4 ms·

"Hello? What is this physical analog electronic component? Replace or mend? WHAT? Throw away; don't fix!" "Hello? Automobile engine self repairable? Impossible

by redwood 10y ago

"Hello? What is this physical analog electronic component? Replace or mend? WHAT? Throw away; don't fix!" "Hello? Automobile engine self repairable? Impossible!" "Hello? Programming with cards? Impossible!"

redwood 10y ago
In all honesty we've become a throw away generation without the ability to get in there and see how the machine work. Inevitable perhaps but the former generation are much more handy than we and frankly have probably in many cases got a better bottom up view of how things work under the covers
- aswanson 10y ago
  Yeah, I think globalization has made products so commoditized, its more economical to throw them away than fix them. 4k 55' TVs for less than a grand; in the 80s that purchase would have been a projection TV for several thousand dollars (in 80s dollars!) and would have been kept for a decade or more. Now, it's toss it and upgrade. Same with PCs, etc.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    Isn't that in large part due to income disparity. The place where it needs to be fixed has wages far higher than the place where it's made. Also that companies design stuff to break, and design things to be hard to fix. Legally mandating long warranties and long term parts availability would probably help?
- rimliu 10y ago
  I doubt that knowledge of a carburettor transfers well into understanding of sophisticated injection systems.
- erikpukinskis 10y ago
  > we've become a throw away generation without the ability to get in there and see how the machine work. You should check out YouTube. Your perception seems to be skewed, maybe by your social circle? We're living in a golden age of "ability to get in there and see how the machines work".
cmdrfred 10y ago
"I have to hire someone to change my tire,patch my roof,paint my house,cook me dinner,fix my plumbing,drive me to work,coach me through life,teach me how to talk to women,provide me with a safe space.." I'm 28 and nothing infuriates me more than late 20's or early 30's year old man-children making fun of a generation who won WW2, put a man on the moon, improved civil rights tremendously, and ushered in an era of human prosperity and progress never seen before. Such arrogance from a group of people who have accomplished little of note in comparison. I don't feel superior teaching a man to use Google if that man when he was a decade younger than the age I am now was flying a chopper over Vietnam to support his wife and two children. Listen and learn from them while they are still around.
- Tenhundfeld 10y ago
  This is kind of a tangent, but some of your examples (patch my roof, fix my plumbing, paint my house) touch on a topic I think about often. I think there's been a decline in "handiness" and self-sufficiency, at least among white-collar workers. But I'm not sure it's entirely bad; I think it's just a different mindset. I'll use myself as an example. Growing up, I helped my dad do most of the maintenance on our house & 7-acre property. We brought in experts sometimes, but we'd typically take a crack at it first and could usually handle it ourselves. So many weekends and evenings were spent on these projects like replacing toilets, installing hardwood floors, building sheds, painting, cutting down trees, etc. I've noticed that as an adult with a house and family, I am much more likely to call in a professional. I'll still do the quick and easy stuff, like replace a ceiling fan or maybe a bathroom faucet, hang some blinds, etc., but once a project looks like it'll take more than, say, 2 hours, I'll find a professional. For example, I use a yard service for my yard that is about 1/15 the size of my childhood yard. Sometimes I feel stupid paying others to do things I can do. I know my ancestors (especially male ancestors) would find it ridiculous for me to pay someone else to do something so basic. But it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis. For example, I recently paid someone $800 to install flooring. It took him and his helper 2 days to complete the job. I could saved that money by doing it myself, but to me, it was totally worth it. They're pros; so what took the two of them ~14 hours probably would have taken me at least 30-40 hours. That's roughly 4-5 days of non-working time, weekends or PTO. Like everyone else these days, I work a lot; so my personal free time is precious. $800 is worth less to me than 4-5 days of time to spend with my wife and kid, or I could spend that time working and at my billable rate, make a substantial multiple of $800. And the pros almost certainly did a better job than I would have. If I had done it myself, I would have learned/honed a skill, but how many times will I need to install flooring in my life? I'm glad I could do it in a pinch, but it's not a skill I really care about mastering. Of course, my dad was a c-level exec, and he came to a different conclusion. I can respect the self-sufficient approach, but I don't place a ton of value on it. And that shifting mindset seems to be true for many of my friends and acquaintances who are under 40 or so.

