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It’s baffling that people have such a persistent and romantic fascination with regressive technology. Why enjoy whole home climate control when you can dress up

It’s baffling that people have such a persistent and romantic fascination with regressive technology. Why enjoy whole home climate control when you can dress up like Nanook of the North while indoors and sit on hot water bottles? Why is the discussion not focused on how to make modern technology better, more efficient, more accessible? Next week we will have a story about how suffering through summer heat with a wet towel and sleeping all day are “making a comeback”.

unbalancedevh 5y ago
That was my first thought as well, but the article is pretty thorough about the relative benefits of using a hot water bottle, also asserting that the intent isn't to replace central heating. It's an option with some cultural history behind it, and might be just the right solution for some use cases.
ssully 5y ago
Some people have poor circulation. Even with whole home climate control their extremities (hands or feet) will be ice cold for awhile. Sure, there are more modern ways to warm your hands and feet, but a hot water bottle is cheap and easy.
- masklinn 5y ago
  Also heating up one's entire dwelling to comfortable-enough temperatures could be much more expensive than dressing up a bit and using that sort of accessories.
analyte123 5y ago
Whole home climate control costs money. Why run up your gas or electric bill to heat your entire 2000 sqft house to 78 degrees, when the only thing that needs that much heat is your own body?
wolverine876 5y ago
Why write a few lines of code when you can use an entire framework? Why walk two blocks or ride a bike when you can drive? > regressive That depends on your definition of regressive. If you designate it as regressive, you create a circular argument: it must be worse, somehow. IMHO, there's nothing inherently better about tech that is newer - why do I care if it's newer? - and many see complexity as the enemy of good engineering. Technology is tools and the only question is, how well do they deliver on the needs and specifications (which include efficiency and cost)? > Why enjoy whole home climate control ... Whole home climate control has more whole world climate impact, so it doesn't deliver well on many people's specifications.
oh_sigh 5y ago
> Why enjoy whole home climate control Because it is more expensive and more energy intensive than a direct application of heat to the occupant's skin? Some people care about their resource usage, or how much money they spend on climate control. You also have situations where multiple people live in the same climate control zone, and have different preferences for temperature. If I like it at 67 and my wife likes it at 74, and we're both uncomfortable at 70, how can whole home climate control solve this issue?
- bhandziuk 5y ago
  baffles, fans, AC and heat running at the same time, bluetooth location tracking, robots following you around with the right climate controlled temperature application, monitoring your brow and toes with IR cameras to check that you are perfectly comfortable. Duh, modern technology ftw!
Alekhine 5y ago
You can't always make modern tech as energy efficient as 'regressive' technology. There isn't always a magical solution that addresses all problems. In my opinion, low-tech solutions are often just simpler, while maybe lacking a bit of convenience. Here's an example, the open source community has spent thousands of man hours developing various note-taking apps. And they're pretty good, usually. I could use something like Foam to manage my notes, learn to use the keyboard shortcuts, figure out how to sync it between my devices, learn every other little thing about it... Or I could just use pen and paper. Which requires no electricity, no computer, is durable and does not have a learning curve to use.
floatingatoll 5y ago
This isn’t a post about that. Someone else can post about that and it’ll be neat too!

unbalancedevh 5y ago

That was my first thought as well, but the article is pretty thorough about the relative benefits of using a hot water bottle, also asserting that the intent isn't to replace central heating. It's an option with some cultural history behind it, and might be just the right solution for some use cases.

ssully 5y ago

Some people have poor circulation. Even with whole home climate control their extremities (hands or feet) will be ice cold for awhile. Sure, there are more modern ways to warm your hands and feet, but a hot water bottle is cheap and easy.

masklinn 5y ago
Also heating up one's entire dwelling to comfortable-enough temperatures could be much more expensive than dressing up a bit and using that sort of accessories.

analyte123 5y ago

Whole home climate control costs money. Why run up your gas or electric bill to heat your entire 2000 sqft house to 78 degrees, when the only thing that needs that much heat is your own body?

wolverine876 5y ago

Why write a few lines of code when you can use an entire framework? Why walk two blocks or ride a bike when you can drive? > regressive That depends on your definition of regressive. If you designate it as regressive, you create a circular argument: it must be worse, somehow. IMHO, there's nothing inherently better about tech that is newer - why do I care if it's newer? - and many see complexity as the enemy of good engineering. Technology is tools and the only question is, how well do they deliver on the needs and specifications (which include efficiency and cost)? > Why enjoy whole home climate control ... Whole home climate control has more whole world climate impact, so it doesn't deliver well on many people's specifications.

oh_sigh 5y ago

> Why enjoy whole home climate control Because it is more expensive and more energy intensive than a direct application of heat to the occupant's skin? Some people care about their resource usage, or how much money they spend on climate control. You also have situations where multiple people live in the same climate control zone, and have different preferences for temperature. If I like it at 67 and my wife likes it at 74, and we're both uncomfortable at 70, how can whole home climate control solve this issue?

bhandziuk 5y ago
baffles, fans, AC and heat running at the same time, bluetooth location tracking, robots following you around with the right climate controlled temperature application, monitoring your brow and toes with IR cameras to check that you are perfectly comfortable. Duh, modern technology ftw!

Alekhine 5y ago

You can't always make modern tech as energy efficient as 'regressive' technology. There isn't always a magical solution that addresses all problems. In my opinion, low-tech solutions are often just simpler, while maybe lacking a bit of convenience. Here's an example, the open source community has spent thousands of man hours developing various note-taking apps. And they're pretty good, usually. I could use something like Foam to manage my notes, learn to use the keyboard shortcuts, figure out how to sync it between my devices, learn every other little thing about it... Or I could just use pen and paper. Which requires no electricity, no computer, is durable and does not have a learning curve to use.

floatingatoll 5y ago

This isn’t a post about that. Someone else can post about that and it’ll be neat too!