The Appliance of Science

no he didnt

We have the technology....to fuck you up! 

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace."
- John Lennon. 

Mork: This week, Sir, I learned about the relationship between man and machine. You see, Sir, the computer age has allowed man so much more time to pursue the finer points of life. A greater education, spiritual enlightenment and the perfect tan.
Orson: It sounds like your wife’s people are becoming a highly practical and efficient race.
Mork: Well, they are Sir. But I’m worried that they’re becoming a little too dependent on their technology.
Orson: Aren’t earthlings cute at that stage of evolution?
Mork: O, but Sir, wouldn’t it be sad though if tomorrows children spent s much time playing video football? They’d never know the real joy of being tackled by a homicidal linebacker going, ‘You’re going to bite it now!’ What really worried me is that they’re going to lose the desire and ingenuity that allowed them to build the machines in the first place.
 
~ Mork & Mindy (Season 4, ‘Mork, Mindy and Mearth Meet MLT’).

Gary Larson

 

Death Boxes aside, ‘white goods’ are not generally made to last for the simple reason that the major corporations that produce such commodities want us to buy replacements every few years. Adolf Hitler, who was a champion of socialism, advocated standardisation of these appliances and other technologies designed for personal use so that each individual could benefit from the development of quality rather than feeding these corporations through competition in the market place. 

Adolf Hitler

(Hitler’s Table Talk, 18 October 1941). 

“The art of building is one of the most ancient of human trades. That explains why, in this trade more than any other, people have remained faithful to traditional methods. It's a sphere in which we are terribly behind. To build a house should not necessarily consist in anything more than assembling the materials — which would not necessarily entail a uniformity of dwellings. The disposition and number of elements can be varied — but the elements should be standardised. Whoever wants to do more than is necessary will know what it costs him. A Croesus is not looking for the "three-room dwelling" at the lowest price.

What's the point of having a hundred different models for wash-basins? Why these differences in the dimensions of windows and doors? You change your apartment, and your curtains are no longer any use to you! For my car, I can find spare parts everywhere, but not for my apartment. These practices exist only because they give shopkeepers a chance of making more money. That's the only explanation of this infinite variety. In a year or two from now, this scandal must have been put a stop to.

It's the same with the differences of voltage in the supply of electricity. For example, Moabit and Charlpttenburg have different currents. When we rebuild the Reich, we'll make all
that uniform. Likewise, in the field of construction we shall have to modernise the tools. The excavator that's still in use is a prehistoric monster compared to the new spiral excavator. What economies one could achieve by standardisation in this field! The wish we have to give millions of Germans better living conditions forces us to standardisation, and thus to make use of elements built to a norm, wherever there is no necessity for individual forms. If we make things uniform, the masses will be able to enjoy the material amenities of life. With a market of fifteen million purchasers, it's quite conceivable that it would be possible to build a cheap radio set and a popular typewriter. I find it a real absurdity that even to-day a typewriter costs several hundred marks. One can't imagine the time wasted daily in deciphering everybody's scribbles. Why not give lessons in typewriting at primary school? Instead of religious instruction, for example. I shouldn't mind that.”

“There are days when any electrical appliance in the house, including the vacuum cleaner, seems to offer more entertainment possibilities than the television set.” - Harriet Van Horne.