24 May

One of my mini projects is to explore how all human behaviour is people copying other people, driven by the desire for status. You can explain pretty much everything using that framework, it’s the periodic table of human life. Status is the ‘atoms’ of human thought and behaviour. Take towing. Towing, like utes and SUVs, has become a a heavily trending thing in Australia. The origins of towing are to rescue things that are broken or can’t drive themselves (tow boats), or to haul freight. But now to tow is a high status thing, to tow your boat or caravan or trailer. Let’s be brutally honest about towing. It’s probably the most universally rubbish driving experience it’s possible to have. Doubles (or more) your fuel consumption. A literal lead weight attached to the back of your car, several tonnes of ballast that stops any sort of driving enjoyment. You hold up the traffic, the wind is your enemy, the whole experience is shithouse. And hugely dangerous, if you see a ute towing 3.5 tonnes for example, pull over for 5 minutes and let it disappear up the road, it may save your life. (No ute should be towing 3.5 tonnes, that’s a marketing rather than engineering figure.) I avoid people towing anything. But people love it, because…everybody else is doing it. They’re imitating others, because that then gives them status. Objectively they could save a fortune staying in one of the thousands of cheap good quality regional motels, rather than towing a van for example. People pay up to $100K or more for a caravan. The things we do for status. We never leave high school. (I was a high school teacher btw, I’m saying what I see.)