--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I say, technically, I don't think anyone…" description: "\"I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world knows how to do such a thing. and I feel confident it will not be done for a very long period to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg" --- # I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world… ![“I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world knows how to do such a thing. and I feel confident it will not be done for a very long period to come. I think we can leave that out of our thinking. I wish the American public would leave that out of their thinking.” quote by Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg) > “I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world knows how to do such a thing. and I feel confident it will not be done for a very long period to come. I think we can leave that out of our thinking. I wish the American public would leave that out of their thinking.” [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Complex future technologies are beyond current capabilities and unlikely to be realized soon. **In simple terms:** Advanced tech is far off and not yet feasible. Key Takeaway Focus on present achievable goals. Themes technology future skepticism realism innovation Mood cautious thoughtful Type analytical reflective When to use this quote - research funding - policy planning - public communication - education - media reporting Key Concepts technological forecasting risk assessment public expectation Questions to Reflect On - What breakthroughs could change this timeline? - How to balance optimism with realism? A Different Perspective Overly pessimistic views may stifle visionary research. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aviation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aviation/) [Predictions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/predictions/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [The less self-conscious you are about what you are about, the better in a way, that is to say technically. You have to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/the-less-self-conscious-you-are-about-what-you-are-about-the-better/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [“Don't think what the world has given to you, think only what you will give to the world .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audil-aslam/don-t-think-what-the-world-has-given-to-you-think-only-what-you-will/) Audil Aslam > [With the possible exception of having more pleasing lines to the eye while in flight, the monoplane possesses no material advantage over the biplane.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-curtiss/with-the-possible-exception-of-having-more-pleasing-lines-to-the-eye/) Glenn Curtiss > [Now my playmates never failed to wink and smile mockingly at me when one of them called 'Man flies!' for at the word I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-santos-dumont/now-my-playmates-never-failed-to-wink-and-smile-mockingly-at-me-when/) [Alberto Santos-Dumont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-santos-dumont/) > [The helicopter has never achieved much success and . . .may be classes with the ornithopter as obsolete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-stewart/the-helicopter-has-never-achieved-much-success-and-may-be-classes/) Oliver Stewart > [Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dionysius-lardner/rail-travel-at-high-speed-is-not-possible-because-passengers-unable/) Dionysius Lardner > [The Air Corps . . . does not, at this time, feel justified in obligating . . . funds for basic jet propulsion research and experimentation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-brett/the-air-corps-does-not-at-this-time-feel-justified-in-obligating/) [George Brett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-brett/) > [I suppose we shall soon travel by air-vessels; make air instead of sea voyages; and at length find our way to the moon, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/i-suppose-we-shall-soon-travel-by-air-vessels-make-air-instead-of-sea/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [ The whole procedure \[of shooting rockets into space\] . . . presents difficulties of so fundamental a nature, that we are forced to dismiss… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-van-der-riet-woolley/the-whole-procedure-of-shooting-rockets-into-space-presents/) Richard van der Riet Woolley > [The machine may even carry mail is special cases. But the useful load will be very small. The machines will eventually be fast, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octave-chanute/the-machine-may-even-carry-mail-is-special-cases-but-the-useful-load/) [Octave Chanute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octave-chanute/) > [Although humans today remain more capable than machines for many tasks, by 2030 machine capabilities will have increased to the point that humans will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-j-a-dahm/although-humans-today-remain-more-capable-than-machines-for-many/) Werner J. A. Dahm > [I do not think that a flight across the Atlantic will be made in our time, and in our time I include the youngest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-rolls/i-do-not-think-that-a-flight-across-the-atlantic-will-be-made-in-our/) Charles Rolls > [Oh well, I suppose lots of people will do it now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-whitten-brown/oh-well-i-suppose-lots-of-people-will-do-it-now/) Arthur Whitten Brown > [The first real air-liner, carrying some five or six hundred passengers, will probably appear after or towards the end of the battle between fixed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-stewart/the-first-real-air-liner-carrying-some-five-or-six-hundred-passengers/) Oliver Stewart > [But we must admit the possibility that continued investigation and experience will bring us ever nearer to that solemn moment, when the first man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-lilienthal/but-we-must-admit-the-possibility-that-continued-investigation-and/) [Otto Lilienthal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-lilienthal/) ## More by Vannevar Bush > [The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/the-camera-hound-of-the-future-wears-on-his-forehead-a-lump-a-little/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/if-scientific-reasoning-were-limited-to-the-logical-processes-of/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. Nearly all men of science, all men of learning for that matter, and men of simple…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/science-has-a-simple-faith-which-transcends-utility-nearly-all-men-of/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [Science can give mankind a better standard of living, better health and a better mental life, if mankind in turn gives science the sympathy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/science-can-give-mankind-a-better-standard-of-living-better-health/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [The responsibility for the creation of new scientific knowledge - and for most of its application - rests on that small body of men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/the-responsibility-for-the-creation-of-new-scientific-knowledge-and/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/if-scientific-reasoning-were-limited-to-the-logical-processes-of-2/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/science-has-a-simple-faith-which-transcends-utility-it-is-the-faith/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [A belief may be larger than a fact.