# was the Segway really "IT/Ginger" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179 "2004-06-13T21:31:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/1 "2004-06-13T21:31:37Z")
I’m sure everyone recalls the hoopla about “It” / “Ginger,” which most people believe turned out to be the comically underwhelming Segway scooter. Yet the Segway’s creator has said many times that the Segway was _not_ “Ginger,” and that it was just some precursor to the real paradigm shift-causing invention. What ever came of that? Was he bullshitting, or is “IT”/“Ginger” still a mystery? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/2 "2004-06-13T21:47:09Z")
[This TIME Magazine article](http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660-1,00.html) seems to think so. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/3 "2004-06-13T21:59:41Z")
I think the general consensus is that “It” was the Segway, but after everyone finished laughing at it, Dean Kamen backpedaled and started claiming that “It” was something else that was really, _really_ wonderful :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/4 "2004-06-13T22:36:08Z")
A couple of years ago Dan Rather interviewed him for Sixty Minutes II and Kamen showed a Stirling Cycle Engine he was developing that could generate electricity and distill water, with the idea of distributing it in rural villages. I’ve heard the suggestion that this was the world-changing device that was being hinted about. Part of the problem is that the hype around the Segway was so overblown that there was no way it could live up to the expectations. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/5 "2004-06-13T23:34:04Z")
Last I heard they were actually selling a bunch of them, to PD’s, private security, local govts and the like. That was a month or two ago. Are they belly-up? They did do as advertised. (forget the cost) Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/6 "2004-06-14T00:38:45Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Last I heard they were actually selling a bunch of them, to PD’s, private security, local govts and the like. That was a month or two ago. > Are they belly-up? They did do as advertised. (forget the cost) > Peace, > mangeorge They seem do be doing pretty well. I see postal service and PD on them periodically around here (Bronx, NY) and Amazon sells them online. (I want one, but not at that price). PC ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/7 "2004-06-14T00:53:51Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > They did do as advertised. Well, considering “as advertised,” Ginger was going to “fundamentally change the world,” “be the largest paradigm shift since the microchip,” and “would be so revoluationary that cities would be retrofitted to accomodate it,” I think it fell a bit short. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-segway-really-it-ginger/250179/8 "2004-06-14T01:06:29Z")
The Segway unquestionably IS “Ginger,” since Kamen said so at the time. He even went so far as to explain how it was going to “Fundamentally change the world” - he claimed it would change the way cities are designed and transportation was planned. If he’s now saying it’s not, then either he lied then or he’s lying now.