I find I am getting more and more analog - paper, electrical, even utterly unpowered.
Yes, I have a couple "wifi lights" - because there were a couple places we wanted colored lights. Everything else is a standard bulb with an on-off switch. This trend of everything, toasters, dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators , blech, has to be online is the absolute suck.
We have manufacturing tolerances down to the point that light switches and outlets should and do last decades, it's been that way for decades, actually - until you add control electronics. Now they go obsolete.
The tendency to trend design specs as close to the tolerances as we can has to also stop. Sure, we now have fewer failures doe to mismanufacture - usually, see that bad batch of capacitors, or ASUS' recent motherboard issues - but just because you don't need as much metal to absorb heat, because you can make it half the size and "strong enough" for its' "expected lifespan" - doesn't mean you should, especially given how, with planned obsolescence (can't keep making money if they only sell you one) they've shortened up the expected lifespan.
I'm tired of shit going obsolete - sorry for the language.
The fridge outside is 25+ years old, has outlasted a newer, higher end GE.
Also one of the reasons as to why, as the teflon pans wear out, I'm replacing them with carbon steel and cast iron.
Though TBF what killed a 17-y-o dishwasher was a catastrophically bad design choice on where to run the top feed hose that flooded the kitchen when that came apart. Not all the old stuff was actually better.
“I'm tired of shit going obsolete - sorry for the language.”
Exactly. I’m just TIRED.
You’re right that chronological snobbery can blind us to the fact that some older stuff was poorly designed and just plain bad. That’s fair. But the trends you described explain a lot and reek of trying to extract every last cent of “value” from the purchasing public. No sir, I’m not a fan no matter how many dancing libertarians tell me I should embrace planned obsolescence.
Or not. It's clear once you ponder it and industrial processes and equipment - especially when you consider the _in-game_ relative processing density of a hand comp, that the assumption for TC ship computers is skewed towards reliability and repairability in the field with lower tech or substandard components and not squeaking out every clock cycle per Kg.
Because that ships comp that can play Crysis will get fried in a solar flare. Or on a typical atmo landing.
Sure, spacex proves solid circuits - and I bet their motherboards are still massively shock-isolated and the chips better attached than my MSI board - can work. Until you land on a TL9 world.
Sep 14, 2023·edited Sep 14, 2023Liked by Alexander Hellene
I've been saying for years that companies, rather than investing in improving or shoring up their products or technology, have decided to instead invest in actively making our lives demonstrably worse down to the most minute detail instead. Maybe if they weren't so busy trying to figure out how they can squeeze every last nickel out of us, we might actually get a new iPhone that isn't just some minor side-grade of the last version. There's also the line, "The convenience that a few demand will be made mandatory for all", which pretty much describes everything about our current cultural and societal moment, where we all have to suffer and bend over backwards to accommodate the lumpen elements of society - both at the bottom and the top. I work in an industry where we sell a lot of this smart home crap and it's an open secret that 99% of it is just guff to that's basically there for impressionable new money types to blow cash on so they look good to their friends and neighbors. A lot of people who sell the stuff don't even want it in their own houses. I had my own experience with it when my dad got a keyless door lock that continually fucked up, ran out of batteries, or would lock me out when I fat-fingered the code. I was like, you know what never runs out of batteries? Fucking good old fashioned metal keys! And it takes less time for me to get my fucking keys out and unlock the door with that than it did for me to type in the code, let the damn thing think, and then unlock. Man, we fought over that shit like cats and dogs. Stock up on old stuff now, though. It's only going to get more difficult to find, and I know a guy who works for one of the largest appliance manufacturers in the country that there's work being done behind the scenes to phase out anything that isn't "smart". You won't be surprised to hear that there's all sorts of "eco-incentives" being peddled by the government to basically subsidize it, too, since, apparently, smart machines waste less than regular stuff. So, there's a dedicated push to switch over to easily and remotely controlled - oh, sorry, "smart" appliances across the industry coming down the pike, where even the cheapest options will still all be buttonless and operated via phone (which is one of the least convenient and buggy and dysfunctional methods of operating anything I've ever had the displeasure of using). Prepare accordingly.
