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So can we build things like this anymore? I am lucky if my cell phone lasts more than a year. I have a feeling that even if today's hardware manages to last 50

So can we build things like this anymore? I am lucky if my cell phone lasts more than a year. I have a feeling that even if today's hardware manages to last 50 years, all knowledge of how to talk to it will be long lost. I am sure some of the code/firmware will be proprietary and then contractor will go out of business and that is that.

LargeTomato 3y ago
Why does your cell phone break after just a year?
Knee_Pain 3y ago
if the majority of the industry laugh at open source initiatives this is the only future possible
OtherShrezzing 3y ago
You're comparing the absolute pinnacle of human ingenuity and engineering from the 70's to a consumer-grade item in the 2020's. We definitely have the capacity to build spacecraft to the quality standards of Voyager. Samsung would probably be willing to support your 2023 era Galaxy cell phone, if you're willing to spend $800m on it.
Broken_Hippo 3y ago
So can we build things like this anymore? Of course we can. I am lucky if my cell phone lasts more than a year. That's definitely you, not the phone. Most people's phones last longer. Partially evidenced by folks complaining about updates stopping after a few years. I have a feeling that even if today's hardware manages to last 50 years, all knowledge of how to talk to it will be long lost. I am sure some of the code/firmware will be proprietary and then contractor will go out of business and that is that. Most of today's hardware isn't expected to last that long - and it wouldn't matter if much of it did. No one wants 50-year-old medical equipment unless it hasn't improved in 50 years. A 25-year-old computer isn't worth much to the average consumer. And some stuff will just be outdated: Do you really want to use one of the digital typewriters that combine a small-screen simple word processor with a typewriter? Things that we build for longer-term science generally is built to a different standard than the stuff we use at home and has different constraints and different sorts of moving parts. Especially when considering extreme environments. And most of these are made by governments, universities, and other institutions that tend to have a long lifespan when compared to corporations. And when they aren't, we can make sure to make laws so others can use science research things even if the company closes. Additionally: I think everyone expected Voyager to die long ago. It is akin to a fridge that happens to still be running 50 years later. A lucky accident.
- haswell 3y ago
  > Additionally: I think everyone expected Voyager to die long ago. It is akin to a fridge that happens to still be running 50 years later. A lucky accident. This speaks more to the quality of engineering than lucky accidents. NASA sets high bars because many of these projects have a single chance of working. They make decisions that maximize the chances that the equipment will function within mission parameters, and the result is often something that far exceeds the original mission. See: Mars helicopter. In the consumer space, an old fridge continuing to operate isn’t chance either. This truly is a case of “they don’t make them like they used to”. Edit: I’m a bit surprised this is controversial. Curious why people feel this is wrong.
- artsytrashcan 3y ago
  I have this condition called a recurrent corneal abrasion. Basically, my eyelid occasionally adheres to the skin on my eyeball and rips it open when I open them too quickly after waking up. It is very painful. The only thing that helps is an ointment that I put in my eye before I go to sleep. It comes in a tiny little tube, costs $40, lasts about a month. The last few tubes, I've kept even though they were "empty"; thank the hoarder in me. This turned out to be a saving grace, as the ointment is often sold out at nearby pharmacies, and I can't afford a new tube a month, anyhow. There tends to be enough left in each, if I spend a while squeezing the shit out of it, to get a small drop (1/10th of the recommended dose) into each eye for a couple of weeks. That's a few more weeks of not waking up feeling like someone has taken a razor blade to my cornea. I'll take it. Also something about Cuba. I think my point is that we're a bit too cavalier with used electronics these days. The embodied energy and materials are huge, and we just... throw them out, in many cases. I'd like us to get used to repurposing these resources before scarcity forces us to. Really squeezing every bit of use out of them that we can. Bonus: because it's not the Hot New Thing Someone Is Trying To Sell You, you'll likely be less subject to the Hot New Trend Of Actually Being The Product. And, for what it's worth: an original Apple I just sold for almost $450k at auction. Someone wanted that.
  - ISL 3y ago
    Good luck with the RCE. It definitely can get better, but it takes time, and, as you say, that tiny tube of ointment.
bluGill 3y ago
How many cars from the early 1970s are still on the road? I know of a few but they belong to collectors and are not daily drivers.
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masswerk 3y ago
I guess, if the authentication / DRM server hasn't shut down long ago then, the certificates will have long expired. (BTW, what about a deep space DRM server for that purpose, somewhere around Jupiter? You can't run an asteroid miner without proper subscriptions to enable specific features!) ;-)

LargeTomato 3y ago

Why does your cell phone break after just a year?

