Breaking Smart: Software is Eating the World (Part 11-15 Review)

Pastoralism – the practice of herding as the primary economic activity of a society.

In essays 11-15, Venkatesh Rao seems to dive quite a bit into this pastoralism mindset. A conformity mindset of doing the norm. Fitting in with the rest of the crowd and being content with where the world is now not really questioning where it could be. Not breaking the mold and exploring the new possibilities of tech and the world.

In the ’50s, there were all these ideas of the future. That in the future everyone will drive flying cars and be transported that way. Here we are in almost 2020 and no flying cars. Or at least not for the average consumer.

We have driverless cars and drones, but it’s almost like the pastoralism mindset villainizes these things because they weren’t in their predictions. Flying cars gave freedom to people. Driverless cars cause more dependency. If they weren’t in the predictions they can’t be good. He gives a quote attributed to Henry Ford:

If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they would have demanded faster horses. ~ Henry Ford

He hits the nail on the head. People are often so short-sighted or get so focused on the here and now they don’t even think about the innovations that can happen when you start putting some great ideas to the test.

When horseless carriages were being invented, you had people saying, “will we be getting rid of all horses? What will we do with the horses? Will they never be used?” But now look. People ride horses all the time for fun. It’s simply not a mandatory thing now that is done by almost everybody. In the same way, I’m sure there are arguments against driverless cars saying, “but now will there be no drivers? Will you never be able to drive cars again? Just like horses, I’m sure cars will always be driven, it will just instead be something you do for fun, not out of necessity.

Then comes the “this new thing is actually bad” mantra:

1900: Drivers of horseless carriages [a]re degenerate dependents, beholden to big corporations, big cities and Standard Oil.

Of course. If there’s something new that comes along that challenges the way things have always been done you will have people protesting the change. I don’t care if you were ending cancer. Someone would find a reason to call what you’ve done a disgrace and tell others that you’re actually hurting people.

You see this same argument with smartphones. “You’re just so dependent on that little device. You’re being controlled by the people who make it.” I understand where people are coming from. I totally understand the bad aspects of these technologies. However, the truth is, it’s going to stay there, so why not try and learn about it and see how to use it for good rather than mock the growing number of people who use it?

Also understand when you’re dealing with a fad or a future necessity. Things like cars were clearly a necessity that changed the way transportation works. While cars have had many adaptations, there have now been cars for many generations. When you think of a fad you probably think of things like silly bands, fidget spinners, etc. Things that have a huge explosion on the market and in publicity but then die out just as quickly as they came and almost no one talks about them again.

My personal belief is that even things like Facebook are a fad, albeit, a long fad. I believe in another 10-20 years, Facebook will be obsolete or it will at least be unrecognizable as to what it is now. This post isn’t saying to jump on every little change in technology that comes along, but simply be aware of how the tides are changing and what kind of things you should latch onto as they make their upwards journey.

How cool would it be to have grandparents that are super hip with technology? When the TV has issues, grandpa doesn’t have to call anybody to fix it. He’s adapted to the technology and learned how to use it. To move with the times.

Be the cool grandparent who keeps up with technology, don’t get stuck never being willing to try new things to break the mold.