Innovation not spreading - got resistors?

In the context of information marketing

Joel and Rick discussed Rogers Curve on the Diffusion of Innovations. Pondering to make a Rogers Curve hat. Imagine that.

 

In the context of symmetry

Matthew E. May, in his pursuit of elegant solutions, taught me to look for symmetry, subtraction, seduction, and sustainability. It is one more set of thinking tools. 

So I stared at the curve for a while, pondering its symmetry or lack of (close-up below). In Rogers veritable research, was something missing?

On its left side, early on, the curve begins with 2.5% innovators, followed by early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

On its right side, beyond laggards, I posit there are 2.5% of people who never get it about an innovation. They rather obstruct it. I call them resistors.

 

Reality check

Wikipedia says,  retrieved 2010-01-28

Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. ... The publication of a study of Ryan and Gross on the diffusion of hybrid corn in Iowa^[3] was the first sustainably visible contribution in a broader interest in innovations which was especially popularized by the textbook by Everett Rogers (1962), Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers 1962). He defines diffusion as "the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system."

Under the Diffusion of Innovation curve, the categories add up to 100%, which reflects an assumption the technology in question gets 100% adopted. It won't. Some people never take to some innovation. Thus, I think the curve is missing a detail.

 

More about "Resistors"

These kinds of people are the living equivalent of small electronic components that evoke warm fuzzy feelings to an electrical engineer (disclosure: I am one).

They are fully passive, convert energy to heat, and are easy to calculate. In a cooperative circuit they are used to limit current flow and to protect the more sensitive active components from overload.

In life, resistors are bad for business; slower than laggards, on the opposite end of innovators. They may be driven by their lizard brain. Some may be dedicated to actively obstructing innovation. You can guess why. Could it be out of vested interest in keeping people dependent on old monopolistic technology? Follow the money. Patent law is overrated.

What happens when resistors get hold of great new technology before innovators can start spreading it? Do you have a story?