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Mixed feelings TE XT
Martin Kaluza
People respond enthusiastically to some innovations and very cautiously to others. But why? The American sociologist Everett Rogers (1931 – 2004) spent a lifetime investigating this very question. When a new hybrid seed for corn became available in the 1930s, not all the farmers in Iowa were thrilled. Rogers’ father was among them: he was open-minded about new farm equipment, but took a dim view of biochemical innovations. The drought of 1936 changed his mind: his neighbors who had sown the new seeds were suffering much fewer crop failures than he was. In 1962 his son Everett, who was only five years old when the drought struck, described in his “diffusion of innovations” theory how new inventions catch on. He coined the expression “early adopters” for people who embrace innovations early and used “laggards” to describe those who joined the game late. When it came to farm equipment, his father was an early adopter; with regard to new seeds, he was a laggard. The top seven innovations, some of which were greeted with euphoria and others eyed with stern skepticism, provide insights into evolving mindsets over the ages. 1 Railway: Insanity and the technology from hell Europe owes much of its industrialization to the railways. That said, they got off to a slow start. Before the first train line in Germany opened in 1835 – the Nuremberg to Fürth route – the pastor of the local town of Schwabach issued a stark warning: “The railway comes from Hell. And anyone riding it is heading straight back through its gates!” Doctors expressed concern that people traveling at such high speeds were risking brain damage and pneumonia. The first trains had started running ten years ear lier in England. But in the 1860s, there were mounting cases of ostensibly innocuous passen gers suddenly freaking out – at least as long as the wheels were turning beneath them. Their erratic behavior subsided whenever the trains stopped. But none of that slowed the spread of the railway: by 1885, 30,000 kilometers of track had been laid in England and 40,000 in Germany.
2 X-rays: See-through people Seeing inside someone’s body without cutting it open? That really was novel. The accidental breakthrough made by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895 met with great enthusiasm. While working in his laboratory, the physicist had found that cathode rays made crystals glow – even when he blocked them with cardboard. The X-rays, as he called them, pene trated wood, water, and even the human body. The first object X-rayed by Roentgen was his wife’s hand. The invention helped diagnose fractured bones and skeletal diseases. Soon people could get themselves X-rayed at funfairs. Shops checked to see if their shoes were a good fit for customers’ feet. Roentgen deliberately refrained from patenting his invention and received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for it in 1901. Enthusiasm soon waned, however, when it emerged that the rays caused cancer. Since 1941, the technology has only been used under tight restrictions – by trained personnel and chiefly for medical purposes. 3 Mandatory seatbelts: threat or savior? The obligation to buckle up numbers among the world’s unloved innovations. And that despite the fact that the benefits of seat belts were undisputed even before their intro duction. In Austria and Germany, they became mandatory in 1976, following a fierce public debate the previous year. Opponents pointed out that they restricted movement, predicting that passengers would be unable to escape if the car caught fire or became submerged in water. A contemporary study found that seat belts were “mainly associated with the dangers and consequences of accidents, and only secondarily with the function of protecting passengers from them.” 4 Women’s suffrage: the battle against inequality Liberty, equality, fraternity! The French Revolution’s mantra did not extend explicitly to all French citizens: brothers may have gained the vote, but their sisters remained disenfranchised. In 1791, two years after the overthrow of the monarchy, women’s rights activist Olympe de Gouges demanded parity in her Declaration
