This is kinda something I run up against all the time here at work. Not so much me really, but my manager. Science is probably no different than anything else in that we get stuck with routine, not matter how inefficient, and love it because it is both comfortable and familiar and after some time we can even excel to the point of feeling pride in the process. When someone comes along and challenges our inefficiency with something new and faster and better, we will defend our choices just so we don't have to change our habits. My boss is the kind of guy who is always looking for and trying to implement new methods of doing things, it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Partly because people don't like to change, but mostly because people get mad trying to defend their ways and more so when they don't really have a good defense. I am guilty of this, but I also try to accept new things.

If you are the kind of guy who wants to tinker and improve it is imperative that you are also the kind of guy who can sell and force your ideas. Its not that your ideas are the weird Josh ways of doing things, it's that you are a quiet guy who doesn't bully people into believing your ideas. This gives people the easy out, allowing them to maintain the status quo without feeling all that bad about it. So its not that you are doing wrong so much as you are probably running up against the limits of your personality type when it comes to interacting with others and trying to sell your ideas. This is probably the source of your frustration.