Rory Sutherland

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.

So you might argue that that's true of things, you know, I mean, I've always wondered about technologies like the typewriter where I can't really see, okay, there's an advantage in legibility over handwriting. But for a period of about 40 or 50 years, people would write a note. This is how it worked in business. I'm not making this up, OK?

So you might argue that that's true of things, you know, I mean, I've always wondered about technologies like the typewriter where I can't really see, okay, there's an advantage in legibility over handwriting. But for a period of about 40 or 50 years, people would write a note. This is how it worked in business. I'm not making this up, OK?

So you might argue that that's true of things, you know, I mean, I've always wondered about technologies like the typewriter where I can't really see, okay, there's an advantage in legibility over handwriting. But for a period of about 40 or 50 years, people would write a note. This is how it worked in business. I'm not making this up, OK?

In the 70s in Ogilvy, there was a typing pool, which was a lot of people who you would hand them a handwritten note and they'd type it up so that you could then send it on to your client. And then typically there was always a mistake. So you then had to send it back and have it typed. There were no word processors then. So the whole thing had to start all over again from scratch.

In the 70s in Ogilvy, there was a typing pool, which was a lot of people who you would hand them a handwritten note and they'd type it up so that you could then send it on to your client. And then typically there was always a mistake. So you then had to send it back and have it typed. There were no word processors then. So the whole thing had to start all over again from scratch.

In the 70s in Ogilvy, there was a typing pool, which was a lot of people who you would hand them a handwritten note and they'd type it up so that you could then send it on to your client. And then typically there was always a mistake. So you then had to send it back and have it typed. There were no word processors then. So the whole thing had to start all over again from scratch.

And the question you've got to ask there is, was that simply because you weren't a serious business unless you sent typewritten communication? Signaling. In other words, you couldn't, as a solicitor's firm or as a Unilever or whatever, you couldn't send handwritten notes because it simply looked unprofessional. So everything had to be typed.

And the question you've got to ask there is, was that simply because you weren't a serious business unless you sent typewritten communication? Signaling. In other words, you couldn't, as a solicitor's firm or as a Unilever or whatever, you couldn't send handwritten notes because it simply looked unprofessional. So everything had to be typed.

And the question you've got to ask there is, was that simply because you weren't a serious business unless you sent typewritten communication? Signaling. In other words, you couldn't, as a solicitor's firm or as a Unilever or whatever, you couldn't send handwritten notes because it simply looked unprofessional. So everything had to be typed.

Now, there may have been something to do with carbon paper and copying, which had some particular role, which made typing desirable. But it's an interesting question because no one could really consider that typing added to productivity. Quite the opposite. It meant that every communication producing anything was painful. The only benefit it may have had is it kept the volume of communication low.