Technology Adoption Lifecycle

Biological Parallel

The adoption curve (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards) maps to population response to environmental change. When climate shifts, a few risk-tolerant individuals (innovators) migrate first, testing new territory. Early adopters follow once pioneers signal viability. The majority waits for social proof—herd migration happens when enough individuals validate the route. Laggards resist until their current habitat becomes uninhabitable. Adoption curves are diffusion dynamics: how innovations (behaviors, mutations, migrations) spread through populations facing selection pressure.