There are people out there - we've all been one occasionally - who believe that problems will eventually disappear if ignored.
An ostrich will stuff unpaid bills in files marked 'urgent' and kid himself that he's dealt with them; she will train herself not to see the number of unread messages on the homescreen of her phone. If we're not confronting the issue, it's not an issue. And if it's not an issue, hopefully it will go away.
The problem facing Formula One, however, is that if we continue to ignore our problems, they won't disappear -- we will.
On Wednesday I attended the Motorsport Industry Association's (MIA) Energy Efficient Motorsport conference. Not in any way a tech guru, I thought I might learn a few bits and bobs about new bits of technology I'd need to know how to spell in future, or hear about exciting developments underway in other categories.
While there was a bit of that (okay, a lot of that...) what most stood out for me was the degree of concern that industry representatives are currently experiencing about the long-term viability of F1 as a sport -- and, from their perspectives -- as a customer.
In a day of presentations and panel discussions across a range of topics, the majority of the morning was given over to chatter about the importance of understanding that any form of entertainment -- including sport of every form -- relies on its fans for its future. Men who had been called to present their theories on seemingly sci-fi fuel sources and the shape of the grid in 2026 used their platforms to highlight the need to ensure that motorsport remembers that the technological arms race will be lost by all competitors if the fans are left behind.
MIA CEO Chris Aylett set the tone in his welcome speech, in which he pointed out that cars -- as a consumer product -- were becoming increasingly integrated into the consumer electronics sphere. During CES 2016, the annual Las Vegas celebration of all things gadgety, nine major US automotive manufacturers chose to send bigwigs and chief execs to CES to launch their wares, despite the fact that the Detroit Auto Show was happening at the same time.
Whatever one's opinions on autonomous cars, autonomous racing, or the seemingly endless interconnectedness of things, it is impossible to deny that by and large, people like shiny new toys. Android or Apple, Linux or PC, modern man (and woman...) likes to spend his cash on gadgets and electronics that may or may not make life easier.
Car-makers have noticed this, and are now modifying the way they market their product to millennials. Taking the mountain to Mohammed, emphasising Vegas over Detroit for new product launches, is part of the OEMs' strategy to reach the millennial market now, to start creating brand loyalties that might influence purchasing decisions when the economy has improved and millennials can actually afford big-ticket items.
What is F1 doing to mirror this change? Given that the sport was borne of the automotive industry's need to start selling their nifty new inventions to a sceptical public, why is Formula One not reacting to the OEM's current change in approach?
The technology industry has reacted to automotive's changing needs, and is profiting as a consequence. NVIDIA, who were the market leader for graphics cards in gamers' self-built tower units back when I was a student, have now created "the world's first in-car artificial intelligence supercomputer," the NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2. The PX 2's processing power is extraordinary, as it would have to be when the millions of simultaneous operations needed for automotive autonomy are taken into consideration. But it's the sort of creation that -- traditionally, if traditional can be said to apply to new technology -- would have been developed by an OEM in-house, or by a known automotive supplier.
That tech firms are interested in the automotive sector is nothing new -- even the biggest OEMs are wary of Google and Apple cars, and many are choosing to work with the beast instead of fight against it. When presented with an 'adapt or die' choice, adapting is what winners do, after all.
But those working in the motorsport industry, those men and women who are supplying everything from sensors to tubing (and much more besides) to F1 teams, those people whose very work enables Formula One's technological arms race... Those people are worried. F1 is painting itself into a technological corner, becoming overly concerned with its own techy brilliance and forgetting that for much of the audience, F1 tech exists to enable the racing, and not as a talking point on its own.
If even the techies think we're getting too technical -- and serious technical, not 'ooh shiny CES gadget l0Lz FTW pwn3d' -- then it seems to me that we are well past the point of self-reflection and into full panic stations red alert.
Adapt or die, F1 - that's not a shadow hanging over us, but the asteroid about to wipe us out.