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Check out the history of light bulbs, an actual amazing conspiracy few people know about :)

BlueTemplar 4y ago
One perhaps continued to this day, if maybe in a different way (we'll know in a few decades) : toxic fluorescents and most diode bulbs not having separated transformers (they are DC !)
- bitexploder 4y ago
  Though my LED lights do last a lot longer and cost way less to operate overall, so that is nice.
  - jtbayly 4y ago
    I’ve been singularly unimpressed with the rate my LED bulbs are failing. Definitely not even close to 10-15 years I was promised. And this is why warranties are pointless. How am I supposed to get one of these bulbs from a four-pack replaced by the manufacturer two years after I bought it?
    - bitexploder 4y ago
      Yeah, nowhere near as long as they should last, but better than it was.
ejb999 4y ago
Yep, bulbs are now all complete crap - they used to last decades. Was having my house painted a few years back, I have a triple set of spots near the very top of the roof (so about 30 feet in the air) - painter helpfully suggests - do you want me to replace those bulbs up there while I have my ladder up there? I agreed. Big mistake, the bulbs their were still working 17 years after I moved in - now I have to replace them about every 18 months with the cheap crap the government only allows to be sold. Not sure how replacing bulbs and throwing them in the landfill every 1-2 years is doing anything good for the environment.
- oblio 4y ago
  Your anecdata is bad. Even after the conspiracy was discovered, incandescent bulbs still had a much lower life expectancy than LED lights. It's simple physics :-)
  - docandrew 4y ago
    The LEDs themselves are very robust, solid-state semiconductors that will function for a very long time, but they need additional electronics to function in a 110/220V socket, and those electronics seem to be crummier than the old incandescent filaments.
    - nikau 4y ago
      Yep - I've done a post mortem on a few LED bulbs that failed and each time the LEDs were fine but the driver failed. This is anecdotal, but I had a bunch of bulbs of the same brand that started to fail, on the remaining bulbs I drilled a few air vent holes into them as they are used indoors only, and since then haven't had another failure. I'm suspecting most LED bulbs fail from thermal stress on the driver circuitry.
  - ejb999 4y ago
    perhaps in theory - not in real life.
- crystaln 4y ago
  What kind of bulbs are you using? LED bulbs should last a decade.
  - ejb999 4y ago
    my led bulbs in the house are burning out every 18 months or so - no way they last 10 years - not even close.
bambax 4y ago
Not a good example that everything turned to crap right this decade...
plastiquebeech 4y ago
Might be worth mentioning the name of the conspiracy: the Phoebus Cartel. It sounds cartoonishly evil, but "cartel" is just an economic term for a market where a small number of participants collude to control supply and pricing. Like OPEC. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-l-e-d-quandary-why-theres-no-such-thing-as-built-to-last https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-l-e-d-quanda... IMHO, we should be more aggressive about converting industries which gravitate towards cartels into regulated natural monopolies, like power/water supplies. Some kinds of markets really are more efficient with fewer participants, and we should find ways to encourage that efficiency without letting the lucky winners indefinitely dictate the terms of the market.
- pphysch 4y ago
  In contemporary America, cartels are euphemized as "trade associations" and they dominate Washington DC (and our national consciousness) with their collective lobbying and PR resources.
m3047 4y ago
Yes, I was going to mention that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

One perhaps continued to this day, if maybe in a different way (we'll know in a few decades) : toxic fluorescents and most diode bulbs not having separated transformers (they are DC !)

bitexploder 4y ago
Though my LED lights do last a lot longer and cost way less to operate overall, so that is nice.
- jtbayly 4y ago
  I’ve been singularly unimpressed with the rate my LED bulbs are failing. Definitely not even close to 10-15 years I was promised. And this is why warranties are pointless. How am I supposed to get one of these bulbs from a four-pack replaced by the manufacturer two years after I bought it?
  - bitexploder 4y ago
    Yeah, nowhere near as long as they should last, but better than it was.

ejb999 4y ago

Yep, bulbs are now all complete crap - they used to last decades. Was having my house painted a few years back, I have a triple set of spots near the very top of the roof (so about 30 feet in the air) - painter helpfully suggests - do you want me to replace those bulbs up there while I have my ladder up there? I agreed. Big mistake, the bulbs their were still working 17 years after I moved in - now I have to replace them about every 18 months with the cheap crap the government only allows to be sold. Not sure how replacing bulbs and throwing them in the landfill every 1-2 years is doing anything good for the environment.

oblio 4y ago
Your anecdata is bad. Even after the conspiracy was discovered, incandescent bulbs still had a much lower life expectancy than LED lights. It's simple physics :-)
- docandrew 4y ago
  The LEDs themselves are very robust, solid-state semiconductors that will function for a very long time, but they need additional electronics to function in a 110/220V socket, and those electronics seem to be crummier than the old incandescent filaments.
  - nikau 4y ago
    Yep - I've done a post mortem on a few LED bulbs that failed and each time the LEDs were fine but the driver failed. This is anecdotal, but I had a bunch of bulbs of the same brand that started to fail, on the remaining bulbs I drilled a few air vent holes into them as they are used indoors only, and since then haven't had another failure. I'm suspecting most LED bulbs fail from thermal stress on the driver circuitry.
- ejb999 4y ago
  perhaps in theory - not in real life.
crystaln 4y ago
What kind of bulbs are you using? LED bulbs should last a decade.
- ejb999 4y ago
  my led bulbs in the house are burning out every 18 months or so - no way they last 10 years - not even close.

bambax 4y ago

Not a good example that everything turned to crap right this decade...

plastiquebeech 4y ago

Might be worth mentioning the name of the conspiracy: the Phoebus Cartel. It sounds cartoonishly evil, but "cartel" is just an economic term for a market where a small number of participants collude to control supply and pricing. Like OPEC. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-l-e-d-quandary-why-theres-no-such-thing-as-built-to-last https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-l-e-d-quanda... IMHO, we should be more aggressive about converting industries which gravitate towards cartels into regulated natural monopolies, like power/water supplies. Some kinds of markets really are more efficient with fewer participants, and we should find ways to encourage that efficiency without letting the lucky winners indefinitely dictate the terms of the market.

pphysch 4y ago
In contemporary America, cartels are euphemized as "trade associations" and they dominate Washington DC (and our national consciousness) with their collective lobbying and PR resources.

m3047 4y ago

Yes, I was going to mention that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel