2 ms·
There are other factors not mentioned in this article. First, most technologies are challenging to use and expensive at first. There are often related technolo
by dwheeler 7y ago
There are other factors not mentioned in this article.
First, most technologies are challenging to use and expensive at first. There are often related technologies that are required to make the first technology actually be useful. For example indoor toilets are not really useful without plungers.
The second problem is survivorship bias. People are rightly skeptical of new technology, because most new technology turns out to be rather limited in its uses, at least initially. It's easy to comment on the slow adoption of some past technologies, because we can see their wide use later, yet we ignore all the garbage that they were also trying to ignore. See
https://xkcd.com/1827/ https://xkcd.com/1827/
- essayist 7y agoPeter Senge brought your first point to life for me: The Wright brothers proved that powered flight was possible, but the McDonnel Douglas DC3, introduced in 1935, ushered in the era of commercial air travel. The DC3 was the first plane that supported itself economically as well as aerodynamically.... The DC-3, for the first time, brought together five critical component technologies that formed a successful ensemble. They were: the variable-pitch propeller, retractable landing gear, a type of lightweight molded body construction called “monocque,” a radial air-cooled engine, and wing flaps. To succeed, the DC3 needed all five; four were not enough. One year earlier, the Boeing 247 was introduced with all of them except wing flaps. Boeing’s engineers found that the plane, lacking wing flaps, was unstable on takeoff and landing, and they had to downsize the engine. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/163984/the-fifth-discipline-by-peter-m-senge/9780385517256/excerpt https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/163984/the-fifth-dis...