As young children growing up, everything we experienced was new. We calibrated the world around us through these experiences. This calibration continues throughout our lives. Past generations may have mapped this continuous calibration process in the form of a bell curve. There was so much to take in during the formative years but once those years were behind us the calibrations become minor ‘tweaks’ to our understanding of the world around us.
What if we were living in a world where the pace of change was moving so fast the bell curve is challenged and an exponential curve seems more appropriate?
Do we evolve as a society that is more accepting of change? Do we change our mindset and concern ourselves less and less with the details / mechanics of the change and more on how the change might benefit us in our day-to-day lives. A good example of the this would be the acceptance of self-driving vehicles as part of our daily routine. Self driving trains are more commonplace than many of us would appreciate. They are already operating in major cities around the world with few people giving a second thought to whether there is a driver in control of the train. Remote operated heavy haulage trains have been operating in the mining sector for a number of years delivering ore to ports.
The COVID pandemic has pushed us to connect remotely to family, friends and work colleagues. That technology was a novelty and has become the norm in only a matter of a few months. Young children know where the ‘end call’ button is on Zoom / Skype / FaceTime / Hangouts. Our 5 year old grandson can made and receive online calls without assistance. It’s all about the amenity and nothing to do with the technology at work behind the scene.
Is this the mindset evolving – amenity driving adoption, amenity crashing through resistance to change?