zerohedge: The Planned Obsolescence of America

[2dogs]

Zerohedge is a great read and the comments are spot on, too.

Here is one from today:

The Planned Obsolescence of America
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/20/2015 11:53 -0400

Submitted By Tom Chatham

Planned obsolescence is the act of designing something to become obsolete or self destruct at a certain point in the future for the purpose of replacing it with something else. We see this with many of the things we use today, especially appliances, home furnishings and technology. We are expected to upgrade at regular intervals to keep up with the times.

It was not always this way. In the past many things were built to last, in some cases for many generations. There are many homes in the world that were built centuries ago and are as functional today as the day they were built. There are appliances built almost a century ago that still do what they were designed to do. There are cars and tools that are decades old that still function as intended.

<snip>

America is headed for planned obsolescence by a shortsighted, uneducated and careless society that values the enjoyment of cheap trinkets and quick fixes rather than the solid value of time tested products and customs.

Read more here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-20/planned-obsolescence-america

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[jaysabi]

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. Generally, I take everything that comes from Zerohedge with a large grain of salt because they tend to cater to readers who tend towards alarmist. Their conclusion is a perfect example of this:

America is headed for planned obsolescence by a shortsighted, uneducated and careless society that values the enjoyment of cheap trinkets and quick fixes rather than the solid value of time tested products and customs. America is about to be changed forever and just like the older durable products that made their way to the landfills, America may someday find itself covered with dirt to be remembered only in history books.

Just like with our cars, houses, appliances and money, our current form of government that has provided us with prosperity, freedom and liberty for so long is now being engineered for premature destruction. The question is, will the people embrace the new version or will they fight to keep the older model a little longer. Only time will tell.

(Bolding is theirs.)

Basically, America is doomed because nobody cares. It's an old trope, and it only convincing to people predisposed to already believe it.

[2dogs]

Reminds me of this comment (received the most up votes,too):

Headbanger

48
Vote down!
0

Because Americans no longer believe in a future

I notice this especially when talking about anything that isn't right in front of younger people

They "turn off" because they grew up learning not to believe in any promises

So only immediate gratification matters to them.

[(oYo)]

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. <snip>

While technological advances do tend to make things become obsolete, there is in fact a real trend practiced by industry to purposefully create products that are designed to fail. Please watch this great documentary on planned obsolescence. (It goes far beyond just light bulbs as the title may suggest.)
the light bulb conspiracy | planned obsolescence

Your assumption that consumers' vanity driven needs are self-inflicted is the result of carefully crafted illusions and conditioning. I highly recommend you watch another fantastic documentary called 'Century of the Self'. Yes it is quite long, but I consider it absolutely essential viewing to understand how and why government and industry masterfully manipulate the masses using psychological techniques mostly pioneered by Edward Bernays.

This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly.

His influence on the 20th century is widely regarded as massive. The documentary describes the impact of Freud's theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their engineering of consent. Among the main characters are Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in advertising. He is often seen as the father of the public relations industry.

The Century of the Self - Part 1 - Happiness Machines

Part one documents the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented Public Relations in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses.

The Century of the Self - Part 2 - The Engineering of Consent

Part two explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires.

The Century of the Self - Part 3 - There is a Policeman Inside All of Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed

In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas, which lead to the creation of a new political movement that sought to create new people, free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people's minds by business and politics.

The Century of the Self - Part 4 - Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering

This episode explains how politicians turned to the same techniques used by business in order to read and manipulate the inner desires of the masses. Both New Labor with Tony Blair and the Democrats led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group which had been invented by psychoanalysts in order to regain power.

[Spendulus]

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. <snip>

While technological advances do tend to make things become obsolete, there is in fact a real trend practiced by industry to purposefully create products that are designed to fail. Please watch this great documentary on planned obsolescence. (It goes far beyond just light bulbs as the title may suggest.)
the light bulb conspiracy | planned obsolescence

Your assumption that consumers' vanity driven needs are self-inflicted is the result of carefully crafted illusions and conditioning. I highly recommend you watch another fantastic documentary called 'Century of the Self'. Yes it is quite long, but I consider it absolutely essential viewing to understand how and why government and industry masterfully manipulate the masses using psychological techniques mostly pioneered by Edward Bernays.

This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly.

His influence on the 20th century is widely regarded as massive. The documentary describes the impact of Freud's theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their engineering of consent. Among the main characters are Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in advertising. He is often seen as the father of the public relations industry.

The Century of the Self - Part 1 - Happiness Machines

Part one documents the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented Public Relations in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses.

The Century of the Self - Part 2 - The Engineering of Consent

Part two explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires.

