# Electricity brought only modest gains for many incumbents

Published: 2026-06-08T00:00:00.000Z
Canonical: https://wow.pjh.is/journal/electricity-adoption

In past technology revolutions, writes [John Burn-Murdoch](https://archive.is/8CHpv):

> The real jumps in productivity and job displacement came from new companies and processes rather than incumbents grafting new technology on to existing workflows.
>
> In the case of electricity in the late 19th and early 20th century, productivity gains were modest where factories simply replaced giant steam engines with giant electric motors but left the rest of the machinery and layout unchanged. The boom arrived decades later when engineers fitted individual workstations with their own small motors.

Incremental improvements are [often underrated](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2ftJ38y9SRBCBsCzy/scope-insensitivity): 5% of a very big number is still a big number. But the case for starting fresh gets stronger by the day.

Can your team re-build itself around AI? Can you?

Are you taking your beliefs about capability timelines seriously, [in practice](https://wow.pjh.is/journal/5-2-cadence)? Are you [making plans](https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-lazy-tyranny-of-the-wait-calculation) for the models you'll have in 3 months' time?