1 comments