Blog of Enrique Rubio

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to see a great documentary on TVE 2 (co-produced by Arte France , Spanish TV and Television of Catalonia, who should be congratulated for social and educational use of the TV) on the ... 'History of Planned Obsolescence ', or what is the same,' deliberately reducing the life of a product to increase its consumption '. A magnificent synthesis of the documentary is featured on the video below program progress (4') that the TVE itself offered ... Buy, Conspiracy. Advance.

'Buy, pull, buy'. Advance

The complete broadcast of the program (52 ') can be seen in this other video ... Buy, Conspiracy. Pyramids of Waste (if desired, can be seen at the end decomposed into three videos) ...

Buy, pull, buy

At the present time the reorganization of our Company in RED (characterized by globalization, interdependence, migration, climate change, economic crisis, increasing activity 'online', developing digital technologies, ...), new values ​​and behaviors (digital ) are emerging and spreading widely (transparency, consistency, social and environmental factors, collaboration / sharing, the intangible value 'VOI' sustainable development, diversity, self / self-learning, collective intelligence, ...), whose impact can be seen both global and local, as the situation eg ' GM Soy in Paraguay ',' Wikileaks 'recent discussion of the so-called' Sinde Law 'in the Spanish Senate and the problem of the 'Air Traffic Controllers' , creation and social sharing information and knowledge on YouTube , Wikipedia , Tweeter , etc..

To this list, you can add this example of impact and social commitment and training of television, with the film at hand 'History of Planned Obsolescence' , for his contribution to the time of trying to understand, adapt and act, at the present time of change and reorganization mentioned.

In fact, to try to understand some unsustainability of current development model (with unlimited growth for unlimited consumption and waste), and on the other the need to find alternative sustainable model, it is interesting to analyze and understand the concept and history of 'Planned Obsolescence' central argument of the documentary.

By 'obsolescence (' PO ') can be given the "deliberate reduction of the life cycle of the product, during the design and production thereof, so that last less and, therefore, is consumed more by frequent and repeated purchases'.

The 'OP' is the basis of our current consumer society or the 'Growth', whose logic 'does not grow to meet the needs, but growth for growth. Growing production indefinitely without limits, for which consumption must grow unbounded. 'And how do you get unlimited consumption?,' Seducing the consumer to want to own something a little newer, a little better, and just before than necessary ' . And how do you seduce?, As Serge Latouche, professor of economics at the University Paris-XI, by 'three key elements: 1. - Advertising, 2. - Planned Obsolescence, and 3. - Credit'.

As the end of the chain, the 'OP' cause a continuous flow of 'waste' that just mainly in the third world (in the documentary shows the example of Ghana as a recipient of 'e-waste', that 80% can not be repaired and end up being abandoned in landfills, which destroy the environment).

It is worth noting two recent examples of 'OP' mentioned in the documentary, as shown in turn to 'OP' and a new type of consumer, and activism in the Internet age. The first corresponds to a class action lawsuit against 'Apple' in the U.S., which occurred in December 2003, following the action taken by the Neistat brothers (see video) against Apple, after buying an iPod, break the battery at 18 months and not let Apple battery repair, 'had to change the entire apparatus'.

The second instance occurs in Barcelona. Mark one days check that your printer is not working, leads to different technical and the solution offered is not worth it to repair it, better buy a new one. Not satisfied with the answer, and convinced that it can be repaired, consult the manual, and discover that the 'life' of the printer is set in advance by the manufacturer by a chip, which counts the number of impressions that have taken up the date, so that when it reaches the threshold set, the printer stops working. Through the Internet, there is a software identifies which resets said counter. Since contact the SW Russian developer, you download it, the counter is reset and the printer starts working again.

For critical to the Company's growth, or wastage ('Use and Throw'), and defenders of the 'Theory of Economic degrowth', 'not enough to reform the production processes, but must rethink the economy and our values ​​( paradigm change, cultural change) ', proposing an economic downturn to abandon the' Company Growth ', warn that because the logic of' unlimited growth 'is not sustainable in the long term, because it is based on a contradiction ...

"Whoever believes that limited growth supports a limited planet, or is mad or an economist. The tragedy is that we are all economists "( Serge Latouche )

Finally, and as a university professor, I can not help but continue to reflect, to assume my responsibility and desire to act, when explicitly mentioned in the documentary that "for there to be the 'OP', it was necessary that engineers and designers asumiesen, and assume the logic of 'unlimited growth'. In this regard I am pleased to quote the blog of Engineering and sustainability for the S XXI , as a sign of concern and ongoing commitment, with respect to social and environmental factor on the part of the engineers, when exercising as professionals and citizens .

'History of Planned Obsolescence third'

'History of Planned Obsolescence 2/3'

'History of Planned Obsolescence 3/3'

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