Refusals

The Peoplemover was one of the Disneyland attractions created as part of the 1967 Tomorrowland update. It went through some changes over time until people lost interest in  what was simply an automated tour of Tomorrowland. A while after it was closed down,  the Peoplemover tracks were updated with an attraction called Rocket Rods. Except for the updated vehicles, it was little more than a faster moving Peoplemover. Evidently, a number of design flaws and related maintenance problems resulted in it being closed after only a few years.

The Peoplemover loading area was reused for Rocket Rods, with an extended queue that took over the Circlevision 360 theater. Among the films showed for the amusement of waiting guests was a montage of “futuristic” transportation concepts: land ferries that took on dozens of cars for unified transport, variations of trains and boats and planes, all the sort of concepts that are clearly from the postwar (First Turning) era. And none of which are in use now, or even being seriously considered.

All of which came to mind with regards to the idea that freedom to create is the driver behind the Third and Fourth turnings, that it explains not only the Total Factor Productivity increase but the “gold rush” pattern of the Third and possibly the ultimate form of the Fourth’s Peak. These transportation concepts, on the other hand, mostly didn’t ever make it off paper. And looking at it in terms of the Saeculum, one can imagine the disconnect when trying to suggest setting up these relatively wacky ideas. It’s 1951 (say), and the bright young proposer is pitching this Land Ferry concept. Only a few years after the end of the War, the target of the pitch (let’s say it’s General Motors) is trying to take advantage of built up demand on products (cars, say) that recently became available for purchase outside the government. 

(By the end of WWII, GM still had full-page ads in Life and other magazines - not to sell cars so much as explain WHY they weren’t currently selling cars. Those ads extolled the benefits GM motors gave to (for example) the Sherman tank, kept the brand in front of consumers, and assured people that the lack of any new GM cars was “Only for the duration.”)

Our smart cookie talks about the Land Ferry. His manager looks at the opportunity for expansion from the built-up postwar demand, the improvements to existing products that can be implemented with recently-new technology, the competition to be expected for those opportunities and the related need to focus on what is currently available for sale. There would also be consideration of  current cash flows, possibly not being enough to keep the company going now that government subsidies aren’t around - and who is going to pay for implementing this, anyway?   Probably also a bit concerning whether this sort of free-thinking is such a good idea - maybe now should be about consensus, working as a team to find what to do next and how. The expected response is going to be “Let’s hold off - let’s take care of the money on the table before sawing the table into all-new pieces.” Repeat and repeat again, and those radical ideas are shut down before they can get anywhere. At least until enough people are annoyed by the effort to keep the status quo pure that they start to rebel - and so the Awakening returns again.