https://www.ifixit.com/News/84408/the-tricky-economics-of-obsolescence
"Planned obsolescence has been in the spotlight again in the last week, as
Quebec just passed a law outlawing planned obsolescence, similar to the law
under which France is investigating Apple. Quebec’s law includes several
pro-repair provisions, including a requirement that manufacturers make repair
information available free of charge.
Maybe someday we’ll have phones meant to last 20 years again. Image CC via
Nesster on Flickr.
The term
planned obsolescence is a dirty word. It conjures images of
smoke-filled rooms of corporate leaders scheming for more profits and purposely
designing shoddy products. It has happened exactly like this in the past but
how obsolescence works in today’s world is a bit more complicated, and so too
are the answers for ridding ourselves of it.
This week, economist and YouTuber who uses the handle
Unlearning Economics
released an hour-long video essay trying to get to the bottom of planned
obsolescence. In his video, he suggests that while it’s possible to assign some
blame for obsolescence to various actors, he emphasizes that obsolescence is
rooted in our economic systems. In other words, focusing solely on eliminating
planned obsolescence without addressing larger systemic issues would be
overlooking the bigger picture—and wouldn’t address the other significant
challenges present in our late-capitalist world."
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
