If you look for when cellphones burst on the scene, you have to look at page 27 of the New York Times in the 70s when everyone was talking about Richard Nixon. Yet that little story on page 27 probably shaped more billions of lives.
Dave Meslin says that apathy is often the result of obstacles and barriers to our understanding.
I think part of the problem is having people who understand the value of big ideas and who can also communicate them in a non-technical way.
Imagine if the 1972 story on the invention of cellphones had led with this:
Star Trek Communicators may be in our Future with invention of “Cellphones”
“Beam me up, Scotty” is what I said into the new communication device from Bell Labs. A transporter beam did not appear, and I continued to remain Earthbound, but my message was communicated without phone lines to a communications lab several miles away. With no apparent delay, my message was received by Dr. Frans Schaupper and I received his “wireless” response that the transporter room was closed for routine maintenance.