The status quo is a super magnet. People are biased against the way things could be and find comfort in the way things are. If you had any doubts about our obsession with the status quo, take a look at all these idioms we’ve dedicated to avoiding change: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “Don’t rock the boat.” “Don’t change horses in the middle of the stream.” “Go with the devil you know.” The default carries immense power, even in advanced industries like rocket science. This idea is called path dependence: What we’ve done before shapes what we do next.
