Archive for December, 2008

When you launch BlogJet for the first time, it conveniently shows you a test post that you can publish to see if you have configured the program right. Early versions of BlogJet included the following quotation:

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” — Pablo Picasso

Then I found a better quote on the Web and replaced Picasso’s one with it:

“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” — Albert Einstein

It turns out, Albert Einstein didn’t say that. Instead, this quote is from Leo Cherne, an American economist.

This was discovered by Ben Shoemate, and he wrote a post in his blog about it:

People use quotes as a way to strengthen their own position. If I can quote someone you respect, it adds credibility to whatever argument I’m making. Over time, the truth gets further and further away. The biggest names have always attracted people who are more than willing to put words into their mouths for their own gain – Confucious, Jesus, Aristotle, Shakespere, Einstein, and the biggest, most misquoted, of them all – God. All of them have probably been quoted more for the things they never said, than things they actually did say. I imagine this is the most disappointing part of time travel, waiting around to witness words never spoken and deeds never done.

Ben made a research to found the actual source and author. You can read more in his blog.

I’m totally agree with him, and I’m sorry that I helped spread the disinformation. Here’s the lesson: when you’re looking for a good quotation, don’t trust a few websites — do a better research.

xkcd comic

Thanks, Ben!

P.S. See also Wikipedia’s List of misquotations.