Ever wonder why some ideas stick, become successful technologies, make a lot of money and embed themselves into our daily lives… and others don’t? Okay, we can generalize and say people fear novelty; maybe there are institutions and groups threatened, and unwilling to overcome inertia and “how business is done” to move along with the latest in science. But is there a more systematic way to understand these forces, and a way we can capture them in the service of technological development and ultimately human betterment?

Calestous Juma may have the answer in his latest book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies. He is a Professor of International Development and the Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at Harvard JFK School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

 

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