The Century of the Self - Part 3 - There is a Policeman Inside All of Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed

In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas, which lead to the creation of a new political movement that sought to create new people, free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people's minds by business and politics.

The Century of the Self - Part 4 - Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering

This episode explains how politicians turned to the same techniques used by business in order to read and manipulate the inner desires of the masses. Both New Labor with Tony Blair and the Democrats led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group which had been invented by psychoanalysts in order to regain power.

Easer to just read Noam Chomsky or listen to him on Youtube.

[Wilikon]

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. <snip>

While technological advances do tend to make things become obsolete, there is in fact a real trend practiced by industry to purposefully create products that are designed to fail. Please watch this great documentary on planned obsolescence. (It goes far beyond just light bulbs as the title may suggest.)
the light bulb conspiracy | planned obsolescence

Your assumption that consumers' vanity driven needs are self-inflicted is the result of carefully crafted illusions and conditioning. I highly recommend you watch another fantastic documentary called 'Century of the Self'. Yes it is quite long, but I consider it absolutely essential viewing to understand how and why government and industry masterfully manipulate the masses using psychological techniques mostly pioneered by Edward Bernays.

This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings profoundly.

His influence on the 20th century is widely regarded as massive. The documentary describes the impact of Freud's theories on the perception of the human mind, and the ways public relations agencies and politicians have used this during the last 100 years for their engineering of consent. Among the main characters are Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in advertising. He is often seen as the father of the public relations industry.

The Century of the Self - Part 1 - Happiness Machines

Part one documents the story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays who invented Public Relations in the 1920s, being the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses.

The Century of the Self - Part 2 - The Engineering of Consent

Part two explores how those in power in post-war America used Freud's ideas about the unconscious mind to try and control the masses. Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires.

The Century of the Self - Part 3 - There is a Policeman Inside All of Our Heads, He Must Be Destroyed

In the 1960s, a radical group of psychotherapists challenged the influence of Freudian ideas, which lead to the creation of a new political movement that sought to create new people, free of the psychological conformity that had been implanted in people's minds by business and politics.

The Century of the Self - Part 4 - Eight People Sipping Wine In Kettering

This episode explains how politicians turned to the same techniques used by business in order to read and manipulate the inner desires of the masses. Both New Labor with Tony Blair and the Democrats led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group which had been invented by psychoanalysts in order to regain power.

Easer to just read Noam Chomsky or listen to him on Youtube.

It is always important to me to understand the mind of those I may not agree with, to better understand my own. I'll check those videos one day... When I am depressed enough 

[blablahblah]

Environmental idealism from ZH? Has the world gone mad?

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. <snip>

While technological advances do tend to make things become obsolete, there is in fact a real trend practiced by industry to purposefully create products that are designed to fail.

True, but it's also a competitive trend that evolved naturally, just as peacock feathers evolved naturally (we presume). And programmed cell death is also a natural thing. I used to be against planned obsolescence, but I've discovered some arguments in favour, so I'll share them:

It seems to be just a matter of time before the accumulated maintenance, repair, and total cost of ownership in an unplanned life-cycle start to outweigh the "planned" alternative.

If something is built more solidly, that's uncompetitive if others can supply the same thing at a lower cost. That aspect of it is just competition, not some sinister conspiracy. The downward pressure on product lifespan is balanced out by contracts that demand a set minimum, like a 3 year warranty. Then manufacturers put all the pieces together so that the product lasts 3 years. They don't waste production costs (and the environment) on making some parts last 10 years when some other crucial part is going to be broken by then anyway.

Repair costs can be pretty vague and easily underestimated. For instance, fixing an old car might require a lot of miscellaneous costs like, the time spent hunting down spare parts, calling repair centres for quotes, shopping for the best rental car, waiting in queues, spending weekends fixing stuff when you'd rather be doing something else. It's easy to overlook that if you buy an old-fashioned product with vague promises (which the seller won't commit to) that the product "should" last 20 years if properly maintained.

Now multiply a one-off repair millions of times around the country. That's millions of man-hours, a high social cost. It seems ridiculous to mass-produce something at low cost, only to have millions of people individually working on each copy to extend the lifespan.

Quality control for high-volume items should mean that they at least have some idea about what's going to break first. Then low cost repair centres can be set up to do it more efficiently. The end-game is when a high volume product is simply recycled when it breaks, because everything is perfectly timed to break simultaneously and there are no parts worth rescuing.

[Agestorzrxx]

The people who have planned the obsolescence of the USA and of the white race are not uneducated; they are rather highly educated at our major brainwashing institutions. The products of these institutions have lost all ability to criticize the propaganda produced by the chosen tribe, who now run the country.

