How were the innovations resisted?

Powerful institutions like the Church, the state, or guilds opposing an innovation to protect their existing power, income or beliefs.

It contradicted scripture and threatened the Church's authority over accepted knowledge across Catholic Europe.

The Roman Inquisition put him on trial, forced him to recant heliocentrism, and kept him under house arrest until his death in 1642.

Religious scholars (seeing hand-copying the Qur'an as sacred) and scribal guilds (protecting their livelihoods) resisted for roughly 300 years.

Sultan Ahmed III allowed İbrahim Müteferrika to open a press, but only for non-religious books; it closed within decades under continued pressure.

Skilled British textile workers (1811–1816) who broke automated machinery to protest job losses and falling wages during industrialisation.

Both protected institutional power, but the Church used formal trial and censorship, while Ottoman resistance worked through religious custom and guild pressure.

Authorities resist to protect institutional power (Church, guilds, state); popular resistance comes from ordinary people protecting their own jobs or way of life (e.g. Luddites).

A rival method or technology that innovations must out-compete, not just overcome tradition — e.g. hand-copied manuscripts versus the printing press.

An established method dominates → a rival innovation appears → resistance (authorities, workers, believers) slows it → change wins slowly and unevenly over time.

The same innovation looks different depending on viewpoint — e.g. a factory owner saw automation as progress, while a Luddite weaver saw it as a threat to survival.

Old ideas and practices do not vanish overnight just because a better innovation exists — resistance can delay change for decades or even centuries.