On Bridges and Cell Phones

Many years ago I spent an afternoon with an historian of bridges. He said that there is a cycle of bridge design. First a bridge collapses. Then a new design or material is introduced. This bridge is built with extreme overdesign to bear loads much in excess of any it might experience. But, as time goes on, standards relax and talented people turn to other fields. Then there is another collapse and the cycle starts over.

Electronic technology seems to follow a very different path. New device follows on new device with ever expanding capability. But reliability suffers (an article in the NY Times this past Sunday pointed out that cell phones and VOIT are much less reliable than land lines).

Both the reliability and obsolescence of electronic devices promote a throw-away economy. It takes energy to make these devices and energy to dispose of them. I suspect that it's not much enrgy in the overall scheme of things, but it rankles a child of the Great Depression and WWII. We were taught to make do. I think that we are better for it.