Human behavior seems to have a big influence on if an invention will be popular enough to exist and become ubiquitous or not. Often it is not the want for a better technology, but for what is the cheapest technology that really drives the market. For example, a few years after the incandescent light bulb was invented, the florescent light bulb was created. Although it is a better technology, it took nearly 120 years before the florescent bulbs caught on.
Here is a second example. The electric hybrid car was invented in 1899 by Ferdinand Porsche. In the beginning the technology although in its early development stages proved that the technology worked, but was also reliable. Porsche's electric hybrid technology went on to be used by trucking companies in France and Germany. It took 100 years later for it to make inroads to being mainstream. We have seen it played out over and over again. For example, VHS over Beta, Coke over Pepsi, PC over Mac, Atari over Amiga on and on. Many technologies that were skipped over or forgotten in the beginning end up finding a new life many years later down the road where scientists had to make a U turn and start down a new path. Are we, the human collective, our worst enemy when it comes to our own development? -- Bringing diversity to perversity for over 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
