I have often pondered why would an intelligent society have planned obsolescence incorporated into the design of there equipment, I mean don't you think it would be a much better world to live in if we never ever had to change a light bulb, or if our automobile plastic dash boards, air vents, or window cranks would not break.
I myself remember not long ago when automobile window cranks were made with sturdy metal gears and never failed, and now they use plastic gears just so they will fail on purpose, so what do you think about it.
2007-10-19 23:03:39 · 4 answers · asked by Thoughtfull 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Do you think that much time, and money are wasted, replacing broken material things, not to mention that people sometimes fall and hurt themselves trying to change light bulbs that should not have to be replaced.
Do you think that if our society was not so bizzy doing repetitive tasks then we would have more time to spend making this world a better place to live in, by possibly building robots to serve mankind's needs, and wants.
P.S., and not to change the subject, but I spell busy "bizzy" on purpose because this is the way it should be spelled.
2007-10-20 01:23:33 · update #1
I understand what you are saying and I believe you're on to something. Sadly, utilitarian philosophy has taken a strong hold in our world. Why go to all the trouble of making sturdy metal gears when plastic ones can be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost?
ADDENDUM: As for the time and money spent on replacing broken things, I don't know. It might cost just as much time or money - or even more - repairing something. It's sad, though, that money seems to be the only consideration in these matters.
One thing that is, I think, a legitimate concern is the fact that our "throw-away" society creates much more garbage than would a society that made things to last and tried to repair them.
2007-10-20 00:58:02 · answer #1 · answered by kcchaplain 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Please look at it this way...... suppose anything and everything were to be everlasting, would our life have any excitement or enthusiasm? Change is the spice of life without which it would be so insipid that one would prefer to remain hungry. In fact, it is so very exciting and interesting to interact with people because they are much more inconsistent than material objects. To make life worth living, we need change.
Philosophically speaking, every new creation means destroying something old... if we made things never to break or become unusable in course of time, a time will come when there would just be no need to make anything new.... the very act of production would become irrelevant... in this universe, there is no generation.... there are only regenerations which implies degeneration to warrant a regeneration.
Hope this makes sense to you!!
2007-10-20 00:40:17 · answer #2 · answered by small 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Strangely enough, most civilized people are, after a while, getting fed up with "good" old things. How many clothes do you have in your closed in perfectly good order? There was nothing wrong with that old black and white TV of yours before you throwed it out. How would you like to be seen driving 73 Volvo?
Yes, the business thinks about introducing "the next generation" whatever, and giving it the life span. But us, civilized humans are the reason behind "throw away" society.
2007-10-20 03:26:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most people are not willing to pay enough extra to get a properly made product. They don't look far enough ahead.
2007-10-27 16:31:29 · answer #4 · answered by Todd 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