A constant theme when new technologies appear is the inevitable war about standards that often sees bitter arguments over how the new methods should be used.
Over the centuries we’ve seen fights over railway gauges, video tape formats and even the shape of lighting conductors.
The struggle over lightning rods between the English and French camps in the eighteenth century was parodied by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s Travels where the two tribes fought over which end of a boiled egg should be broken.
Probably the nastiest dispute in modern times was the battle over DC and AC electricity transmission between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, a fight made worse by Edison’s former employee Nikola Tesla taking his patents over to Westinghouse.
The fight became so fierce that Edison actually electrocuted an elephant to illustrate how dangerous AC electricity would be to householders.
Tesla and Westinghouse eventually won the argument, but it came at a cost to Topsy the Elephant.
While we may draw the line at electrocuting elephants in these enlightened days, we aren’t much better at settling standards. That’s why it’s fascinating watching how technologies like the smart car and the connected home will evolve.