SHALL WE TELL THE PRECEDENT?

Did you know...?

Did it ever cross your mind...?

...that the width of a space-shuttle's engine was based on a two-thousand year old Roman road-engineer's design?

As you may be aware, the space shuttle is one of the most complex machines ever created by humankind, and therefore its engines must be equally mind-boggling in their design!

In the days of the Roman empire, they built the roads with a width of 4 feet and 8.5 inches each.

Much later, when tramlines came into existence in England, the width between the rails for the trams was adapted from the Roman roads, 4 feet 8.5 inches.

In recent times, the space shuttle engines manufactured in the US needed to be transported within the country for assembly into the rockets. These engines were transported by railroads, again whose rail lines were separated by the same width, 4 feet 8.5 inches. The American railroad track width was adapted from the tramlines of the UK. Each space-shuttle engine had to necessarily align with the width of the railroad that ferried it from Utah to Florida; hence its width was fixed to the same dimension, 4 feet 8.5 inches!

Whenever we face a problem, our default response very often is to ask the question, either consciously or subconsciously : " How have we dealt with this in the past? What did we do last time?"

To attempt an unprecedented path forward is often fraught with risks - financial, legal, moral, reputational or even physical. But radical transformations happen mostly when precedents are broken or ignored, or when none exist, don't they? For example, to test the poliovirus vaccine before it became available for regular use, its inventor Jonas Salk injected the vaccine into himself and his family members. He made one more decision which perhaps is unthinkable in today's life-sciences (R&D) industry or any commercial enterprise immersed in discovery or innovation - he refused to patent his invention, and instead made it available to all, without any profit motive!

Piggybacking on precedents may result in short-term or incremental improvements. They are no doubt a safe bet. They can be quoted. They act as shields. They protect us from attack. They can defend us against difficult questions. They provide psychological security and comfort. They are safety-nets, for sure.

What does it take to bypass precedents?

• Courage, based on a burning desire to be different?
• Plain bravado or foolhardiness, to prove a point?
• To stand out as a hero?
• Sheer compulsion, no other choice?
• Or when there are no existing precedents at all?

Ignoring a precedent, or creating a new one, can sometimes feel like going into a fierce machine-gun battle without wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Ultimately, the choice is yours.??

Note:?The above article/post, with its contents is the personal view of the author, expressed purely in his personal capacity and is not related to any specific existing organization, institution, group or individual. Any such perceived resemblance or derived linkage or relationship as such is purely coincidental and unintended.

The author would also like to acknowledge Ozan Varol and his book "Think like a Rocket Scientist", for the example on the width of space-shuttle engines being linked to the width of the Roman roads.

The title of this article has been inspired by the name of one of Jeffrey Archer's earliest books published in 1977: " Shall we tell the President?"