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Not sure I understand your point. Mine was that in science or business we are often held back from understanding by the limitations of our models, even when we ourselves are the inventors.

I thought I used an example well known to HN to make the point. Apple’s stated hope was to eventually have 1% of the market (and they didn’t originally plan for an App Store). Like Maxwell, they didn’t know they had a blockbuster.

Microsoft listened very closely to their customers, who were and are mainly corporate I/T and something like the iphone wasn’t something they said they wanted. In fact it honestly had no affordances that IT wanted.

Maxwell understood the math but his own mechanical metaphor distracted him, and other physicists too, so that they couldn’t really see the larger implications.




an example well known to HN

I think the issue is that example doesn't seem to be true.. Jobs said at the time of launch that it was a revolutionary and magical product which was five years ahead of everyone else and would change everything. And the hope wasn't to have 1% eventually, but by the end of 2008.




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