Introduction Why We Crave Reliability
W
hat everyone wants, more than anything, is reliability. Substitute whatever term you want—stability, consistency, dependability—in the end we all want it. It is the cornerstone of modern existence. Look at virtually any period of rapid economic growth in history and you’ll often find this formula at work: a strong motivation to advance coupled with confidence in stability around us. Even the economic expansion during World War II exemplified this. Americans rallied their strength against the imminent threat of the Axis powers, but we had an advantage. Every country engaged in the war was motivated to win, but as Europe was gripped in the conflict and destruction, American soil felt relatively safe. With the combined motivation to win and stability at home, the United States went through its most aggressive industrial expansion in history. The reliability here at home drove unparalleled increases in productivity, and enabled America to emerge as the new global superpower. Looking around us now, the value of reliability couldn’t be more evident. When we start our cars, turn on our lights, drop our kids off at school, show up at work, receive our paycheck, or go to the grocery store, we expect everything in society to work. When some small thing happens that threatens to disrupt normal life, we panic. The mention of a possible toilet paper shortage caused a run on toilet paper. People went to the store, loaded up on every roll they could find, waited in line for hours, and stocked up with a year’s worth of toilet paper. Reliability makes our world go around. The more we have, the more we advance. When there is less, we slow down, or even go 7
