#19 – Mechanics as a refuge from the digital world
In Transformation Pie #28 we explore what happens when digital promises to make everything easier, but we start missing the gesture and control. From the electric Ferrari to the simulated manual shift, a journey through technology, well-understood nostalgia, and new forms of value.
In a very short time, two things have happened at Ferrari.
On one hand, the launch of the first electric Ferrari designed, among others, by Jon Ive, Apple’s star designer. It was clear that launching an electric Ferrari wasn't going to excite fans, but not only did it not, it actually resulted in one of the worst stock drops in the brand’s history.
There are several ways to interpret this rejection; that Ferrari hasn't managed to adapt its essence to an electric engine, that the design is not sporty enough, or (and surely a lot of that) the nostalgia for the mechanical, the pure, the old days.
The blue one, the digital one, promises to make your life easier and where you’ll have to put in much less effort. The red one, the mechanical one, offers a harder alternative, less sweetened, but purer, more real, freer.
Those who go back to listening to music on vinyl have to go through the work of taking out, placing, and playing the record. Beyond the fact that the music might sound better, what they can be sure of is that they’ll be listening to the music they want, not what an algorithm suggests.
I read in several places about the trend of traveling without Google or Apple maps, using old-fashioned maps. Once again, the analog as an escape from the digital.
Physical magazines, spaces where phones are banned, analog cameras, meetups in physical bookstores, the return of board games, the return of physical cards, restored iPods…
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This is where some brands have a good opportunity. It's not so much about playing the easy nostalgia card, but about designing proposals that demand something from the user; that owning something means taking care of it. Fujifilm doesn’t sell retro cameras, it sells dials that force you to decide before shooting. Dumbphones like Light Phone don’t sell limited phones, they sell returning old spaces to phone users. Book clubs, bars without screens, neighborhood races, all offer the same thing: mandatory presence.
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Ferrari's simulated manual shift points to the idea that the future isn’t about choosing between digital and mechanical, but about making them coexist. Taking advantage of the precision, comfort, and intelligence of technology without giving up the gesture, control, and human involvement. Brands that understand this balance won’t sell nostalgia or innovation separately. They’ll design experiences that bring together the best of both worlds. Because maybe innovation isn’t about eliminating friction, but about knowing which friction is worth keeping.
The red pill isn’t about leaving the Matrix. It’s about being able to drive it, every now and then, with a manual transmission.