by redwood 10y ago

redwood 10y ago

In all honesty we've become a throw away generation without the ability to get in there and see how the machine work. Inevitable perhaps but the former generation are much more handy than we and frankly have probably in many cases got a better bottom up view of how things work under the covers

aswanson 10y ago
Yeah, I think globalization has made products so commoditized, its more economical to throw them away than fix them. 4k 55' TVs for less than a grand; in the 80s that purchase would have been a projection TV for several thousand dollars (in 80s dollars!) and would have been kept for a decade or more. Now, it's toss it and upgrade. Same with PCs, etc.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  Isn't that in large part due to income disparity. The place where it needs to be fixed has wages far higher than the place where it's made. Also that companies design stuff to break, and design things to be hard to fix. Legally mandating long warranties and long term parts availability would probably help?
rimliu 10y ago
I doubt that knowledge of a carburettor transfers well into understanding of sophisticated injection systems.
erikpukinskis 10y ago
> we've become a throw away generation without the ability to get in there and see how the machine work. You should check out YouTube. Your perception seems to be skewed, maybe by your social circle? We're living in a golden age of "ability to get in there and see how the machines work".

cmdrfred 10y ago

"I have to hire someone to change my tire,patch my roof,paint my house,cook me dinner,fix my plumbing,drive me to work,coach me through life,teach me how to talk to women,provide me with a safe space.." I'm 28 and nothing infuriates me more than late 20's or early 30's year old man-children making fun of a generation who won WW2, put a man on the moon, improved civil rights tremendously, and ushered in an era of human prosperity and progress never seen before. Such arrogance from a group of people who have accomplished little of note in comparison. I don't feel superior teaching a man to use Google if that man when he was a decade younger than the age I am now was flying a chopper over Vietnam to support his wife and two children. Listen and learn from them while they are still around.

Tenhundfeld 10y ago
This is kind of a tangent, but some of your examples (patch my roof, fix my plumbing, paint my house) touch on a topic I think about often. I think there's been a decline in "handiness" and self-sufficiency, at least among white-collar workers. But I'm not sure it's entirely bad; I think it's just a different mindset. I'll use myself as an example. Growing up, I helped my dad do most of the maintenance on our house & 7-acre property. We brought in experts sometimes, but we'd typically take a crack at it first and could usually handle it ourselves. So many weekends and evenings were spent on these projects like replacing toilets, installing hardwood floors, building sheds, painting, cutting down trees, etc. I've noticed that as an adult with a house and family, I am much more likely to call in a professional. I'll still do the quick and easy stuff, like replace a ceiling fan or maybe a bathroom faucet, hang some blinds, etc., but once a project looks like it'll take more than, say, 2 hours, I'll find a professional. For example, I use a yard service for my yard that is about 1/15 the size of my childhood yard. Sometimes I feel stupid paying others to do things I can do. I know my ancestors (especially male ancestors) would find it ridiculous for me to pay someone else to do something so basic. But it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis. For example, I recently paid someone $800 to install flooring. It took him and his helper 2 days to complete the job. I could saved that money by doing it myself, but to me, it was totally worth it. They're pros; so what took the two of them ~14 hours probably would have taken me at least 30-40 hours. That's roughly 4-5 days of non-working time, weekends or PTO. Like everyone else these days, I work a lot; so my personal free time is precious. $800 is worth less to me than 4-5 days of time to spend with my wife and kid, or I could spend that time working and at my billable rate, make a substantial multiple of $800. And the pros almost certainly did a better job than I would have. If I had done it myself, I would have learned/honed a skill, but how many times will I need to install flooring in my life? I'm glad I could do it in a pinch, but it's not a skill I really care about mastering. Of course, my dad was a c-level exec, and he came to a different conclusion. I can respect the self-sufficient approach, but I don't place a ton of value on it. And that shifting mindset seems to be true for many of my friends and acquaintances who are under 40 or so.