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we have lost so much knowledge over the (checks notes) last fifty years (slrpnk.net)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/memes@slrpnk.net
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[–] 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Survivorship bias.

We didn't experience the numerous appliances and other detritus from the 70's that crapped out and died. The ones whose safety policy began and ended with the power of prayer.

I have no idea what 2024 will bring us. It feels like the entire world is shaking itself apart. But I can promise you with 100% certainty that in 2064 they'll be lamenting that their appliances aren't built as good as they used to.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    Yeah nah...

    Take fridges for example. Producers added features like automatic defrosting, freezer on the bottom, ice maker, etc. All of those add complexity, and require parts that break down.

    40 years ago a fridge was basically just a pump and a condenser in a box. There's not a lot of things to break down with that setup, and that's why they're still working perfectly fine. You don't need a whole system to pump cold air from the bottom of the fridge to the top, you just stick the condenser at the top and let physics do the rest.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago*

    There seems to be more to it than that.

    Planned obsolescence is a very real thing, and appliances can be designed to die sooner than they have to.

    Aside from that, a lot of tech got unnecessarily complex, thereby raising chances of something breaking naturally, without even PO in mind.

    On average, tech from 70's actually was more reliable, even though it's not AS reliable as some peoppe think exactly due to survivorship bias.

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