111–119 of 119 posts
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Interesting that you had to resort to a product of communism to overcome these planned obsolete devices that capitalism is producing.
Communism sucks at building cutting edge devices, but good at basic low-tech items that are easily user repairable and made to last.
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>The lack of give-a-shit in appliances is becoming apparent. Because most budget name brand kitchen appliances are just rebadged Haier/Midea OEM designs. I know HN has a hate boner for Samsung and LG appliances but for me they seem to be the most trustworthy budget appliances since at least they have their own designs instead of rebadging Chinese OEM ones like the rest. Sure, if you have money you can go with a reput…
I dunno about the fawning over Bosch. My Bosch induction cooktop performs far worse than the half price GE Profile cooktop I had at my previous house. The Bosch does not heat evenly at all - almost all energy is focused in the center of the pan. I'm hating it so much I'm about to rip it out and replace it either with another GE or an LG. My mom got an LG induction range and I took my largest pan over to her house, pu…
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Communism sucks at building cutting edge devices, but good at basic low-tech items that are easily user repairable and made to last.
How does communism suck at building cutting edge devices? Didn't the soviets make it to space before the capitalists?
Basically, they were really good at building big devices/projects requiring state-orchestration of capital, like their space program, and many military projects like the T-34 and MiG-19. And turning rivers around in their tracks to build gigantic hydroelectric dams and so on.
But apparently that model does work so well when applied to consumer devices. That, and plus the fact that their population was generally too poor to buy them, is what kept them falling ever behind. The Soviets and their client states did make valiant efforts, but they tended to cost huge amounts of state capital, and for that and other reasons they never panned out.
For example the GDR once thought it could reverse its fortunes by devoting its capital and brainpower into the development of ground-breaking microchip (the U61000) that it hoped would take the Western market by storm. A brilliant achievement it was, but the production economics were never viable (from WP):
From 1977 the attempt to achieve a competitive edge in microchips against the research and development resources of the entire western world – in a state of just 16 million people – was perhaps always doomed to failure, but swallowed increasing amounts of internal resources and hard currency. GDR was some five to eight years behind the leading producers of USA and Japan. To produce one 64kb chip cost 40 marks, while in the West it cost 4.50 marks. To produce one 256kb chip cost 534 marks, while in the West it cost 5.00 to 7.00 marks.[2]
Thinking about this makes me nostalgic for the day when this was how competing empires once sought to attain supremacy over the other, and leave them in the dust.
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A good example of "pay more, get less" being actually nice. Porsche does this with special stripped-out models that cost more (less unnecessary stuff, less weight). Similar thing here, "simplify and add lightness".
Well, they use also tons of carbon instead of iron/aluminum to lower weight, so that price may be justifiable. Maybe.
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How does communism suck at building cutting edge devices? Didn't the soviets make it to space before the capitalists?
They did indeed. But the reason they were so good at things like their space program was, in the end, an indication of why their system failed. Basically, they were really good at building big devices/projects requiring state-orchestration of capital, like their space program, and many military projects like the T-34 and MiG-19. And turning rivers around in their tracks to build gigantic hydroelectric dams and so on.…
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They did indeed. But the reason they were so good at things like their space program was, in the end, an indication of why their system failed. Basically, they were really good at building big devices/projects requiring state-orchestration of capital, like their space program, and many military projects like the T-34 and MiG-19. And turning rivers around in their tracks to build gigantic hydroelectric dams and so on.…
Hmm. Do you consider China to be communist? How are they able to make competitive-with-west devices?
In any case it's important to keep in mind that it definitely isn't a Western-style capitalist system (in either practice or its ideology). Whatever the current reality, it's very quite significant that the CCP strenuously maintains the song and dance that it will still bloom into a "true" socialist/communist system someday:
The Chinese government maintains that these reforms are actually the primary stage of socialism[97] and the Chinese Communist Party remains nominally dedicated to establishing a socialist society and subsequently developing into full communism.[98] This was reiterated by Xi Jinping at the 2023 G20 New Delhi summit.
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They did indeed. But the reason they were so good at things like their space program was, in the end, an indication of why their system failed. Basically, they were really good at building big devices/projects requiring state-orchestration of capital, like their space program, and many military projects like the T-34 and MiG-19. And turning rivers around in their tracks to build gigantic hydroelectric dams and so on.…
Hmm. Do you consider China to be communist? How are they able to make competitive-with-west devices?
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"Dumb" microwaves (knob for modes, big knob with mechanical winding spring for the time) in general easily last over 20 years, we had to dispose of ours only because the plastic became disgusting from standing in a sunny spot for all its life
I've bought a dumb microwave and it stopped working after a bit over two years (conveniently). I replaced it with a fancier model, with an inverter, and it's been working for about four years now. It probably won't work for 20 years, but maybe it will survive long enough to justify its higher price (3x).
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I dunno about the fawning over Bosch. My Bosch induction cooktop performs far worse than the half price GE Profile cooktop I had at my previous house. The Bosch does not heat evenly at all - almost all energy is focused in the center of the pan. I'm hating it so much I'm about to rip it out and replace it either with another GE or an LG. My mom got an LG induction range and I took my largest pan over to her house, pu…
Our Bosch dishwasher breaks at least once a year and needs a new control board every time it happens. Bosch is junk.