It all started with Shockly (sp?) & Co. building better bombs. The first disruption was putting the transistor in something as stupid as a radio. Seems to me that society's always been more interested in the stupid consumer application of impressive technology.
I can assure you that people who lived in remote areas found radios that could run off batteries for extended periods very useful indeed (for that matter, people who live in remote areas now find them useful).
