I've been seeing some discussion about #enshittification with claims of the sort: 'My granny's old washing machine is 50 years old and still runs perfectly.'
(This is also comon in the #FountainPen world: ''Vintage pens work perfectly after 50 years, while my TWSBI cracked thrice in a decade!')
Folks: I'm not here to argue about actual lifespans of objects. But consider: The shitty older things that broke down in a year are no longer here to compare with the new things BECAUSE THEY BROKE.
It is fundamentally an unequal comparison to talk about superior lifespans of vintage objects relative to inferior lifespans of modern objects.
We won't know whether a modern object will last 50 years until we wait half a century. The only modern lifespans we can actually measure are the ones that are over---i.e., the ones of objects that broke quickly.
By contrast, the only vintage objects that we still have to compare them with are the ones that DID last 50 years. I.e., the ones that lasted.
Also need to take in to account how those objects have been used, a washing machine on an uneven floor may suffer more damage, We have a good mixer from the early 80s, still works, still used, still sharp as with other items.
Sure the are old, they do the job, so why throw them out.
