All aboard the progress express
Progress is not polite. It doesn’t need your permission to continue. The train is moving. The only question is whether you’re on it, or waving bitterly from the platform.
Evolution is not optional. You might choose to disembark from the progress train, but that train is going to continue its journey, with or without you.
Now, admittedly, I am not the best person to deliver this not-very-surprising news. The most-listened-to album on my iPhone was released 43 years ago. I firmly believe that men dressed best in the 1930s and 40s, that the 1970s largely gave us the best music, and that the 1980s was the greatest decade of all time.
It has been a very long time since I discovered a meaningful new band; even longer since I discovered one that didn’t just remind me of something from my youth. I am not someone who stays on top of what’s “trending.” I don’t know who half the new celebrities are. And when I hear someone mention TikTok, my instinct is to reach for a wristwatch.
But I’m also not stubborn enough or delusional enough to believe that my preferences freeze time. I’m willing to accept that Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are the sound of today. They’re not for me, and they were never supposed to be. And just because I find them both bland, vanilla, and far too safe and corporate for my tastes, I don’t resent their existence.
I don’t have to like everything new. But I do have to acknowledge it. That’s the price of living in the present.
All of which brings us to the subject of demolition and construction equipment. More specifically, it brings us to the issue of people dismissing the new in favour of the tried and tested.
I came back from Bauma 2025 with my camera’s memory card bursting at the seams: stills, reels, wide shots, drone shots, operator close-ups; each image capturing something new, something bold, or boundary-pushing. New brands, new engines, new power sources. New ideas. The future, in motion.
And yet, I know exactly what’s coming. I’ve done this dance before. When I post these machines on Instagram or YouTube, a parade of familiar comments will follow. Some polite. Some sceptical. Some aggressive. And some full of that thinly-veiled contempt that only the internet can truly deliver.
But the most common reaction, the underlying mood, is a kind of smirking dismissal. “Looks too complicated.” “Give me an old Volvo any day.” “Let me know when it can work 14 hours without needing to charge.” And my personal favourite: “What’s wrong with diesel?”
To a degree, I get it. Change can be tough. It can be scary. And the thought of abandoning diesel in favour of electric or hydrogen power is, unquestionably, a step into the unknown.
But what is the alternative? Are we saying that a 2025 diesel-powered Komatsu excavator is as good as excavators will ever get? Is the latest diesel Liebherr dozer the very peak of dozer design? Are we absolutely certain that an electric or a hydrogen wheel loader will never be quite as good as the diesel version upon which it is based?
Because if that’s the claim, we’re not just doubting progress; we’re denying it altogether.
Let me ask you this: When, exactly, did we decide that we were done with equipment evolution? Was it this year? Last year? At the turn of the century? Did our forebears in the industry decide that the Cat D10 would never improve after 1980? That the 1995 JCB 3CX was as good as it would ever be?
Such a notion is nonsense, of course. Even if the change is relatively small or incremental, each machine update is an improvement; each new generation is better than the one that came before.
We might still look at the machines and the cars of yesteryear with a mix of nostalgia and longing. The curves, the sounds, the smell of the oil. Those things pull at the heartstrings. But given the choice, I would pick any car from today over a 1980s Ford Escort. I would take a 2025 excavator over a 1990s relic without blinking. If I was trying to get a job done, not just indulge my memories, I’d take a Cat D6XE over a Cat Sixty any day of the week.
This is not about brand loyalty or badge worship. It’s about efficiency, safety, emissions, and performance. It’s about what works better. And yes, sometimes “better” doesn’t roar. Sometimes it hums quietly, charges overnight while it communicates with satellites to update its software as you sleep.
And that seems to bother some people more than it should.
There’s a weird kind of masculinity attached to machinery; a sense that if something doesn’t make your chest vibrate when it starts up, it isn’t “real.” That if it doesn’t smoke, growl, and leak a bit of oil, then it must be weak or silly. You hear this kind of thing all the time: “Real machines run on diesel.” “Electric is for toys.” “Hydrogen’s a fad.”
But machines are not about masculinity. They’re about movement. If a machine can do the job, and do it cleaner, faster, or more efficiently, then it is a real machine. It doesn’t matter if it sounds like a Harley Davidson or a hairdryer.
And here’s the final piece of the puzzle. Evolution doesn’t just happen in factories and foundries. It happens in us; in our thinking, our culture, our expectations. The people who cling to old machines because they’re “simpler” are often the same people who cling to outdated ideas because they’re “familiar.” That kind of thinking is how industries and individuals get left behind.
Progress is not polite. It doesn’t need your permission to continue. The train is moving. The only question is whether you’re on it, or waving bitterly from the platform.
So, no, I don’t think Taylor Swift is the voice of a generation. I don’t even think she’s the voice of my kitchen radio. But I do think she’s a sign of where the world is heading. And I’d rather nod respectfully and step aside than pretend it’s still 1983 and shout at the clouds.
I’ll always love the machines of the past. I’ll always admire their style, their grit, and the noise they made as they conquered the world. But I won’t let that admiration turn into stubbornness. I won’t let love become limitation.
Because evolution is not optional. And if we want to keep building the future, we have to stop worshipping the past.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our previous article “when industry imitates politics.”