Innovation, like robots, require hard sell

My first experience with robots ended in a disaster. We had the Hero-II
working after months of putting it together and learning what we could of
integrated circuits, sensors, Motorola 60something chip, etc. The next
morning we came in to set up a demonstration for senior management and
nothing worked. Employees in the plant had decided the robot was a threat to
their jobs, and found a way to put sand in the gearbox. Since then, most of
my efforts in automation have been similarly attacked.

innovation is the hardest thing in the world to sell. Any innovation
threatens the way we do things or have been doing things for years or
forever.

Any inventor/entrepreneur will admit upon questioning that the first
objection to their idea came from their own family, from their boss at work,
from the people he/she associated with, from the club, the organization....

Innovation is not welcome in the human psyche. It has been proven by Dr.
Ramachadran at the UCSD Brain Research Center. A tiny valve at the base of
the human brain filters out any information, seen and real, proven in a
laboratory a hundred times or more, or imagined, that does not conform to
our accepted pattern of knowledge.

When the Australians went from six pence, shilling and pound to the
Australian dollar of 100 pence to a dollar, some people committed suicide.
They just could not take the treason brought about by the global capitalists
against their well proven and working monetary system.
During the Spanish inquisition Jews and Gypsies chose to be burned at the
stake instead of simply pledging allegiance to Christianity. Sunnis and
Shiites continue to kill each other because of nonsensical differences
opinions on the name of God.

I'm starting a blog on the challenges of innovation and how some of us have
succeeded and failed in our efforts to bring about change. We always base
our reasoning on the idea that our ideas will help humanity in one form or
other. Even if sometimes our inventions end up in the wrong hands.

And you should see the sparks fly in the Mexican Food forum when somebody
dares to challenge authenticity by suggesting adding cumin to a traditional
mole.

Wayne
http://waynelund.blogspot.com/