“After solving a problem, humanity imagines that it finds in analogous solutions the key to all problems. Every authentic solution brings in its wake a train of grotesque solutions.”
--Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 430
Can you give some examples of when that has happened? I’m having trouble of thinking of any. The widespread use of computers seems to have been a great success, on the whole.
I was personally thinking more of electricity and radiation. Electric belts! Electroshock therapy! Electric toothbrushes! The mind as a power grid! Radium salt supplements! Radioactive watches! Well actually we still use tritium for that. (Or to take a more recent example, microfilm. “Let’s put everything on microfilm and shred all the original newspapers and books! What could possibly go wrong?”)
We may be a little too close to the computer to see the silliest and most grotesque solutions it has provided, although The Daily WTF may be a good start.
I know you didn’t mention computers; it was just the first example that came to mind. It seemed like if the quote would apply to anything, it would apply to computers most of all, but it didn’t. But good points about electricity and about being computers being too recent.
The IoT (internet of things) comes to mind. Why not experience WiFi connectivity issues while trying to use the washing machine?
Everything trying to become a subscription service is another example (possibly related to IoT). My favourite is a motorcycle lifesaving airbag vest, which won’t activate during a motorcycle crash, if the user misses a monthly payment. The company is called Klim, and in fairness, the user can check whether the airbag is ready for use, before getting on their bike.
--Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 430
Can you give some examples of when that has happened? I’m having trouble of thinking of any. The widespread use of computers seems to have been a great success, on the whole.
Who said it was about computers per se? I didn’t.
I was personally thinking more of electricity and radiation. Electric belts! Electroshock therapy! Electric toothbrushes! The mind as a power grid! Radium salt supplements! Radioactive watches! Well actually we still use tritium for that. (Or to take a more recent example, microfilm. “Let’s put everything on microfilm and shred all the original newspapers and books! What could possibly go wrong?”)
We may be a little too close to the computer to see the silliest and most grotesque solutions it has provided, although The Daily WTF may be a good start.
I know you didn’t mention computers; it was just the first example that came to mind. It seemed like if the quote would apply to anything, it would apply to computers most of all, but it didn’t. But good points about electricity and about being computers being too recent.
The IoT (internet of things) comes to mind. Why not experience WiFi connectivity issues while trying to use the washing machine?
Everything trying to become a subscription service is another example (possibly related to IoT). My favourite is a motorcycle lifesaving airbag vest, which won’t activate during a motorcycle crash, if the user misses a monthly payment. The company is called Klim, and in fairness, the user can check whether the airbag is ready for use, before getting on their bike.