>> You think people wouldn't be asking for non-stick pans?
Of course some would, but in a world where they never existed yet it would be a sort of fantasy wish. As an example where we are on the other side right now, people are trying to figure out how to make beverage containers out of paper. Not coffee cups, but longer term storage so you might buy a 6-pack of carbonated drink in a paper "can" vs metal or plastic. Never mind if you or I think that's a good idea, there are people working on it and some day it might come to be and people might think it's great for whatever reasons. My point is that the masses are not clamoring for paper cans today because they don't exist yet. Likewise, before the advent of non-stick pans, people weren't demanding them because they didn't know it was possible. That's all I meant. So no, I don't think people were seriously asking for non-stick pans prior to their invention, they simply lived with what was available.
> carbonated drink in a paper "can" vs metal or plastic.
The thing that gets me is that if something is so caustic or reactive that it is causing issues with the metal in the can, WHY is it a good idea for human consumption. I've seen concrete at one of those gives you wings beverage makers where the concrete at the shipping dock had to be replaced after enough spills weakened the concrete. Yet people still continue to put that in their bodies.
The thing that makes them "caustic or acidic" is that they are acidic (~3pH), by virtue of having dissolved carbon dioxide (ie carbonic acid) + acidic preservatives in them. You are putting them into your stomach (with your gastric acid, ~2pH). If you spilled your stomach contents on the concrete shipping dock repeatedly, it would weaken the concrete much faster. Now, I don't drink soda and they are objectively bad for your teeth, but the fact that they eat away at concrete does not seem like the right reason to avoid them.
Yeah, also every day we ingest large quantities of an industrial polar solvent while inhaling 21% corrosive oxidizing gas.
This is in addition to the constant state of chemically-mediated algorithmic war with swarms or hive-minds of rogue nanotechnology from an ancient Gray Goo apocalypse, but that's another story.
Of course some would, but in a world where they never existed yet it would be a sort of fantasy wish. As an example where we are on the other side right now, people are trying to figure out how to make beverage containers out of paper. Not coffee cups, but longer term storage so you might buy a 6-pack of carbonated drink in a paper "can" vs metal or plastic. Never mind if you or I think that's a good idea, there are people working on it and some day it might come to be and people might think it's great for whatever reasons. My point is that the masses are not clamoring for paper cans today because they don't exist yet. Likewise, before the advent of non-stick pans, people weren't demanding them because they didn't know it was possible. That's all I meant. So no, I don't think people were seriously asking for non-stick pans prior to their invention, they simply lived with what was available.