Skip to main content

Famous Quotes on Technology Adoption

From ancient philosophers to AI pioneers - a chronological journey through humanity's relationship with innovation and change.

56 quotes spanning over 2,500 years of human history

Ancientc. 500 BCE
“The only thing that is constant is change.”
HeraclitusGreek philosopherFragments
Ancientc. 400 BCE
“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”
SocratesGreek philosopherAttributed via Plato's dialogues
Renaissance1532
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
Niccolo MachiavelliPolitical philosopherThe Prince
Enlightenment1675
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Isaac NewtonMathematician & physicistLetter to Robert Hooke
Industrial Revolution1834
“Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.”
Thomas CarlyleHistorian & philosopherSartor Resartus
Early 20th Century1921
“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.”
Christian Lous LangeNorwegian historian & Nobel Peace Prize laureateNobel Peace Prize lecture
Early 20th Century1926 (summarizing Aristotle, c. 340 BCE)
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will DurantHistorian, summarizing AristotleThe Story of Philosophy
Early 20th Century1929
“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”
Alfred North WhiteheadMathematician & philosopherProcess and Reality
Early 20th Century1939
“The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.”
Antoine de Saint-ExuperyAviator & authorWind, Sand and Stars
Mid 20th Century1942
“The process of creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism.”
Joseph SchumpeterEconomistCapitalism, Socialism and Democracy
Mid 20th Century1943 (attribution disputed)
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Thomas WatsonChairman of IBMWidely cited; no primary source found despite extensive research
Mid 20th Century1946
“Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
Darryl ZanuckHead of 20th Century FoxWidely cited; first appeared in print in the 1970s
Mid 20th Century1949
“Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers of the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh only one and a half tons.”
Popular MechanicsMagazinePopular Mechanics, March 1949
Computing Era1962
“Innovations that are perceived by individuals as having greater relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity will be adopted more rapidly than other innovations.”
Everett RogersCommunication theoristDiffusion of Innovations
Computing Era1962
“The diffusion of innovations is a social process, even more than a technical matter.”
Everett RogersCommunication theoristDiffusion of Innovations
Computing Era1962
“Most individuals do not evaluate an innovation on the basis of scientific studies of its consequences. Instead, most people depend mainly upon a subjective evaluation of an innovation that is conveyed to them from other individuals like themselves who have previously adopted the innovation.”
Everett RogersCommunication theoristDiffusion of Innovations
Computing Era1962
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
Arthur C. ClarkeScience fiction author & futuristProfiles of the Future (Clarke's Second Law)
Computing Era1963
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
John F. Kennedy35th President of the United StatesAddress in Frankfurt, Germany
Computing Era1969
“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.”
B.F. SkinnerPsychologistContingencies of Reinforcement
Computing Erac. 1970
“I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.”
Isaac AsimovScience fiction author & biochemistWidely attributed; popularized via Isaac Asimov's nonfiction essays
Computing Era1970
“The great growling engine of change — technology.”
Alvin TofflerFuturist & authorFuture Shock
Computing Era1970
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Alvin TofflerFuturist & authorFuture Shock
Computing Era1971
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
Alan KayComputer scientist, Xerox PARCMeeting at Xerox PARC
Computing Era1973
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. ClarkeScience fiction author & futuristProfiles of the Future (Clarke's Third Law)
Computing Erac. 1987
“The most dangerous phrase in the language is, 'We've always done it this way.'”
Grace HopperComputer scientist & U.S. Navy Rear AdmiralVarious speeches and interviews
Computing Era1987
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you are part of the road.”
Stewart BrandWriter & editor, Whole Earth CatalogThe Media Lab
Computing Erac. 1989
“Technology is anything that wasn't around when you were born.”
Alan KayComputer scientist, Xerox PARCWidely cited; paraphrased from various Kay interviews and talks
Computing Erac. 1990
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.”
Warren BennisManagement scholarWidely cited in management literature; also attr. to Robert Reich and others