It’s all so stupid, which is why they call it “smart.” You know who this fools, who this appeals to? Urban bugmen and bugwomen. These overeducated morons ooh and ahh over anyrying with the word “smart” slapped in front of it because by buying it—and with the deliberate excision of religion from America over the past six decades, your consumer choices are what define you—they signal to others AND THEMSELVES that they, too, are smart.
“Hey, let’s put cameras and recording devices that send out information to some ‘cloud’ all throughout our house!”
a guy who works for one of the largest appliance manufacturers in the country that there's work being done behind the scenes to phase out anything that isn't 'smart'"
I learned a trick many years ago. Find a general contractor that does kitchens and ask them where they get the appliances they install and what models to select. These guys don't ever want to have to come back to fix the shit they install so they select appliances that last. I got a dishwasher that way in 2001 and, knock on wood, it's still going strong 22 years later with zero maintenance the whole time. Can't say the same for my fridge. Oh, and never, ever buy appliances from big box stores. Ever. Never. Evernever.
I bought a fridge from Lowes and it fucked me right in the ass. I bought two toasters also -- when the first one never worked at all I went back to Lowes for another one and it worked. And when I say it worked I mean it got so hot it caught fire and tried to burn my house down.
The tech industry goes constantly through bullshit cycles: big data, Internet of Things, crypto and now AI (actually LLM bots but AI sounds better). Meanwhile even the Internet is getting worse: Youtube is recommending me videos in Hindi, Instagram thinks I'm in Botswana, Google Play doesn't let me move my location from Germany since I visited that country, Google search and Wikipedia are now politically correct trash that censor everything.
Is Joe's Garage the album where they break into a weedling Bob Dylan-esque ramble about a guy taking his car to get fixed and how the autoshop rips him off? I just remember an annoying harmonica and some lyric about "and they charged me double for sunday" -- referring to how much they charged him to store his car while they fixed it. That bit still gives me a chuckle for sure.
And yes, the "internet of things" is an utter catastrophe. One bit you didn't mention is how all these "smart" appliances have godawful-to-no security on them so they open your home network and all your phones and computers to hackers. Fantastic!
You’re thinking of the song “Flakes” from Sheik Yerbouti (1978), one album before Joe’s Garage. The whole song is funny, but the end part that begins “I’m a moron, and this is my wife” has the song’s best lines:
“We are millions and millions
We're coming to get you
We're protected by unions
So don't let it upset you
Can't escape the conclusion
It's probably God's will
That civilization
Will grind to a standstill
And we are the people
Who will make it all happen
While your children is sleepin'
Your puppy is crappin'
You might call us flakes
Or something else you might coin us
We know you're so greedy
That you'll probably join us”
And yes, the security angle is another thing. Imagine someone hacking into your toilet. The horror.
I find I am getting more and more analog - paper, electrical, even utterly unpowered.
Yes, I have a couple "wifi lights" - because there were a couple places we wanted colored lights. Everything else is a standard bulb with an on-off switch. This trend of everything, toasters, dishwashers, clothes washers, refrigerators , blech, has to be online is the absolute suck.
We have manufacturing tolerances down to the point that light switches and outlets should and do last decades, it's been that way for decades, actually - until you add control electronics. Now they go obsolete.
The tendency to trend design specs as close to the tolerances as we can has to also stop. Sure, we now have fewer failures doe to mismanufacture - usually, see that bad batch of capacitors, or ASUS' recent motherboard issues - but just because you don't need as much metal to absorb heat, because you can make it half the size and "strong enough" for its' "expected lifespan" - doesn't mean you should, especially given how, with planned obsolescence (can't keep making money if they only sell you one) they've shortened up the expected lifespan.
I'm tired of shit going obsolete - sorry for the language.
The fridge outside is 25+ years old, has outlasted a newer, higher end GE.
Also one of the reasons as to why, as the teflon pans wear out, I'm replacing them with carbon steel and cast iron.
Though TBF what killed a 17-y-o dishwasher was a catastrophically bad design choice on where to run the top feed hose that flooded the kitchen when that came apart. Not all the old stuff was actually better.
“I'm tired of shit going obsolete - sorry for the language.”
