The parable of horse shit
In 1800s, cities like NY relied on thousands of horses to heave carts, cabins et all through the streets.
The horse drawn double decker buses were quite popular
With the horses came manure – and lots of it.
A healthy horse produced manure equivalent to a 2 year old child.
Each day.
People extrapolated this to a manure filled future.
A London news commentator predicted that by mid 20th century, streets would be buried under 9 ft of the stuff.
In the end policy makers didn’t need have worried.
By 1912, Henry Ford’s Model T brought in more cars than horses on NY streets
And the manure crises was over.
The parable of horse-shit has been told many times.
As a tale of tech triumph
Wassily Leontief, the economist who won the Nobel in 1973, used the same events though to draw a different conclusion.
In early 1980s, Leontific made the infamous claim –
“What technological progress had done to horses, it would do to human beings as well”
Drive us out of work.
Thus begins the book by Daniel Susskind – A World Without Work.
Thankfully, it takes a more realistic outlook that tech could bring in to the future
One that I believe in.
Do stay tuned in to hear a guest and I discuss more about this book on the next episode of Reviews with Ranjani