Forever Magic
As a hobby I collect vintage transistor radios. The very old ones, like early 1960's Sony still work today. My favorite, which I listen to for several hours a day is the "James Bond's" 2FA-24W. It is probably around 55 years old. And works great, never serviced (on a USB-rechargeable 16340 RCR123 3,7 V cell). Interestingly much newer models such as the ICF-PRO70 (20 years younger) needed a full surgery to replace all electrolytic capacitors with new ones.
In the computer department the ScanSnap S300 (12 years) is the king of the hill. I use it less and less as most documents arrive today in an electronic form, but still the S300 works as new, converting a paper page to a PDF file with one press of a button.
Oh - and I would almost forgot - my WiFi still runs on the WRT54GL. I don't remember the year I installed it, but it must have been something around 2005. So 15 years in service.
The Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station continues to deliver on all fronts for 11 years. This year I replaced the backup CR123 battery, but otherwise I have never touched it to fix anything. It just works. And they still sell it. Awesome!
I drive a 2005 JDM Subaru Forester STI. It is probably the most improbable sleeper ever manufactured. It is 15 years old and feels brand new. Any Subaru Forester model made after this one was inferior. Is this called a progress? I have no idea why people are buying new cars, many do that every 2-3 years. Cars are the ultimate waste, production of new cars should probably be forbidden by law. I think we have enough cars already to serve everyone's needs.
The COVID Pandemic has put a little bit of brakes on our exuberant consumption habits. But that is not enough. And just about to end. I fear the day the pandemic ends and the crowds return to the shopping spree. Quantity over quality will continue to reign...
A revolutionary statement: "production of new cars should probably be forbidden by law":-)
ReplyDeleteToday a lot of manufacturers are intencionally shortening the service life of their products:-(
UE was supposed to fight it ...
The problem - in general - is we have been persuaded that GDP growth is good. But this is a false metric. GDP growth is fueled by increased consumption of goods we do not need. It is a very serious civilization disease, like obesity. GDP is quantity, what we really need is better quality (of life - in general). And like with obesity, the solution to better life is more exercise, less consumption, less waste.
ReplyDeleteYes, and no. We need a progress. That's human nature. There is no progress without new technology. There is no new technology without new product... I don't understand why so many years nobody has landed on the Moon again, or on Mars ... Too many upgraded products/technologies without a real progress ...
DeleteBetter - yes, more - no. We are stuffing ourselves with more and more junk. We need to understand and appreciate more is not better. Increasing consumption of junk is a death spiral. The whole point of this bog has been quality is hard to find these days. And the progress is not really there.
DeleteSomeone has to pay for "better".
Delete"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch"
Absolutely. But we are paying today too much for the crap that is flooding us. The crap is driven by consumption driven by investor's greed. The way the "economy" works today favors short-term, high-gain priorities, which by nature do not favor quality.
DeleteI think to start with we could consider slowing this false progress by significantly raising taxes. Reducing the reward for entrepreneurship and hard work would limit supply, which would raise prices, reducing consumption. That itself would have potential to deal with the quantity oversupply component.
IOW people are generally getting too rich too easy and there is too much supply. This, however, does not improve the quality of life.
Taxes are always less efficient than private sector.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I agree with your point but we have to find out the smart way of implementing it.
Someone who figures it out should get the Noble Prize in Economics, at least:-)
That is the point. We need less efficiency to put some breaks on the private sector.
DeleteThrough progress, our efficiency has increased dramatically. Today it costs pennies to manufacture very complex products. Also food production costs are spiraling down. Longer term - around 2050 - energy will be free and all the work will be done by robots. This all means the per-capita wealth has skyrocketed. What to do with that? Is socialism now possible with the abundance of energy and goods? Or will we all die from oversupply and abundant overdose?
In the meantime I think more regulation is needed to raise the bar for products quality and the environmental impact. There have been some good wins recently, like the right to repair and putting an end to premature product obsolescence. It is not as "wild west" as it was in XIX century in the USA, but still it is the politicians' responsibility to guard the societies from the "entrepreneurial shortcuts to profitability".
https://biznes.interia.pl/finanse/news-unia-robi-porzadek-z-jakoscia-produktow,nId,4918536
DeleteYea, I linked it above. It is a good start and certainly a reason why we need (good) governments / regulators. Businesses always prioritize profits, which is really bad for humanity in general.
Delete