Knee_Pain 3y ago

if the majority of the industry laugh at open source initiatives this is the only future possible

OtherShrezzing 3y ago

You're comparing the absolute pinnacle of human ingenuity and engineering from the 70's to a consumer-grade item in the 2020's. We definitely have the capacity to build spacecraft to the quality standards of Voyager. Samsung would probably be willing to support your 2023 era Galaxy cell phone, if you're willing to spend $800m on it.

Broken_Hippo 3y ago

So can we build things like this anymore? Of course we can. I am lucky if my cell phone lasts more than a year. That's definitely you, not the phone. Most people's phones last longer. Partially evidenced by folks complaining about updates stopping after a few years. I have a feeling that even if today's hardware manages to last 50 years, all knowledge of how to talk to it will be long lost. I am sure some of the code/firmware will be proprietary and then contractor will go out of business and that is that. Most of today's hardware isn't expected to last that long - and it wouldn't matter if much of it did. No one wants 50-year-old medical equipment unless it hasn't improved in 50 years. A 25-year-old computer isn't worth much to the average consumer. And some stuff will just be outdated: Do you really want to use one of the digital typewriters that combine a small-screen simple word processor with a typewriter? Things that we build for longer-term science generally is built to a different standard than the stuff we use at home and has different constraints and different sorts of moving parts. Especially when considering extreme environments. And most of these are made by governments, universities, and other institutions that tend to have a long lifespan when compared to corporations. And when they aren't, we can make sure to make laws so others can use science research things even if the company closes. Additionally: I think everyone expected Voyager to die long ago. It is akin to a fridge that happens to still be running 50 years later. A lucky accident.

haswell 3y ago
> Additionally: I think everyone expected Voyager to die long ago. It is akin to a fridge that happens to still be running 50 years later. A lucky accident. This speaks more to the quality of engineering than lucky accidents. NASA sets high bars because many of these projects have a single chance of working. They make decisions that maximize the chances that the equipment will function within mission parameters, and the result is often something that far exceeds the original mission. See: Mars helicopter. In the consumer space, an old fridge continuing to operate isn’t chance either. This truly is a case of “they don’t make them like they used to”. Edit: I’m a bit surprised this is controversial. Curious why people feel this is wrong.
artsytrashcan 3y ago
I have this condition called a recurrent corneal abrasion. Basically, my eyelid occasionally adheres to the skin on my eyeball and rips it open when I open them too quickly after waking up. It is very painful. The only thing that helps is an ointment that I put in my eye before I go to sleep. It comes in a tiny little tube, costs $40, lasts about a month. The last few tubes, I've kept even though they were "empty"; thank the hoarder in me. This turned out to be a saving grace, as the ointment is often sold out at nearby pharmacies, and I can't afford a new tube a month, anyhow. There tends to be enough left in each, if I spend a while squeezing the shit out of it, to get a small drop (1/10th of the recommended dose) into each eye for a couple of weeks. That's a few more weeks of not waking up feeling like someone has taken a razor blade to my cornea. I'll take it. Also something about Cuba. I think my point is that we're a bit too cavalier with used electronics these days. The embodied energy and materials are huge, and we just... throw them out, in many cases. I'd like us to get used to repurposing these resources before scarcity forces us to. Really squeezing every bit of use out of them that we can. Bonus: because it's not the Hot New Thing Someone Is Trying To Sell You, you'll likely be less subject to the Hot New Trend Of Actually Being The Product. And, for what it's worth: an original Apple I just sold for almost $450k at auction. Someone wanted that.
- ISL 3y ago
  Good luck with the RCE. It definitely can get better, but it takes time, and, as you say, that tiny tube of ointment.

bluGill 3y ago

How many cars from the early 1970s are still on the road? I know of a few but they belong to collectors and are not daily drivers.

deleted 3y ago

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deleted 3y ago

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masswerk 3y ago

I guess, if the authentication / DRM server hasn't shut down long ago then, the certificates will have long expired. (BTW, what about a deep space DRM server for that purpose, somewhere around Jupiter? You can't run an asteroid miner without proper subscriptions to enable specific features!) ;-)