Computing Era1990
“People don't resist change. They resist being changed.”
Peter SengeManagement theorist, MIT SloanThe Fifth Discipline
Computing Era1991
“Crossing the chasm requires targeting a very specific niche market where you can dominate from the outset.”
Geoffrey MooreManagement consultant & authorCrossing the Chasm
Internet Era1993
“The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed.”
William GibsonScience fiction authorInterview on Fresh Air, NPR
Internet Era1994
“The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.”
Oren HarariManagement professor, University of San FranciscoWidely cited; often misattributed to Peter Drucker
Internet Era1996
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.”
Bill GatesCo-founder of MicrosoftThe Road Ahead
Internet Era1997
“What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done.”
Clayton ChristensenHarvard Business School professorThe Innovator's Dilemma
Internet Era1997
“Disruptive technology should be framed as a marketing challenge, not a technological one.”
Clayton ChristensenHarvard Business School professorThe Innovator's Dilemma
Internet Era1998
“People don't know what they want until you show it to them.”
Steve JobsCo-founder of AppleBusinessWeek interview
Internet Era1999
“The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.”
Bill GatesCo-founder of MicrosoftWidely cited from late-1990s Gates speeches and columns
Internet Era1999
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
Bill GatesCo-founder of MicrosoftBusiness @ the Speed of Thought
Internet Era2001
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Steve JobsCo-founder of AppleThe Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Internet Era2003
“It's not a faith in technology. It's faith in people.”
Steve JobsCo-founder of AppleRolling Stone interview
Internet Era2004
“Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web.”
Larry PageCo-founder of GoogleInterview
Mobile Erac. 2006 (attributed posthumously)
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
Peter DruckerManagement consultant & authorPopularized by Mark Fields (Ford Motor Co.); attribution to Drucker unverified
Mobile Erac. 2008
“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.”
Bill GatesCo-founder of MicrosoftNewsweek interview, c. 2008
Mobile Era2009
“The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”
Tim Berners-LeeInventor of the World Wide WebInterview
Mobile Era2009
“Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.”
Mark ZuckerbergCo-founder of Facebook/MetaInternal Facebook motto
Mobile Era2011
“Software is eating the world.”
Marc AndreessenCo-founder of Netscape & Andreessen HorowitzThe Wall Street Journal essay
Mobile Era2011
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that's changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
Mark ZuckerbergCo-founder of Facebook/MetaY Combinator Startup School talk
Mobile Era2012
“Technology adoption is not about the technology, it's about the people.”
Venkatesh RaoTechnology writer & consultantTempo: Timing, Tactics and Strategy in Narrative-Driven Decision-Making
AI Era2014
“Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make.”
Nick BostromPhilosopher, University of OxfordSuperintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
Mobile Era2015
“Every company is a technology company, no matter what business they think they're in.”
Satya NadellaCEO of MicrosoftMicrosoft Ignite keynote
AI Era2017
“AI will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity.”
Elon MuskCEO of Tesla & SpaceXNational Governors Association talk
AI Era2018
“AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.”
Sundar PichaiCEO of Google & AlphabetMSNBC interview
AI Era2023
“The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.”
Bill GatesCo-founder of MicrosoftGatesNotes blog post, 'The Age of AI has begun'
AI Erac. 2024
“Rolling out broad-based AI to an entire employee base is like putting a Peloton in everyone's sitting room. It doesn't mean everyone's going to start to get fit.”
Industry sayingOn enterprise AI rolloutsIndustry commentary on AI adoption
AI Era2025
“Looking at what's possible, it does feel sort of surprisingly slow. There is more resistance to the diffusion, the absorption of AI into the culture and economy than I expected.”
Sam AltmanCEO of OpenAIFortune interview, 2025
AI Era2026
“The rate of change is accelerating. The skills that make you valuable today might not matter in 2-3 years. Continuous learning isn't optional — it's survival.”
Sam AltmanCEO of OpenAIQ&A with developers, San Francisco, Jan 2026 (via AI & Analytics Diaries)

These quotes reflect the timeless human experience of navigating change and new technology. The barriers they describe are exactly what TABS measures.

Explore the 16 Adoption Barriers