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The Hero Who Rode His Segway Off a Cliff
Season 4 · Episode 5

The Hero Who Rode His Segway Off a Cliff

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

February 17, 202335m 57s

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Show Notes

Steve Jobs called It “the most amazing piece of technology since the PC.” According to Jeff Bezos It was not only “revolutionary,” but infinitely commercial. It was a fiendishly clever and massively hyped invention. But in the end It — also known as the Segway — was a failure.

What makes an invention useful and valuable? Jimi Heselden’s pragmatic brainchild the Concertainer might hold the answers. First used to shore up the collapsing walls of a canal, it ultimately solved problems that Jimi had never even imagined.

For a full list of sources for this episode, go to timharford.com

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