Rory Sutherland

And to some extent, we didn't mind commuting in the same way when we just thought this is just a necessary part of getting to the office. It's just work is the place you go to. It's Wednesday. It's Friday. So I go into the office. That's the deal. The time you spend on the train, the time you spent cleaning your teeth and getting up early and doing your ablutions didn't feel like a waste of time.

And to some extent, we didn't mind commuting in the same way when we just thought this is just a necessary part of getting to the office. It's just work is the place you go to. It's Wednesday. It's Friday. So I go into the office. That's the deal. The time you spend on the train, the time you spent cleaning your teeth and getting up early and doing your ablutions didn't feel like a waste of time.

Okay. Because it was just what you had to do. The second you've experienced the alternative, which is get out of bed, put a cardigan over your pajamas and click join meeting, all of that kind of palaver suddenly seems twice as painful. And I've got one of those fantastic Quooker taps that produces boiling water on demand. And It was difficult to persuade my wife to get one.

Okay. Because it was just what you had to do. The second you've experienced the alternative, which is get out of bed, put a cardigan over your pajamas and click join meeting, all of that kind of palaver suddenly seems twice as painful. And I've got one of those fantastic Quooker taps that produces boiling water on demand. And It was difficult to persuade my wife to get one.

Okay. Because it was just what you had to do. The second you've experienced the alternative, which is get out of bed, put a cardigan over your pajamas and click join meeting, all of that kind of palaver suddenly seems twice as painful. And I've got one of those fantastic Quooker taps that produces boiling water on demand. And It was difficult to persuade my wife to get one.

But once you have one of those things, waiting for a kettle to boil feels somehow weirdly Victorian.

But once you have one of those things, waiting for a kettle to boil feels somehow weirdly Victorian.

But once you have one of those things, waiting for a kettle to boil feels somehow weirdly Victorian.

And so technology often works that way, that actually, interesting with electric cars, for example, the latest data seems to suggest that although there's a huge amount of resistance to electric cars, the people who make the move generally don't go back. Once you've actually – once you've kind of gone over that first initial hurdle of adoption, you don't revert.

And so technology often works that way, that actually, interesting with electric cars, for example, the latest data seems to suggest that although there's a huge amount of resistance to electric cars, the people who make the move generally don't go back. Once you've actually – once you've kind of gone over that first initial hurdle of adoption, you don't revert.

And so technology often works that way, that actually, interesting with electric cars, for example, the latest data seems to suggest that although there's a huge amount of resistance to electric cars, the people who make the move generally don't go back. Once you've actually – once you've kind of gone over that first initial hurdle of adoption, you don't revert.

Quite often, early technology is probably driven by status seeking rather than utility. So if you think about early adopters of cars, which were unreliable and expensive, The motivation was either novelty or showing off rather than utility. Apple Vision Pro as the 2024 example. Apple Vision Pro would be exactly the point.

Quite often, early technology is probably driven by status seeking rather than utility. So if you think about early adopters of cars, which were unreliable and expensive, The motivation was either novelty or showing off rather than utility. Apple Vision Pro as the 2024 example. Apple Vision Pro would be exactly the point.

Quite often, early technology is probably driven by status seeking rather than utility. So if you think about early adopters of cars, which were unreliable and expensive, The motivation was either novelty or showing off rather than utility. Apple Vision Pro as the 2024 example. Apple Vision Pro would be exactly the point.

I would argue that, yeah, you want to be the one person in your street who has that thing. And actually, those early adopters do, in a weird way, pay a price. But there's an argument, by the way, which is that this also happens in nature, which is the argument that birds, dinosaurs conceivably, evolved plumage and wings for sexual display purposes, not as a mode of transportation. Right.

I would argue that, yeah, you want to be the one person in your street who has that thing. And actually, those early adopters do, in a weird way, pay a price. But there's an argument, by the way, which is that this also happens in nature, which is the argument that birds, dinosaurs conceivably, evolved plumage and wings for sexual display purposes, not as a mode of transportation. Right.

I would argue that, yeah, you want to be the one person in your street who has that thing. And actually, those early adopters do, in a weird way, pay a price. But there's an argument, by the way, which is that this also happens in nature, which is the argument that birds, dinosaurs conceivably, evolved plumage and wings for sexual display purposes, not as a mode of transportation. Right.

So in other words, they did this thing as it was a peacock's tail, but it was on the sides rather than on the back. Okay. And you could display your feathers as a proof of your health and magnificence. And then, so this effectively evolved as a status signaling mechanism. And then... was parlayed into a mode of transportation because the wings became big enough to enable them to be used.

So in other words, they did this thing as it was a peacock's tail, but it was on the sides rather than on the back. Okay. And you could display your feathers as a proof of your health and magnificence. And then, so this effectively evolved as a status signaling mechanism. And then... was parlayed into a mode of transportation because the wings became big enough to enable them to be used.

So in other words, they did this thing as it was a peacock's tail, but it was on the sides rather than on the back. Okay. And you could display your feathers as a proof of your health and magnificence. And then, so this effectively evolved as a status signaling mechanism. And then... was parlayed into a mode of transportation because the wings became big enough to enable them to be used.