Technology Shocks, Near-Perfect Replicas and the Future

In economics, technology shocks are rapid changes in technology that result in significant alterations in the outcomes that can be achieved for a given amount of input resources. Examples of technology shocks that completely transformed the world are the printing press, the Industrial Revolution and the internet. But technology shocks are not always so grand and all-influencing. Within the world of climbing, technology shocks such as chalk, sticky rubber boots and the campus board have radically changed the levels of performance that can be achieved for a given level of effort. Elite climbers that embraced these technology shocks achieved more than rival elites who did not, and were consequently rewarded with greater recognition and economic success. Nowadays, it is impossible to imagine an elite climber not using sticky boots, chalk and systematic forms of training. The technology eventually becomes rightly seen as a necessary condition of high performance and is implemented by all elites who make high-performance their primary goal. Use of the technology becomes the dominant strategy, and failure to use it to its full extent necessary entails a lower level of performance. The actions of elites in turn influence the climbing masses, particularly the young, who imitate their values and behaviour.

At the present time, the technology shock sweeping through the ranks of the international climbing elite is 3D-printed near-perfect replicas of cutting-edge outdoor boulder problems.

The incumbent elite (Nalle Hukkataival et al.), who were raised in a culture centering more around climbing outside, is close to being surpassed by the insurgent next-generation of elites willing to put aside values of coolness, purity, romance and being-in-the-world to spend increasing amounts of time in gyms training on near-perfect replicas. Why put up with the travelling, the conditions, the generally inconvenient circumstances associated with the unique piece of geology millions of years in the making, when you can 3D-print it and put it in your shed? In the absence of any conflicting values it’s a no-brainer — if that’s what it takes to make the number go up of course you will do it. Nonetheless, the present generation is still at least a little bit in touch with the historic traditions of climbing, and recognise that spending their whole life drilling near-perfect replicas would border on the insane. 

However the next generation of aspiring elite climbers will be even less in touch with the traditions of climbing. This generation will surpass the current insurgent elites by eschewing all other values, rarely if ever venturing outside, and simply grind away at such replicas day and night. Particularly philistine cases, who see no fundamental difference between climbing outside and climbing indoors (but recognise the necessity of climbing outside due to entrenched traditional ideas of what true performance is) will be willing to spend more time doing this than others. If that’s what it takes to be the best then there inevitably will be some who will follow this strategy. Rival aspiring elites initially unwilling to follow this strategy will be surpassed, will receive less attention and sponsorship, and will therefore be economically incentivised to suppress their higher values and to join in grinding away at those replicas. 

Much like chalk, sticky rubber, and systematic training, 3D-printed near-perfect replicas have already altered the dominant strategy. The writing on the wall is clear for those playing the game of ‘big grade=good’: adapt to the new technology; sacrifice other values; grind away at the replicas.

It will take time this realisation to spread but eventually elite climbing culture will catch up to the technology. But for now, imagine all your favourite top-level climbers, spending nearly all their time sitting in gyms, working on replicas, forever (or at least till the next technology shock). The implications for mass climbing culture are left for the reader to imagine.

Appendix: Instagram story poll results

“Will the future of top-level bouldering mainly involve sitting in gyms full of replicas?” Yes (91 votes; 58%), No (67 votes; 42%)

“Is sitting in a gym full of replicas a better way to spend your life than spending it contending with the natural challenges associated with climbing the geology itself?” Yes (29 votes; 20%), No (119 votes; 80%)

“Is Shawn Raboutou an inefficent dinosaur living in the past for going to all this trouble instead of 3D-printing himself a near-perfect replica and putting it in his shed?” An inefficient dinosaur (doing the wrong thing) (18 votes; 16%), An inefficient dinosaur (doing the right thing) (98 votes, 84%).