Horseless Carriages

Amar Pandit , CFA , CFP

Amar Pandit

A respected entrepreneur with 25+ years of Experience, Amar Pandit is the Founder of several companies that are making a Happy difference in the lives of people. He is currently the Founder of Happyness Factory, a world-class online investment & goal-based financial planning platform through which he aims to help every Indian family save and invest wisely. He is very passionate about spreading financial literacy and is the author of 4 bestselling books (+ 2 more to release in 2020), 8 Sketch Books, Board Game and 700 + columns.

October 22, 2021 | 2 Minute Read

I am so fascinated by this headline (and change as a subject) that for the first time in almost 2 years, I am publishing the same post in both of my blogs www.happyrichinvestor.com and www.happyrichadvisor.com

Take a look at the image below. It is a real newspaper cut-out from the early 1900’s. Pessimist Archives does a wonderful job of curating these. By the way Pessimism is a Real Business Model but that’s a topic for another day. Reread the contents of the image carefully.

Can you believe this?

Just to be clear, Horseless Carriages = Cars

Washington Commissioners were afraid that Horseless Carriages (aka Cars) will Frighten Horses, thus a Ban on Them.

We might even laugh while reading the above, but the reality is that this is how society in general responds to new technology.

Don’t believe it yet?

Just 25-28 years back, the Internet was seen a fad and meant for gambling and pornography.

Additionally, a Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, Paul Krugman, wrote in 1998, “The growth of the Internet will be slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s law” -which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants- become apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machines.”

Well, you know the answer to the impact of the internet on our lives.

So how do we protect ourselves from falling into this trap of resisting change?

The Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus has the answer. He said, ‘We should get into the habit of asking ourselves,’ “What illusion about myself do I entertain? Do I, too, ever make that boast about being prepared for whatever may happen? If I don’t know something, am I properly aware that I don’t know it?”

It’s only when you are truly aware that you don’t know (and what you don’t know) will you ever make an attempt to seek the truth or look out for someone who can really help you.