I was at a conference the other day, and we were talking about consumer research and pre-testing. And someone trotted out that old thing Henry Ford said: "If I'd have asked my customers what they'd wanted, they'd have asked for a faster horse".
I'd normally agree with that sentiment, but it occurred to me that, based on what we know now about the internal combustion engine, a faster horse might have been a better answer.
If you don't mind me asking, Russell, what exactly do we know about internal combustion engines that makes horses a better alternative? Not that I disagree. I'm just not sure what you're getting at exactly.
Posted by: Dave C. | March 30, 2007 at 07:55 AM
I'm not sure I really have a point. Just trying to be clever. But it'd be interesting to know what would have happened if engineering had started working with organic forms rather than bending metal and burning carbon. We might have a strangely blobby and scifi transport infrastructure now.
Posted by: russell | March 30, 2007 at 09:44 AM