Side by side: taking a dual approach to technology development
Innovative ways of working attract initial attention for their novelty, but they succeed or fail on their utility. Technologists positively downplay the gee-whiz factor these days, rightly focusing on the benefits of new developments. But there tends to be less stress on one big reality of all technological change: since truly radical breaks with the past are vanishingly rare, innovations have to work alongside what’s already in place.