Made to Break Pt. 3

Giles Slade not only engages every time period of readers by creating a timeline through the history of technology, but he also creates a storybehind each period. As the economy began to pick up again after the depression that is, the idea of mass production enter the world. People needed alot of what ever they wanted which was another example of "planned obsolescence" and wouldn't stop until they had the newest thing out. Brook Stevens a charter member of the Society for Industrial Designers stated, " Our whole economy is based on planned obsolesence and everybody who can read without moving their lips should know it by now. We make good products, we induce people into buying them, and then next year we deliberately introduce something that will make those products old fashioned , out of date, obsolete"( 153). Stevens goes on saying that the only reason why this has become the culture of the industry is to keep on making money. This idea reigns true in our world today because I see examples of it daily. Starting with cell phone companies, sometimes I wonder why they intentionally put something out when there are already previews or ideas to create to a better device that would have all the amenities the other is lacking yet they still make sells. I don't know how many times, I've walked in a store and said "Man if i would have waited 1 more month for my upgrade!", only not realizing if I did there would be something else I wouldf have wanted. It's all a trick making a technological hazard for the future. I particularly thought it was interesting the way sometimes actual waste occurs during the planning of obsolescence because at time it becomes hard to even determine the plans of the people. At times there is no market for the invention although there were great plans during creation. The fact of the matter is back then and even today, americans have the choice to either waste money or save it, and we all know EVERYONE'S problem. In most cases we have everything we need to successfully feel like a productive citizen in society and we possess perfectly good items to where they don't need to be replaced immediately. Although, becasue of the culture created the inventions aren't built to last. Alot of the times you have to think about the competition between companies that are imposed on us, but the key is, we feed into it by thinking we need the unnecessary. Aside from minimal planning, even in matters of war there is this mindset where science and technology is the basis of production. It stops and makes you think that even in political battles and wars of hatred, underneath it all there is a competition in technology and we seen this in the case of Soviets and Japan. We were not just trying to beat them physically but mentality by creating weapons that said we we're better- technical competition that would produce physical results. There are hidden persuaders in the world today and although many people are not aware of them, they do exist. We are the consumers and that in itself is not a mystery but the reasons we continue to waste then claim going green is beyond me. We continue to look past our need and substitute them for wants, we may need to make a change in the industry but we don't stop wanting the new over the durable.