I’d like to propose a new scientific institution: the IUT, or Institute of Underrated Technology. Rather than trying to invent yet more bloody things, it will instead be devoted to helping us derive greater value from things we can do already using technology which already exists.
Innovation is a two-stage process. First you discover something; then over time people discover how best to use it. Many ideas fall at the second hurdle: the Chinese invented gunpowder but used it only for fireworks; early Mesoamericans invented the wheel, but attached it only to children’s toys. In recent times, the internet seems to have delivered a lot more in entertainment value than in productivity. What we need is not more technology, but better uses for it.
Why do so few people buy electric cars, for instance? The IUT will ask whether this is a technological issue or a psychological one.
I suspect the latter. People seem strangely paranoid about the range of electric cars, even though in reality many of us drive more than 200 miles on barely a handful of days each year. On those rare occasions, I suspect I’d quite enjoy the nerdy thrill of planning a mid-journey recharge. (And, be honest, which of us wouldn’t secretly relish the mild arseholery of turning up at friends’ houses and insisting on threading a power cable through their kitchen windows?) No, all I need before I buy an electric car is a new kind of insurance policy, which lets me periodically swap my electric car with a friend’s petrol car. After all, if asked ‘Can I borrow your car to go to Manchester and you can have my Tesla while I’m away?’, few people are likely to say no.
One other problem: before buying an electric car, you’ll want to install a 7kW charging point at home.
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