They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Tbf, we should still be laughing at Columbus. He didn't prove the Earth was round, we knew that already. He died believing he had "discovered" India. That and he was a racist, baby killing, monster that inflicted such barbaric actions towards the Native Americans that even members of his own crew were like "Whoa there. They might be godless savages, but this is really fucked up. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Columbus was wrong. He thought the diameter of the earth was much smaller that the common estimate at the time which turned out close to the actual value.
My favorite example is that some dude predicted that cities will swim in horse shit in the future. Than cars were invented and horses in cities are a rarity. All the people you talk about got it right because you never talk about those who got it wrong #selectionbias
"Survivor bias" also applies here.
