4 ms·

I wonder if there's market for ethical electronics. Basically buy the same electronics and sell them at higher price and give the money to the people working at

I wonder if there's market for ethical electronics. Basically buy the same electronics and sell them at higher price and give the money to the people working at said factories. If there was legit proof that the money is going where it should, I would totally pay like 15-20% extra.

djsumdog 8y ago
It would involve removing planned obsolescence. An ethical cellphone would be one where every part is user serviceable and standardized. The Fairphone is having trouble even keeping manufactures producing stock for their older phones. There is so much value in keeping people replacing their devices every two years that I doubt we'll see PC/ATX style standardization in mobile hardware.
- anonuser123456 8y ago
  Mobile has size and environmental constraints that exceed PC/ATX by a considerable amount. One could imagine that as transistor scaling slows and lithium ion density approaches it's limit, a modularized standard evolves.
- ipsum2 8y ago
  You're conflating "treating workers ethically and paying them a living wage" with "phones should be standardized". Two completely different topics.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    Might be harder to have disposable culture with high wages though
    - twblalock 8y ago
      > Might be harder to have disposable culture with high wages though How so? If anything, I would be more inclined to buy the latest and greatest tech every year if I had more money to spend. I think most consumers would do the same.
      - emodendroket 8y ago
        Substantially more expensive goods?
- twblalock 8y ago
  You'd need to be able to replace the SoC, the screen, the cameras, and the biometric sensors to prevent a phone from becoming obsolete within a few years. That's pretty much all of the expensive parts of the phone, and it would likely cost the same as just buying a new one.
- nradov 8y ago
  An ethical cell phone would be easy to disassemble and recycle with a minimum of toxics. Building user serviceable phones isn't practical with current technology sure to the high level of component integration.
herval 8y ago
Would you pay 200% extra? I imagine the markup for “ethical” tech is more or less closer to that than to a slightly higher shipping cost (15% or so), based on prior hardware-related projects I’ve been involved with

djsumdog 8y ago

It would involve removing planned obsolescence. An ethical cellphone would be one where every part is user serviceable and standardized. The Fairphone is having trouble even keeping manufactures producing stock for their older phones. There is so much value in keeping people replacing their devices every two years that I doubt we'll see PC/ATX style standardization in mobile hardware.

anonuser123456 8y ago
Mobile has size and environmental constraints that exceed PC/ATX by a considerable amount. One could imagine that as transistor scaling slows and lithium ion density approaches it's limit, a modularized standard evolves.
ipsum2 8y ago
You're conflating "treating workers ethically and paying them a living wage" with "phones should be standardized". Two completely different topics.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  Might be harder to have disposable culture with high wages though
  - twblalock 8y ago
    > Might be harder to have disposable culture with high wages though How so? If anything, I would be more inclined to buy the latest and greatest tech every year if I had more money to spend. I think most consumers would do the same.
    - emodendroket 8y ago
      Substantially more expensive goods?
twblalock 8y ago
You'd need to be able to replace the SoC, the screen, the cameras, and the biometric sensors to prevent a phone from becoming obsolete within a few years. That's pretty much all of the expensive parts of the phone, and it would likely cost the same as just buying a new one.
nradov 8y ago
An ethical cell phone would be easy to disassemble and recycle with a minimum of toxics. Building user serviceable phones isn't practical with current technology sure to the high level of component integration.

herval 8y ago

Would you pay 200% extra? I imagine the markup for “ethical” tech is more or less closer to that than to a slightly higher shipping cost (15% or so), based on prior hardware-related projects I’ve been involved with