4 ms·
Why New Technology Is a Hard Sell
- JohnFen 7y agoThat list leaves off an important factor: new technology is very rarely an unvarnished win. More commonly, it brings with it one or more new costs. The proponents of the new technology rarely mention (if they are even aware of) the tradeoffs it brings, and the normal person certainly won't know what they are either. But what most people are well aware of is that there is a cost that comes along with the benefit. That means people are taking a risk by adopting it, and even worse, it's an unknown risk both in terms of kind and degree. Caution about new tech is rational.
- dredmorbius 7y agoAnd those costs may or may not be apparent.
- dredmorbius 7y agoThere's another huge factor: new technologies challlenge existing power and wealth structures. The best research on this phenomenon I've found has been Bernhard J. Stern's "Resistances to the Adoption of Technological Innovations" (1937), which explores multiple instances, in communications, transport, materials, energy, housing, and more. Even disrupting workflows likely fits into this, in at least part. Original: https://archive.org/details/technologicaltre1937unitrich/page/39 https://archive.org/details/technologicaltre1937unitrich/pag... Retyped Markdown: https://pastebin.com/raw/Bapu75is https://pastebin.com/raw/Bapu75is