June 11, 2009 10:44AM # Walking Is Controlled Falling Forward By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE People walk by propelling themselves forward in a way that would cause them to fall, then swinging a leg ahead to prevent the collapse. So it is with innovation and economic progress. Change comes in a way that threatens to land us on our faces, but we swing a leg forward and find ourselves further advanced than before. I was reminded of this today when I saw the *Washington Post* headline about the digital television transition: “[Digital TV Ready to Rule the Tube, Leaving Some Viewers in the Dark](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/10/AR2009061003978.html).” If it’s true that 3,000,000 homes in the U.S. will find their TV screens blank on Saturday — and if the people in those homes care — they’ll swing a leg forward by getting a digital TV converter, and the march to progress will continue. If you think about falling forward in isolation, it looks like a bad idea, and earlier this year Congress [delayed the DTV transition](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_PL_111-4.html). Thank goodness we’ll get to take that step now. ##### Related Tags [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).