Exactly. I’m just TIRED.
You’re right that chronological snobbery can blind us to the fact that some older stuff was poorly designed and just plain bad. That’s fair. But the trends you described explain a lot and reek of trying to extract every last cent of “value” from the purchasing public. No sir, I’m not a fan no matter how many dancing libertarians tell me I should embrace planned obsolescence.
Completely unrelated : https://lastredoubt.substack.com/p/classic-traveller-computers
Or not. It's clear once you ponder it and industrial processes and equipment - especially when you consider the _in-game_ relative processing density of a hand comp, that the assumption for TC ship computers is skewed towards reliability and repairability in the field with lower tech or substandard components and not squeaking out every clock cycle per Kg.
Because that ships comp that can play Crysis will get fried in a solar flare. Or on a typical atmo landing.
Sure, spacex proves solid circuits - and I bet their motherboards are still massively shock-isolated and the chips better attached than my MSI board - can work. Until you land on a TL9 world.
i.e. - don't build close to tolerances.
I've been saying for years that companies, rather than investing in improving or shoring up their products or technology, have decided to instead invest in actively making our lives demonstrably worse down to the most minute detail instead. Maybe if they weren't so busy trying to figure out how they can squeeze every last nickel out of us, we might actually get a new iPhone that isn't just some minor side-grade of the last version. There's also the line, "The convenience that a few demand will be made mandatory for all", which pretty much describes everything about our current cultural and societal moment, where we all have to suffer and bend over backwards to accommodate the lumpen elements of society - both at the bottom and the top. I work in an industry where we sell a lot of this smart home crap and it's an open secret that 99% of it is just guff to that's basically there for impressionable new money types to blow cash on so they look good to their friends and neighbors. A lot of people who sell the stuff don't even want it in their own houses. I had my own experience with it when my dad got a keyless door lock that continually fucked up, ran out of batteries, or would lock me out when I fat-fingered the code. I was like, you know what never runs out of batteries? Fucking good old fashioned metal keys! And it takes less time for me to get my fucking keys out and unlock the door with that than it did for me to type in the code, let the damn thing think, and then unlock. Man, we fought over that shit like cats and dogs. Stock up on old stuff now, though. It's only going to get more difficult to find, and I know a guy who works for one of the largest appliance manufacturers in the country that there's work being done behind the scenes to phase out anything that isn't "smart". You won't be surprised to hear that there's all sorts of "eco-incentives" being peddled by the government to basically subsidize it, too, since, apparently, smart machines waste less than regular stuff. So, there's a dedicated push to switch over to easily and remotely controlled - oh, sorry, "smart" appliances across the industry coming down the pike, where even the cheapest options will still all be buttonless and operated via phone (which is one of the least convenient and buggy and dysfunctional methods of operating anything I've ever had the displeasure of using). Prepare accordingly.
It’s all so stupid, which is why they call it “smart.” You know who this fools, who this appeals to? Urban bugmen and bugwomen. These overeducated morons ooh and ahh over anyrying with the word “smart” slapped in front of it because by buying it—and with the deliberate excision of religion from America over the past six decades, your consumer choices are what define you—they signal to others AND THEMSELVES that they, too, are smart.
“Hey, let’s put cameras and recording devices that send out information to some ‘cloud’ all throughout our house!”
Morons.
a guy who works for one of the largest appliance manufacturers in the country that there's work being done behind the scenes to phase out anything that isn't 'smart'"
Well, shit.
Can confirm the WordPress borking.
I tried a few weeks ago to set up a quick site, and I couldn't even figure out how to upload and place the logo in one of the default templates.
I'm a software engineer by training and experience. I can figure it out by looking at the code and brute forcing it.
But WHYYYYYY?!!!
It galls because Wordpress used to be SO GOOD.
I can’t help laughing that you’re a software engineer and Wordpress’s changes are too stupid for even you, an actual smart person, to figure out.
Beware over-enthusiastic software devs. It's why I refuse to work at startups anymore. They fuck up everything.
We just had to replace our washer and dryer because they both took a shit after only three years. THREE! YEARS!
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Those things should last a minimum of a decade.
All right, libertarians: I’m ready for your disagreements.
