Durability is an interesting idea, let me puzzle on it and get your
thoughts
First, non-durability or a short half-life seems to be a very recent
invention along with the idea of the "modern". Probably starting in the
late 30's along with the 1939 World's Fair as discussed so brilliantly
by David Gelernter in his book, 1939, The Lost World of the Fair. We
were to be blessed with technology to cure all our ills and bring
utopia. Only utopia never came. But like the carrot tied to the milk
horse, there was always the promise that the next version would be the
final solution...and the next... and the next where most "nexts" were
more cosmetic than actual changes... and still utopia eludes is
Non durability is the Myth of the eternal hope that humans with
technology can find the optimum solution
And from this stem all the cosequences- the sexier toothpast, the faster
car, the bigger TV. The fear of death and the need to acquire are
inexorably tied together
The latest version of this is the "lease". Interface carpets leases you
the floor covering, replaces it and recycles the old into new. The lap
top computer manufacturers who lease you a computer, replace it every 2
years and move the old to the developing world and thence, who knows
where. Germany which now requires that cars be recyclable is another
example.
Yes we have now coated that carrot in front of the milk horse with an
environmentally responsible paint. Now we can quest after that elusive
fountain of youth with a clear conscience that we are earth friendly.
Now we all know about the law of entropy but maybe, with time, nanotech
will conquer the final frontier, the guiltless eteranal quest via
technological alternatives.
Durability is a smooke screen and a misdirection from the larger issue
and the hard questions
thoughts?
tom abeles
