On the 31st of December each year, I along with millions of other individuals make resolutions for the upcoming year. These can be as simple as exercising everyday or as complicated as to stop drinking alcohol. However, most of these resolutions are broken within the first month of the year and the individual reverts back to how things were. The simple message here is that habits are a difficult thing the break, unless there is a clear need to do so.          

            The same message was reiterated during the lecture as well as during the reading. When pain was present, for example, change was adopted rather quickly compared to when germs were present. This entire idea got me thinking about the importance of marketing one’s idea after the final product has been completed. Currently, I am interning at a startup in Chicago that hired its first marketer roughly 3 weeks ago. The CEO of the company praised the designers and engineers for building up the infrastructure for the past 1.5 years, but reiterated the fact that without proper marketing, our efforts would go unnoticed.

            Nonetheless, I still wonder how even with appropriate marketing and an above-average product, how one convinces people to change their habits? This applies especially to technology that solves first world problems, such as restaurant and parking finders. While the technology may be the next “new” thing for a few weeks, it should, theoretically, die out. How is it, then, that some ideas survive while other ideas live on? Is it a matter of luck, or can some algorithm empirically explain it?