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/a-belief-may-be-larger-than-a-fact/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [It was through the Second World War that most of us suddenlyappreciated for the first time the power of man's concentrated efforts to understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/it-was-through-the-second-world-war-that-most-of-us/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/wholly-new-forms-of-encyclopedias-will-appear-ready-made-with-a-mesh/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [Give these people money, let them play, and they'll come up with something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/give-these-people-money-let-them-play-and-they-ll-come-up-with/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [The scene changes but the aspirations of men of good will persist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/the-scene-changes-but-the-aspirations-of-men-of-good-will-persist/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/a-record-if-it-is-to-be-useful-to-science-must-be-continuously/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [ The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, \[but\] the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/the-summation-of-human-experience-is-being-expanded-at-a-prodigious/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) > [There will always be plenty of things to compute in the detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/there-will-always-be-plenty-of-things-to-compute-in-the-detailed/) [Vannevar Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) [Explore all 38 Vannevar Bush quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/) ## More Aviation quotes > [There is something more important than any ultimate weapon. That is the ultimate position-the position of total control over Earth that lies somewhere out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/there-is-something-more-important-than-any-ultimate-weapon-that-is/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [I'm getting housemaid's knee kneeling here gulping beauty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amelia-earhart/i-m-getting-housemaid-s-knee-kneeling-here-gulping-beauty/) [Amelia Earhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amelia-earhart/) > [I am alive. Up here with the song of the engine and the air whispering on my face as the sunlight and shadows play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-coonts/i-am-alive-up-here-with-the-song-of-the-engine-and-the-air-whispering/) [Stephen Coonts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-coonts/) > [A thing of orchestrated hell-a terrible symphony of light and flame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-r-murrow/a-thing-of-orchestrated-hell-a-terrible-symphony-of-light-and-flame/) [Edward R. Murrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-r-murrow/) > [Splutter, splutter. Yes - we're off - we're rising. But why start off with an engine like that? But it smooths out now, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/splutter-splutter-yes-we-re-off-we-re-rising-but-why-start-off-with/) [Anne Morrow Lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [If the Wright brother were alive today Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-kelleher/if-the-wright-brother-were-alive-today-wilbur-would-have-to-fire/) [Herb Kelleher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-kelleher/) > [Aviators live by hours, not by days.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-h-white-2/aviators-live-by-hours-not-by-days/) [T. H. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-h-white-2/) > [This strongly asserted but ill-defined license to kill without accountability is not an entitlement which the United States or other states can have without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-alston/this-strongly-asserted-but-ill-defined-license-to-kill-without/) Philip Alston > [Every flyer who ventures across oceans to distant lands is a potential explorer; in his or her breast burns the same fire that urged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-batten/every-flyer-who-ventures-across-oceans-to-distant-lands-is-a/) Jean Batten > [When you get to know me, I don't despair - I just get up, clean up, and start again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/avi-arad/when-you-get-to-know-me-i-don-t-despair-i-just-get-up-clean-up-and/) [Avi Arad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/avi-arad/) > [Be Luke Skywalker, not Darth Vader. Ultimately love is stronger than evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-burr/be-luke-skywalker-not-darth-vader-ultimately-love-is-stronger-than/) Don Burr > [Had I been a man I might have explored the Poles or climbed Mount Everest, but as it was my spirit found outlet in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-johnson/had-i-been-a-man-i-might-have-explored-the-poles-or-climbed-mount/) [Amy Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-johnson/) > [As a fighter pilot I know from my own experiences how decisive surprise and luck can be for success, which in the long run…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-galland/as-a-fighter-pilot-i-know-from-my-own-experiences-how-decisive/) [Adolf Galland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-galland/) > [The way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I'd rather fly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/len-morgan/the-way-i-see-it-you-can-either-work-for-a-living-or-you-can-fly/) Len Morgan [Browse all 977 Aviation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aviation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world knows how to do such a thing. and I feel confident it will not be done for a very long period to come. I think we can leave that out of our thinking. I wish the American public would leave that out of their thinking.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vannevar Bush" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-in-the-world-knows-how-to-do/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aviation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-in-the-world-knows-how-to-do/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/023/vannevar-bush-16927_aviation_i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-i_1817537.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I say, technically, I don't think anyone in the world knows how to do such a thing. and I feel confident it…” — Vannevar Bush", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Vannevar Bush", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vannevar-bush/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I say, technically, I don't think...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-in-the-world-knows-how-to-do/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vannevar-bush/i-say-technically-i-don-t-think-anyone-in-the-world-knows-how-to-do/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```