We are a society that is set on failure. Because everything we make is designed to fail. And that stems from... what else... greed.
There seem to be a lot of things missing from days past... respect, care about other people, doing a good job, and doing the right thing.
We have gone from a society that cares about what it does to one that just wants to make every buck it can. Years ago, when something broke, there were people that could fix them. When the TV set broke, someone would come out and change out something and it would work again. Now, if you can find someone that will still do that, the cost of the repair is very close to the cost of a new unit.
Part of it stems from the design of computers. When the PC came out, it had a mother board, and if you wanted it to talk to other devices, or do something else, you added circuit boards so it would. You had a board to talk to your printer, one to talk to the internet, and so forth. If something went wrong with your printer board, you just got another one. now, everything is on one board (the motherboard), so that if anything goes wrong, the entire motherboard needs to be replaced. Essentially, you are replacing the computer, and at that point, you might was well buy a newer faster one. After all, yours was out of date when you took it out of the box.
But now everything is components and not parts. If a part goes bad, you replace the component. I had a leak in the steering part of my van. The fix was not to repair it, but replace the component which turned out to be the entire steering rack at a cost of $1700. Ouch.
But things now are designed to fail after a period of time so you have to replace things. A good example is my lawnmower. It powers itself by turning the wheels, and I just have to walk behind it. But the gears at the ends of the axles are made of strong metal. They connect to gears on the wheels that are… wait for it… plastic. Eventually the wheels break and have to be replaced.
We don’t build anything to last anymore, and that is a sad statement. And we don’t care.
The people that pick up our trash manage to spill a little out of each can onto the roadway. When they leave the street is littered with trash. The people that pick up lawn waste and branch clippings leave a little at each stop. I had left out a huge pile for them. They picked it all up but two handfuls. Why don’t people care about doing a good job anymore? Why doesn’t anyone care enough to make them?
It all comes down to corporations rushing people to do more and more that one doesn’t have time to do a good job. It all comes down to them not wanting to pay more in salaries so they can make more money.
I hope that some day, things turn around to where people care about what they do again. And I hope it happens while I am in this life.