There’s a good case for this
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I periodically think about the hype around the Segway, how luminary types were over the moon for it in private demos but then the general public decided it was uncool, and think maybe actually the luminaries had it right and it’s the public that biffed it.
@inthehands
The original Segways were designed in deliberate arrogant ignorance of sidewalks specifically and how people travel from place to place in cities in general. Not safe in car traffic. Too big to take on subways. A hazard to others on sidewalks. Bike lanes barely existed in most US cities.
I recall Steve Jobs saying cities will have to be reinvented to accommodate them.
So ... nah.
I think the technology wasn't ready. It needed to cook another 20 years. -
This is what I’m saying! Was it just 25 years ahead of its time? Or was it at just the right time, and we delayed the future by 25 years because we’re dumbasses?
@inthehands @Nicovel0 The scooters must be vastly cheaper than the Segway. The price curve has got to look something like solar power’s.
Also, most scooters around here have you adopt a skateboarder’s posture, which we all know is cool. Standing bolt upright gripping handles is not cool.
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(I also wonder how much social countermarketing petrochem slipped in to kill it. If that story’s known, it’s not known to me.)
A lot of replies accurately enumerate all of the very specific problems with the Segway at the time of release, and…
Yes, I get it, I’m old enough to remember! It was not at all ready for prime time! It was a flawed and expensive product!
…at time of release. That’s all true, and not my point. I’m not asking for a release post-mortem. Instead…
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A lot of replies accurately enumerate all of the very specific problems with the Segway at the time of release, and…
Yes, I get it, I’m old enough to remember! It was not at all ready for prime time! It was a flawed and expensive product!
…at time of release. That’s all true, and not my point. I’m not asking for a release post-mortem. Instead…
…I’m asking us to pause all of that entrenched reaction, and think about why our reaction was:
“What a bad product! How douchy! Ha ha!”
…instead of what was in hindsight probably a much better reaction:
“Oh, what a good idea for a product •direction•! All-electric human-sized transportation…huh, that might just change the world! If we can improve on this very clumsy first attempt at execution….”
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A lot of replies accurately enumerate all of the very specific problems with the Segway at the time of release, and…
Yes, I get it, I’m old enough to remember! It was not at all ready for prime time! It was a flawed and expensive product!
…at time of release. That’s all true, and not my point. I’m not asking for a release post-mortem. Instead…
@inthehands I would say the real problem is that our society is hard wired to think that anything that is in any way whatsoever associated with "laziness" in any form whether right or wrong is pure, unadulterated evil. Anyone who in any way whatsoever desires to do a thing that is considered by others to be lazy is evil and bad.
It's a complete load, but society needs us to think of "lazy" as "useless" and "a drain on society."
Aka work until you hurt and then die.
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…I’m asking us to pause all of that entrenched reaction, and think about why our reaction was:
“What a bad product! How douchy! Ha ha!”
…instead of what was in hindsight probably a much better reaction:
“Oh, what a good idea for a product •direction•! All-electric human-sized transportation…huh, that might just change the world! If we can improve on this very clumsy first attempt at execution….”
@inthehands Similar thing happened with the Sinclair C5
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…I’m asking us to pause all of that entrenched reaction, and think about why our reaction was:
“What a bad product! How douchy! Ha ha!”
…instead of what was in hindsight probably a much better reaction:
“Oh, what a good idea for a product •direction•! All-electric human-sized transportation…huh, that might just change the world! If we can improve on this very clumsy first attempt at execution….”
The micromobility revolution was •right there• 25 years ago, if only we’d been willing to go for it, if only we’d been able to see it. That’s…what, 15? 20? years head start on how it’s unfolded.
That’s a head start I really wish we’d had on the current climate disaster that’s unfolding. But no, we were too busy making fun of it for being nerdy.
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@inthehands Similar thing happened with the Sinclair C5
@sanityinc @inthehands Wowzers, yeah, a product decades ahead of its time.
I see so many kids whizzing by on e-scooters on their way to school these days. Chap up the street rides an e-unicycle in full leathers and a crash helmet to work. And so on.
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The micromobility revolution was •right there• 25 years ago, if only we’d been willing to go for it, if only we’d been able to see it. That’s…what, 15? 20? years head start on how it’s unfolded.
That’s a head start I really wish we’d had on the current climate disaster that’s unfolding. But no, we were too busy making fun of it for being nerdy.
@inthehands meanwhile/and ebikes are a revolution going on big-time all around us
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@glnfld @inthehands @Nicovel0 That sucks. I had no idea.
Yet another one.
@retech @inthehands @Nicovel0 It's been speculated on for almost a decade now, but the recent releases essentially confirmed it. This article summarizes everything from pre-"The Files" release if you want to learn more. https://christine-negroni.medium.com/jeffrey-epstein-dean-kamen-connection-through-aviation-influencer-bb0e767dbfcf
There's still no legal proof, but for anyone capable of critical thought the evidence is extremely damning.
