Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Electricity: A guide around electronics and how to go about it. | Tech-blogging.com.
This is a tale about a world preoccupied with material possessions. It’s a tale about a broken system. We’re destroying the environment, destroying our other, and we’re not even having fun. The good news is that if we grasp the system, we may discover several opportunities to intervene and turn these problems into solutions. I couldn’t find my computer charger the other day. My computer provides me with access to my work, friends, and music. So I went into every drawer, even the one where this was kept. I’m sure you have one as well, a tangle of outdated chargers, the sad relics of a bygone era of gadgets. How did I accumulate so many of these items? It’s not like I’m constantly on the lookout for the next technology. My old devices broke or grew outmoded to the point that I couldn’t utilize them. And none of these ancient chargers are compatible with my PC. This isn’t simply a case of bad luck. It’s a terrible design. It’s what I call “designed for the dump.” Isn’t it ridiculous to say “Designed for the dump”? But that makes perfect sense when you’re trying to sell a lot of items. It’s a vital strategy for the electronics manufacturers. It is, in fact, a critical component of our entire unsustainable material economy. Creating items that can be thrown away fast is referred to as “design for the dump.” Electronics today are difficult to upgrade, easy to break, and difficult to repair. My DVD player broke, so I took it to a repair shop. Just to glance at it, the repairman demanded $50! Target has a new one for $39. Gordon Moore, the semiconductor pioneer and gigantic brain, predicted in the 1960s that electronics designers would be able to double processing speed every 18 months. He’s been correct so far. Moore’s Law is the name given to this phenomenon. However, the employers of these brilliant designers managed to get it all mixed up. They appear to believe that Moore’s Law dictates that we must replace our old equipment every 18 months. …