IVF and Scientific Adoption Curves

I thought about how society processes scientific innovations due to fortuitous timing: I was reading "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" while my wife and I were going through IVF. We observed the variety in reactions from people in our lives when they learned about our choice.

I posit: Scientific inventions that fundamentally alter an aspect of life we hold as "natural", they face a distinct pattern of social acceptance. The key is whether the technology challenges what society considers "natural" processes.

Consider these two categories:

A range of innovations faced significant resistance (from 10 minutes of Google searching): IVF (alters natural conception), vaccination (challenges natural immunity), organ donation (violates bodily purity), blood transfusions (mixes life forces), C-sections and epidurals (bypasses natural birth and the haseen dard it comes with)

In contrast, many did not: stethoscopes (just listening, not intervening), washing machines (mechanizing an artificial, laborious process), electric lights (no "natural" lighting process being altered), MRI scans (observing, not changing nature) etc.

The pattern feels clear: Technologies that observe or assist "natural" processes face little resistance. Those that alter "natural" processes face generational resistance. Critically, conceptions of "natural" also vary by culture and is a social construct.

I think the acceptance sequence typically follows this pattern:

Wave 1

• Scientists and medical professionals closest to the innovation
• Their acceptance is immediate; they understand the technology and see no stigma
• Early adopters whose identity revolves around being first to try new things. I am usually in this camp, can't wait to sign up for my AI hologram so my daughter can talk to "me" after I die

Wave 2

• People who come of age when the technology is already established
• For them, it's not a "new technology" but simply part of the world
• They lack the psychological baggage of the previous generation

Wave 3 (vivid in our IVF experience)

• Family members of early adopters
• Their acceptance is often reluctant but inevitable
• They're pulled along by their connection to users of the technology

I think the key threshold is social proximity. A technology starts becoming "normal" within a social group when people know 5-10 others in their immediate circle who have openly used it. Until then, it remains in a grey zone—available but not quite acceptable.

This framework helps predict which future technologies might face resistance. Consider genetic modification or artificial wombs—all alter "natural" processes and will likely face similar acceptance curves.

An interesting question is whether this cycle can be shortened as society becomes more technologically adapted. Science needs to get better at communicating innovations.