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The micromobility revolution was •right there• 25 years ago, if only we’d been willing to go for it, if only we’d been able to see it. That’s…what, 15? 20? years head start on how it’s unfolded.
That’s a head start I really wish we’d had on the current climate disaster that’s unfolding. But no, we were too busy making fun of it for being nerdy.
To be clear: the Segway as released was •not• a very good product. But it was not a worse product than, say, the Apple-1, which was also clumsy, nerdy, impractical, expensive. ($3400 in today’s money and it didn’t even have a keyboard!)
Yet in the latter case the response was “This is the future! Let’s do this! Let’s figure it out!” And with the Segway, the response was “How mockable, nobody should ever try to build anything like this ever again!”
A crumb went down the wrong way with micromobility in 2001, and I’m not willing to lay that entire at the feet of one product’s marketing team. We collectively screwed up.
ETA: This •started• as a thread about e-bikes and e-scooters; scroll up
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@inthehands meanwhile/and ebikes are a revolution going on big-time all around us
@grechaw
That is where the thread started, yes -
To be clear: the Segway as released was •not• a very good product. But it was not a worse product than, say, the Apple-1, which was also clumsy, nerdy, impractical, expensive. ($3400 in today’s money and it didn’t even have a keyboard!)
Yet in the latter case the response was “This is the future! Let’s do this! Let’s figure it out!” And with the Segway, the response was “How mockable, nobody should ever try to build anything like this ever again!”
A crumb went down the wrong way with micromobility in 2001, and I’m not willing to lay that entire at the feet of one product’s marketing team. We collectively screwed up.
ETA: This •started• as a thread about e-bikes and e-scooters; scroll up
@inthehands Maybe the overhype? I recall they tried to build suspense for a long while, with hyperbolic claims of a revolutionary invention, and then they unveiled an expense, weighty, bulky device.
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@inthehands Maybe the overhype? I recall they tried to build suspense for a long while, with hyperbolic claims of a revolutionary invention, and then they unveiled an expense, weighty, bulky device.
@MonniauxD I repeat myself:
••• I’m not willing to lay that entire at the feet of one product’s marketing team. We collectively screwed up. •••
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…I’m asking us to pause all of that entrenched reaction, and think about why our reaction was:
“What a bad product! How douchy! Ha ha!”
…instead of what was in hindsight probably a much better reaction:
“Oh, what a good idea for a product •direction•! All-electric human-sized transportation…huh, that might just change the world! If we can improve on this very clumsy first attempt at execution….”
@inthehands the direction still has some significant problems: useful in cities but less so else where and only accessible to some people. Tech tends to favour groups unaffected by problems like that. I reckon that some of the negative reactions comes from people clocking that the product is borne of a vision of the world that doesn’t include them.
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@grechaw
That is where the thread started, yes@inthehands erg. Rtfm, Charles .
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…I’m asking us to pause all of that entrenched reaction, and think about why our reaction was:
“What a bad product! How douchy! Ha ha!”
…instead of what was in hindsight probably a much better reaction:
“Oh, what a good idea for a product •direction•! All-electric human-sized transportation…huh, that might just change the world! If we can improve on this very clumsy first attempt at execution….”
I'd certainly be in the market for something that helps me move around on uneven ground while preventing falls.
I don't actually expect the device to warn me away from the edge of a cliff, though that might be nice.
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@inthehands I would say the real problem is that our society is hard wired to think that anything that is in any way whatsoever associated with "laziness" in any form whether right or wrong is pure, unadulterated evil. Anyone who in any way whatsoever desires to do a thing that is considered by others to be lazy is evil and bad.
It's a complete load, but society needs us to think of "lazy" as "useless" and "a drain on society."
Aka work until you hurt and then die.
@inthehands I have to add on to this, the more I think about it, this actually predates even capitalism.
Humans have, for ages and ages been trained from birth to think of anything that may be perceived as laziness as actually evil. In some cases I mean that's quite literal even. Actually "evil" religiously/etc. To be hated and to be punished.
It also carries over to other things like hating on disabilities and etc.
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To be clear: the Segway as released was •not• a very good product. But it was not a worse product than, say, the Apple-1, which was also clumsy, nerdy, impractical, expensive. ($3400 in today’s money and it didn’t even have a keyboard!)
Yet in the latter case the response was “This is the future! Let’s do this! Let’s figure it out!” And with the Segway, the response was “How mockable, nobody should ever try to build anything like this ever again!”
A crumb went down the wrong way with micromobility in 2001, and I’m not willing to lay that entire at the feet of one product’s marketing team. We collectively screwed up.
ETA: This •started• as a thread about e-bikes and e-scooters; scroll up
@inthehands
But isn't it back with those little electric razor-type scooters? Same thing functionally but inline wheels. -
@inthehands
But isn't it back with those little electric razor-type scooters? Same thing functionally but inline wheels.@lackthereof
That’s what the thread is specifically about; scroll up
