How Tech Gets Adopted: Air Conditioners and iPhones

Question: How many air conditioners were sold in 1947? Answer: 47,000.
By 1953, that number had mushroomed to 1,045,000. In 1970, 6 million units were sold.
This leap is astounding even by iPhone standards. Of course, with each unit installed in a poorly insulated house, the amount of energy that Americans used per capita rose.
In Adam Rome’s [...]