I learned a trick many years ago. Find a general contractor that does kitchens and ask them where they get the appliances they install and what models to select. These guys don't ever want to have to come back to fix the shit they install so they select appliances that last. I got a dishwasher that way in 2001 and, knock on wood, it's still going strong 22 years later with zero maintenance the whole time. Can't say the same for my fridge. Oh, and never, ever buy appliances from big box stores. Ever. Never. Evernever.
Well, based on your warning, my fridge is likely to crap out tomorrow.
I bought a fridge from Lowes and it fucked me right in the ass. I bought two toasters also -- when the first one never worked at all I went back to Lowes for another one and it worked. And when I say it worked I mean it got so hot it caught fire and tried to burn my house down.
I once had a co-worker tell me that they'd come up with smartphone enabled toilets and I just can't fathom it.
Why would I ever want to flush the bog when I'm not currently residing upon it?
Who wanders off, goes to work, and thinks "ah, crap, my crap is still sitting out" *beep* "there we go".
At least make such toilets automatically flush when they detect a massive load within! Surely motion, and odor, sensors are a thing!
Can I just keep my old toilet with the little thingy I pull down?
Great piece, and funny. Btw, totally agree we don't need libertarians and we don't need commies. We need common sense.
I don’t know which group I like less: murderous, low IQ thugs or the super-smug autists who refuse to fight them.
This comment section is EXACTLY like I envisioned it, spicy just like the write-up.
Been a while I read a heartfelt, punchy and visceral piece like this, thank you Alexander 🙏
Thank you so much for the kinds words! I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
The tech industry goes constantly through bullshit cycles: big data, Internet of Things, crypto and now AI (actually LLM bots but AI sounds better). Meanwhile even the Internet is getting worse: Youtube is recommending me videos in Hindi, Instagram thinks I'm in Botswana, Google Play doesn't let me move my location from Germany since I visited that country, Google search and Wikipedia are now politically correct trash that censor everything.
The degree to which we delude ourselves that we’re better and smarter than people in the past deserves an award.
Real journalism.
And I didn't even need to go to Columbia!
Is Joe's Garage the album where they break into a weedling Bob Dylan-esque ramble about a guy taking his car to get fixed and how the autoshop rips him off? I just remember an annoying harmonica and some lyric about "and they charged me double for sunday" -- referring to how much they charged him to store his car while they fixed it. That bit still gives me a chuckle for sure.
And yes, the "internet of things" is an utter catastrophe. One bit you didn't mention is how all these "smart" appliances have godawful-to-no security on them so they open your home network and all your phones and computers to hackers. Fantastic!
You’re thinking of the song “Flakes” from Sheik Yerbouti (1978), one album before Joe’s Garage. The whole song is funny, but the end part that begins “I’m a moron, and this is my wife” has the song’s best lines:
“We are millions and millions
We're coming to get you
We're protected by unions
So don't let it upset you
Can't escape the conclusion
It's probably God's will
That civilization
Will grind to a standstill
And we are the people
Who will make it all happen
While your children is sleepin'
Your puppy is crappin'
You might call us flakes
Or something else you might coin us
We know you're so greedy
That you'll probably join us”
And yes, the security angle is another thing. Imagine someone hacking into your toilet. The horror.
"Imagine someone hacking into your toilet. "
<a href="https://nightskyradio.com/2020/04/11/2020-is-cyberpunk/">Check this</a>. And the security of your credit card isn't the only concern. You might become internet famous.
That's right!
Here's the verse I was talking about (sans harmonica):
[Take it away, Bob. . .]
[Verse 3]
I asked as nice as I could
If my job would
Somehow be finished by Friday
Well, the whole damn weekend
Came and went, Frankie
(Wanna buy some mandies, Bob?)
You know what?
They didn't do nothin'
But they charged me double for Sunday
Now you know no matter what you do
They gonna cheat and rob you
Then they'll give you a bill
That'll get your senses reelin'
And if you do not pay
They got computer collectors
That'll get you so crazy
'Til your head'll go through the ceilin'
Yes it will!
I love that song. That's percussionist Ed Mann who'd do the Bob Dylan impression.