tophatandboots
New sewing machine: Nooo I need software updates.
My 1904 Singer 15: Just put your back into treadling, I can sew through more layers than you dare to attempt and I will still sew through them when the sun burns out if you remember to oil me
marzipanandminutiae
My digital watch from like 2004: perma-dead. You think a new battery will help? It laughs at your pain. It mocks your futile scrambling. Nothing can bring it back
My pocket watch from 1872: tick tock bitch
solitarelee
Can someone explain why this is or is the answer really just capitalism
vaspider
The answer is capitalism, mostly. The other answer is ‘when things do more things, there are more things to break.’
meiilan
The long version of “the answer is capitalism” is:
Back when the older things were made, a lot of parts were handmade, with highgrade material and from people, who oftentimes were actual “specialists of building that one thing”, which also meant, they got paid accordingly.
So a lot of money forninvested in making the thing, which in return meant the thing-makers and the thing-buyers both had a great interest in making the thing last - the thing-makers didn’t want to loose their reputation and the thing-buyers didn’t want to loose a shitload of money.
As the process of making the things got more and more divorced from specialist’s work and handed to assembling lines and investors invested in cheaper materials and faster cosntraction processes to make the things more affordable _and_ to increase personal profit, the quality and the durability of the thing inevitably suffered for it.
swingsetindecember
planned obsolescence is a thing. it’s talked a lot in engineering
they could make mufflers out of a metal alloy that would never rust and break in the lifetime of a car like +50 yrs but then there would be no need to replace mufflers so they make them out of a metal alloy that is more prone to rust and damage that increases the frequency of replacement. i had a whole class on metal alloys and we derailed a seminar with the prof ranting about this. because logically, it would be better for the planet but then, you would buy your car never replace your muffler? that is crazy talk to the market
same goes with there is more emphasis that you cannot repair the machine without going to the manufacturer. apple is built on this model. you can’t troubleshoot your mac products and swap out parts easily. you are even reprimanded for trying to fix things. like voids the warranty or impossible to source parts.
so yeah, it’s rigged especially in larger industries
