问答题 Yet the implication that rapid change is a new phenomenon is again misleading. If you measure the time it takes for a technology to become widely diffused, today's experi ence does not seem unusual. Take the car. The basic patent for an internal-combustion en gine capable of powering a car was filed in 1877. By the late 1920s—50 years later—over half of all American households owned a car.