A few years ago, I conducted a survey among my newsletter subscribers in which I asked them about their own country’s outstanding technological, economic or scientific successes or failures, or how they viewed the USA and China. The participants had surprisingly little to say about the successes of German-speaking countries. The proudest moments included the establishment of the Tesla factory in Berlin-Grünheide – as if that had been a major achievement – or the energy transition. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine revealed that the “energy turnaround” had not been an energy turnaround; they had merely made themselves even more dependent on Russian oil and gas.

They could think of more about China and the USA, in addition to many more failures in the German speaking region. The Transrapid, the BER debacle and the lack of digitization, which had been exposed by the pandemic that was raging at the same time, were frequently cited as negative examples.

Have we learned anything from this? Did we take the USA – or, God forbid, China – as inspiration? Did we roll up our sleeves and get to work to help shape the future?

Hardly, if we look at the poor mood in the country, and the apologists play down and lull us to sleep. Artificial intelligence is set to bring huge changes, and the entire European – and therefore German and German-speaking – security system and politics are facing major challenges.

One statement that underlines this sentiment comes from an electromobility group from a user who posts pictures and comments on the Tesla Cybertruck, which is the subject of controversy due to its appearance and power. The final sentence is particularly striking:

I remain skeptical about its eligibility for approval in the EU…

The first thing that comes to the commentator’s mind is whether such a vehicle can be approved for regulatory purposes in Europe. Not a word about the many innovations built into the vehicle, the possibilities that these innovations open up, but one word about regulation. And he is not the only one, because this argument is put forward again and again. Just like the rectangular yoke steering wheel, which could be approved (spoiler: it can and will be approved). Or Uber, which will probably also have to comply with cab regulations.

People tend to overlook the fact that laws and regulations are not set in stone and that adaptations to technologies for different markets are commonplace.

This situation reminds me of a visit to LinkedIn in Mountain View, where we saw their new office space concept, which looks more like a living room than a workplace, and we all liked it. One delegate came up to me and said, “Well, it’s not ergonomic“, only to immediately add, “and I wonder why I think like that and mention ergonomics first, even though I really like it.” I hear similar things again and again when people immediately think of data protection, or labor law regulations, or what the works council would say about it.

Here, people are already driving with the handbrake on. You don’t even allow yourself to consider the new concept, the new technology for yourself and think ahead. Above all, we are worried about what the law, a regulator, the works council or our colleagues might say about it. And then we’d rather not.

And that’s bad, because then you kind of give up. Then people even take bets that it won’t happen, at least not in their home country, as this commentator on LinkedIn proves when we were discussing autonomous cars, which are already on the road in the US and China and whose spread is more a question of money and time than regulatory nature:

…but should I be able to drive an autonomous car from a freely chosen location in Germany to a destination of my choice in ten years’ time, I hereby cordially invite you to a meal in Münster, I promise.

Instead of jumping up and saying “We can do it, who’s going to help?”, cynical bets are suggested that it won’t happen. And the sad thing is: the commentator will almost certainly be right. After all, it is already very difficult to bring a technology like this to market maturity and scale it up without a lousy atmosphere and lullabies.

But we wanted to ask ourselves the question: Do we really want to always drive with the handbrake on while others pass us by impetuously, defining and blazing the trail for us? For a cultural area like ours, which invented the car, developed mRNA vaccines, invented what is probably the most important technological process against hunger for mankind, namely the Haber-Bosch process, and much more, do we in our cultural area really just want to sit in the spectator seats, watching and commenting on how others develop the future? For me at least, the answer is clear: No!