Programmed Obsolescence
One evening on the top of the hill, Sean told HIM about how things had become obsolete. “In the ’20s of the last century”, Sean started, “the big automotive manufacturers launched new models of cars every year to keep customers engaged even if the previous model worked perfectly, that way the economy grew in industrialized countries like this” , “several appliances,” Sean continued, “were programmed to reduce their lifetime, so that peoples were pushed to buy new appliances even if they didn’t actually need them, they became compulsive consumers”. “My grandfather told me that when he finished college, he had about 10 different mobile phones”. HIM said that he knew what a mobile phone was, but he had never seen one. “It doesn’t exist anymore,” said Sean. “Now we all have this thing”. Sean showed HIM a small gadget that he had attached to his head, the mindCom-7.
Once they got home, Sean asked HIM, “Do you want to see a mobile phone?”, and HIM moved his head positively. Sean kept an old model of a mobile phone. His father had kept it as a relic, but it actually belonged to his grandfather, the Motorola StarTAC. Sean told HIM that it was the last mobile phone that his grandfather used. “It is still working, but now it is prohibited by law to use it”, said Sean, HIM looked at the device with curiosity in his hands. “It’s better to keep hiding it” said HIM, “Gray Mother can know it” and Sean kept his eyes on HIM worriedly.
One of the first mandates that the new government imposed after the Great Disengagement was to prohibit the repair of any device or electronic appliance by the citizens, even small devices like watches or doorbells can’t be repaired. All of them have to be returned to the stores on the due date or when it fails and get a new one on the basis of their citizen credits. Now everything has a due date; clothes, citizen credits, even the citizens. Sean never understood what the new government wanted with this rule. It sowed anger and frustration among the citizens.
In the village, a small group meets every two evenings in the basement of a different house to share technical knowledge and repair their own electronic devices or help someone who needs them, everything hidden from “Gray Mother”. He went once with his coffee machine to have it repaired because he didn’t have enough credits to get a new one. At that moment, he understood that human beings always search for and find help under the worst circumstances.
One day, something unexpected happened. HIM didn’t wake up. Sean knew that this meant returning the unit for replacement. All android units are under the control of the Humanoid Management Unit (HMU). He contacted the group and, after a quick review, the diagnosis was that the dawn sensor was failing. It had to be turned on manually, and it was not allowed by law. In that case, the government asked to return the units, with no immediate replacement.
The group suggested Sean return HIM before “Gray Mother” detected the failure and asked HMU to recover the unit. Sean had to return HIM voluntarily before they came for both.
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