Prediction is difficult about the future

Larry called this afternoon from Spokane of Washington State. Now he works as a testing engineering for Worldwide Packets (http://www.wwp.com), a start-up company specialized in Ethernet solutions for telecommunications services providers. He mentioned about some predictions for 2007 which could have serious impacts to millions of people.

Last night I came across a saying “prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” when I was reading a speech by the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke attributes this saying to Yogi Berra. I checked on the Internet about the origin of this saying. I have found several sources for the same words.

One attributes this saying to Niels Bohr (1885-1962). Bohr was a Nobel Prize winner of Physics in 1922. He discovered the atomic structure and made contribution to the understanding of Quantum Physics.

Another one attributes this saying to Paul Dirac (1902-1984). Dirac was a famous mathematician who discovered the Dirac Delta δ(x) and physicist who made contribution to the understanding of Quantum Physics.

Yogi Berra is still alive (1925 - ). He was with George Bush in a state dinner when Bernanke might be present. So this saying is attributed to him even by Ben Bernanke.

I truly believe that “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” was first said by someone long before Bohr, Dirac, and certainly Berra. But such a fundamental philosophical saying has to be attributed to someone who is famous enough to take the credits.