Golden Horse Power
Torturing analogies like Genghis Khan with a keyboard
Historical Context
For more than 250 years, the nomadic horse-driven Golden Horde managed to expand from its home base in Mongolia to Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. Genghis Khan (c. 1162-1227) was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol Empire, which eventually became the largest contiguous empire in world history.
The Golden Horde’s regime had deep consequences on the political, economic and cultural map of modern Eurasia.
The khanate shaped community life and collective memory by combining mystical practices. Welcoming wandering scholars and artisans is one of the Golden Horde’s important legacies.
One notable aspect of the Golden Horde was how they used horses.
Decades ahead of Europeans, the Horde could quickly mobilize, equip large bodies of soldiers, and coming out of nowhere to besiege medieval fortress cities.
Their military tactics were highly effective and enabled them to conquer vast territories, pioneering the cruel art of war.
People adapted. Those who learned from the conquerors’ military tactics grew strong enough to eventually form the Russian state.
As a ruling authority, the Golden Horde's organization, steely discipline, and skillful tactics were encapsulated in horse power.
Mechanized Horses
Now, fast forward from the 1300's to the Industrial Revolution.
The term "horsepower" was coined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses.
Electric vehicles measure engine output in kilowatts, but gas-powered engines measure in horsepower.
Anyone driving a gas-engine car today is a member of the modern Golden Horde.
Horsepower mechanized.
We can quickly get on the mechanical horse to drive 0.2 miles to CVS, fill up extended family in the third row, and seemingly coming out of nowhere to besiege parking lots.
But, horses are hungry and thirsty. Mechanical horses are no different.
Our modern mechanical horses eat square acres of valuable land required for them park and drive.
Our mechanical horses drink tankers filled with dinosaur juice.
A cruel side-effect: distracted Horde riders regularly take out people walking and biking around the community.
Post Horde kW
The legacy of the Golden Horde widespread patronage of literature, science, and architecture.
After political instabiity and frequent changes in power, the khanate of the Golden Horde inevitably disintegrated.
Like Amazon of its era, the Horde innovated the relentless delivery of mail and packages over long distances But, then it stopped.
Horsepower was everything, everywhere, at all at once, until it wasn't anymore.
There oughta be an imaginable future that involves prioritizing people over thirsty and hungry mechanical horses, even the ones measuring output in kilowatts.