A cup of coffee. Can’t imagine life without it right? According to Calestous Juma, professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, initially people made claims that it could make you sterile or cause you to fall into a hysterical state.1 The opposition to changing your regular ‘bevi’ to this new concoction, first notably relied upon by imams who needed to stay alert to call for prayers, was formidable2.
Professor Juma posits that many people oppose an innovation even when adopting it is in their own best interest.3 That resistance knows no time boundaries. In 1877, builders in Harrodsburg, Kentucky completed the first cantilever bridge carrying the Cincinnati Southern, the first operational railroad in the U.S. across the Kentucky River. It was originally built without reinforced concrete which didn’t come on the scene until 18894. It took until 1904 for the first skyscraper to be built with it.5 Glad the early adopters won?