[(oYo)]

Environmental idealism from ZH? Has the world gone mad?

I disagree somewhat with the premise. Technological obsolescence is inevitable, it is not planned. It is the result of competition and the profit motive, and the constant innovation is good. No one forces anyone to upgrade their devices; to the extent there is any "pressure" to do so, it is self-inflicted by a vanity driven populace. This contrasts to the other type of obsolescence, of the manufacturing kind. Perhaps there is something there. <snip>

While technological advances do tend to make things become obsolete, there is in fact a real trend practiced by industry to purposefully create products that are designed to fail.

True, but it's also a competitive trend that evolved naturally, just as peacock feathers evolved naturally (we presume). And programmed cell death is also a natural thing. I used to be against planned obsolescence, but I've discovered some arguments in favour, so I'll share them:

It seems to be just a matter of time before the accumulated maintenance, repair, and total cost of ownership in an unplanned life-cycle start to outweigh the "planned" alternative.

If something is built more solidly, that's uncompetitive if others can supply the same thing at a lower cost. That aspect of it is just competition, not some sinister conspiracy. The downward pressure on product lifespan is balanced out by contracts that demand a set minimum, like a 3 year warranty. Then manufacturers put all the pieces together so that the product lasts 3 years. They don't waste production costs (and the environment) on making some parts last 10 years when some other crucial part is going to be broken by then anyway.

Repair costs can be pretty vague and easily underestimated. For instance, fixing an old car might require a lot of miscellaneous costs like, the time spent hunting down spare parts, calling repair centres for quotes, shopping for the best rental car, waiting in queues, spending weekends fixing stuff when you'd rather be doing something else. It's easy to overlook that if you buy an old-fashioned product with vague promises (which the seller won't commit to) that the product "should" last 20 years if properly maintained.

Now multiply a one-off repair millions of times around the country. That's millions of man-hours, a high social cost. It seems ridiculous to mass-produce something at low cost, only to have millions of people individually working on each copy to extend the lifespan.

Quality control for high-volume items should mean that they at least have some idea about what's going to break first. Then low cost repair centres can be set up to do it more efficiently. The end-game is when a high volume product is simply recycled when it breaks, because everything is perfectly timed to break simultaneously and there are no parts worth rescuing.

Please take the time to watch the videos.

I am not denying that the competitive nature of business drives industry to make their products cheaper, or that technological advancements eventually cause previous versions to become obsolete. We are not talking about these things. We are specifically addressing the issue of PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE. The first documentary I recommended shows clear cases of when industry planned for their products to fail, not because it was cheaper to make, but because they clearly wanted you to throw it away and buy a new one. The hundred year old light bulb is obvious proof that lowering costs has nothing to with it. Another example given of planned obsolescence was of the printer that stopped working. It was simply programmed to stop working after a predetermined number of uses. After installing a new program it started working again.

[BootstrapCoinDev]

I'm surprised the U.S. government didn't increase taxes on "old school" light bulbs to push people towards more efficient bulbs, instead of banning them (changed with a 2014 bill)

[jaysabi]

We are specifically addressing the issue of PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE. The first documentary I recommended shows clear cases of when industry planned for their products to fail, not because it was cheaper to make, but because they clearly wanted you to throw it away and buy a new one.

This should be a self-defeating problem. Any business that plans obsolescence creates an incentive for a competitor to steal market share and profit. On the other hand, if consumers are too uncaring to avoid shoddy workmanship or planned obsolescence, then the market has still spoken. The response to any charge of planned obsolescence is always going to be: "Then go do it better."

[2dogs]

Please take the time to watch the videos.

I am not denying that the competitive nature of business drives industry to make their products cheaper, or that technological advancements eventually cause previous versions to become obsolete. We are not talking about these things. We are specifically addressing the issue of PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE. The first documentary I recommended shows clear cases of when industry planned for their products to fail, not because it was cheaper to make, but because they clearly wanted you to throw it away and buy a new one. The hundred year old light bulb is obvious proof that lowering costs has nothing to with it. Another example given of planned obsolescence was of the printer that stopped working. It was simply programmed to stop working after a predetermined number of uses. After installing a new program it started working again.

I had seen the Century of the Self series, but not the light bulb one.

Thanks for linking it - excellent.

[Cult]

America is headed for planned obsolescence by a shortsighted, uneducated and careless society that values the enjoyment of cheap trinkets and quick fixes rather than the solid value of time tested products and customs.

Read more here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-20/planned-obsolescence-america

So it's no a Planned Obsolescence of America but a Unplanned Obsolescence of America, the way the author puts it, it looks like a consequence of the US Americans life style and not a plan...