Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America pgs 1-81

The book Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America by Giles Slade describes how America has come to this point where almost everything we own is disposable or will become obsolete in the near future.  In the introduction he briefly touches on why this is a bad thing due to our increase in waste, and then spends the rest of the first part describing specific key events bringing us to this way of life.  He claims this has come about through advancements in technology, new marketing techniques, and America's crave to have the latest up-to-date things.

Advancements in technology are presented to us as ways to improve our quality of life.  The problem with this is that in order to achieve this new quality one must continue to buy newer things making their previous belongings obsolete.  In Made to Break Slade spends a good portion of time talking about Henry Ford's model T and how Ford did not want his automobile design to become obsolete, but due to advancement in technology such as the electric starter and the competition using newer technology the obsolescence of the model T seemed inevitable.  In the past obsolescence did not seem to be that much of a worry.  This is not because people did not crave the most current items, but because the advancements in technology were not as rapid.  The book Computers presents this growth by showing how in the initial stages of computer development advancement occurred very slowly and seemed almost linear, but as time progressed it turned out to actually have exponential growth.  This obsolescence is also fueled by the fact that we seem to accept these technological advancements blindly, therefore allowing everything we own to become obsolete.  The book Technopoly discusses our willingness to accept technology and how we should take a step back and see if these advances are truly beneficial to us.  By taking this approach it would also allow us to see which items should be allowed to become obsolete and which ones are better the way they are.

A big part in this obsolescence is caused by American culture.  Pretty much everyone is raised under the idea that we should strive to be as successful as possible, and of course along with that success comes luxuries.  In the past many luxuries we enjoy today could only be achieved through large amounts of wealth.  Now, due to cheaper materials and mass production, these luxuries can be obtained by a much larger population.  Along with this though comes our competitive nature.  Many would view success almost like a rank, so can one be seen as a success if everyone else is just as successful?  This then leads to even more obsolescence since in American culture, one must not only have up-to-date technology, but also have up-to-date technology that others do not have.  This of course allows us to throw away old technology without a second thought.