Resistances to the Adoption of Technological Innovations (1937)
archive.org
archive.org
I'd been aware of the article from mentions by Isaac Asimov, who'd conducted much of the literature search for Stern while a student at Columbia, and mentions it in a few places. He based his short story "Trends" off the notion, as described here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=SWBqlnbIIqkC&pg=PA54&lpg=P...
I'd tracked down a portion of the article (published in three parts), and someone pointed me at the Internet Archive version earlier this year.
I found the quality wanting, so retyped it myself. Beware typos. I may have a cleaner version elsewhere.
https://mastodon.cloud/@dredmorbius/101929608999060831
I find any number of aspects of the piece fascinating. Stern's own history, Asimov's involvement, the specific technologies listed, the dynamics and parties involved in resistance, the citations and references, the specific arguments made and raised (for and agaist technologies), and the depressing regularitty with which one period's tech maverick becomes the next's obstructor. Specific detail (the rationale against typesetting the Koran because of hog-bristle brushes, particularly).
> In either case the extent of the public interest in freeing and encouraging these im- provements will largely deteiinine in the next decade or more the technical pi'ogress which may be expected in construction.
and the last sentence in the md is:
> Capitalism has inherent in its structure and functioning, factors which militate against such realization, and thus prevent industrial practice from keeping apace with scientific knowledge.
also the markdown converted to pdf is 60 pages (with a 12pt font). While the original has ~400.
End of Stern's article: https://archive.org/details/technologicaltre1937unitrich/pag...
I did not retype all of Technological trends and national policy, including the social implications of new inventions. I may be crazy and obsessive. I am not insane ;-)
The author of the article is Bernhard J. Stern, and it's also interesting to read about him:
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv62136
"In the early 1950's Bernhard Stern and his wife Charlotte Todes Stern, were among many Americans summoned by Senator McCarthy's Committee on Un-American Activities. Charlotte Stern was one of 25 literary names who defied the Committee and faced jail sentences. In addition, three of Stern's own books (all on medicine) were banned from the State Department's overseas libraries. As a result of this Committee's questioning and the "red scare", both the Sterns worked all the harder for the Bill of Rights guarantees."
His other article about technology:
Stern, B. J. (1945). The Challenge of Advancing Technology. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 242(1), 46–52. doi:10.1177/000271624524200107
The paper about him:
The intellectual in a time of crisis: The case of Bernhard J. Stern, 1894‐1956 Samuel W. Bloom, January 1990 https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(199001)26:1<17::AID-JHBS23...
I suspect this may be a reason why Winchester's work is not mentioned at all by that other British historian of technology and innovation, James Burke, of whom I'm also a fan. (Connections and The Day the Universe Changed.)
(Late response, apologies.)
The amount that comes from essentially protectionist, conservative, and/or rent-seeking interests, as documented by Stern, is notable.