Slow on the Uptake: Why Society is Often Slow to Adopt Major Innovations

Human progress seems to advance in fits and starts. Many of history’s most important inventions and ideas took centuries or even millennia to be widely adopted by societies across the globe.

Writing systems, germ theory, vaccines, evolution – these revolutionary developments changed the arc of civilisation. Yet they struggled for acceptance despite ample evidence and the persistence of brilliant minds who championed them. Why is society so slow on the uptake for innovations that later prove to be game-changers?

Dominant Worldviews

As historian Thomas Kuhn explored in his seminal book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” established scientific paradigms are notoriously resistant to evidence that contradicts their foundational assumptions and conventional wisdom. Findings that don’t neatly fit the dominant worldview face an uphill battle toward acceptance. Scientists and scholars may actively suppress or ignore discoveries that undermine existing consensus due to cognitive biases. Revolutionary concepts thus lie dormant for ages.

Enablers

Technological limitations also stall adoption until complementary advancements accumulate that allow applications at scale. The printing press enabled modern vaccination campaigns. Electric lighting powered factories adopting steam engines. Progress builds gradually across spheres.

Dogmas

Cultural and religious convictions add yet another barrier. Entrenched dogmas about humanity’s place in the cosmos delayed recognition of heliocentrism for almost two millennia. Evolution continues to meet public scepticism given its clash with ancient belief systems.

Modern global connectivity accelerates recognition and validation of emerging innovations. But inertia remains strong; it may still take generations for the path-breaking ideas of today – artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, commercial space travel – to permeate societies around the world.

As organisational psychotherapy teaches us, even institutions and companies struggle to adapt to new paradigms that challenge traditional ways of operating. Stagnant bureaucracies are often buoyed by conformity and risk-aversion.

Human brilliance endows our species with ceaseless creativity. But receptiveness continues to lag the tempo of human invention. Kuhn and other historians help explain society’s chronic slowness to process paradigm-shattering developments. Open and equitable access to knowledge can perhaps narrow the stubborn gap between discovery and its widespread adoption.