Industry gone in an instant
I have a like-dislike relationship with Joe Rogan. On one hand he’s not afraid to broach any subject, and he can talk for hours with any guest, always finding a way to drive the conversation. On the other hand he’s irresponsible with his words given his tremendous global reach, he shares his platform with horrible people, and the diversity of his guests has significant room for improvement. I digress.
I liked this clip (1:29:33 to 1:30:13) with Neil deGrasse Tyson as it relates to the impact of significant technological change.
I think it’s a perfect example of how quickly norms, thus entire industries can be incumbents for centuries, and completely disrupted in years.
For context, Rogan and Tyson were discussing the impending impact of mass adoption of autonomous vehicles on the current automobile/transportation norms.
Neil deGrasse Tyson: “This time around, my analogy to this is we used horses for thousands of years.”
Joe Rogan: “Yeah.”
Tyson: “Now you go from 1910 to 1930. 1930, you can't give away a horse. Not in urban areas, no.”
Rogan: “Isn't that crazy?”
Tyson: “Within 20 years we went from horses, and an entire industry that supported the horses, the buggy whips, the carriages, the stables.”
Rogan: “Blacksmiths.”
Tyson: “The food, the blacksmiths, an entire industry.”
Rogan: “Vanishes.”
Tyson: “Vanishes. Within two decades, basically within two decades.”