I'm trying to think of examples of technologies that were innovative and basically worked, but weren't potent enough to overcome the skepticism eventually, and/or couldn't overcome the deadweight of externalities. 

Not potent enough: flying cars
Couldn't overcome externalities: nuclear rockets

Any others?

Blogger at ribbonfarm.com, running summerofprotocols.com, host of /gloom ☀️

I think “crypto” will become both ubiquitous and invisible. It’s more like electricity and the internet than flying cars or nuclear rockets. It’s a substrate not an industry. It’s a means not an end. The killer app is that it enables new killer apps.