25 October

The social basis of technology was my postgraduate work. It’s one of the reasons I talk so much about cars. Vehicles are central to our culture, and to our identities. Take the modern ute. Useless as a ute. Useless as a passenger vehicle (which is what they’re mostly used for.) Useless driving dynamics. Useless aerodynamically. So why do we buy them? Because it gives us an identity, as part of a social group or team. You’re a Ranger person, or a Hilux or RAM person. Etc. Then you ‘spec up’ the ute, the way kids spec up a GI Joe or Barbie. You’re building status, in your team, opposed to other teams. Then you might add a boat, or caravan, to tow. Towing is high status, big swinging dick stuff. People do like boating and caravanning, of course. But it’s much more about the gear. Running to the hundreds of thousands. We never really grow up. We’re still playing with our GI Joes.