I’ve been a fan of DIY projects myself since I can have shit without actually spending a dime on boojee shit but now it appears capitalism is ruining it from PC’s, to reducing parts available to be used, to fake DIY vids to keep money, and good old copyfraud.
What do ya’ll think?
When I was young it was possible to take things apart like TVs and washing machines and repair them with genetic parts. I’m not even talking like a generic ‘part’ but parts of parts. For example if the washing machine went you could take it apart, remove the motor unit, dismantle it and replace whatever was broken inside the motor. Cars were the same.
It was possible to make something else fit if you couldn’t find something exact. My TV broke once. Took the back off, identified the short, cleaned it up, bit of flux, and re-soldered it. Problem solved. I still do things like this if I can but most things don’t come apart and their guts are more inaccessible or soldered/glued/riveted together.
This only makes the task more difficult. What makes it impossible is e.g. IP protected parts that break if they’re disconnected from the whole. You can take your car to a garage now and even if they fix it, if they can’t connect it to their computer, the new part won’t be able to ‘talk’ to the rest of the car, so it won’t work, anyway.
It’s infuriating and one of the reasons for so much waste. They should make another zombie apocalypse film but make it realistic. The characters can’t jump start cars because they don’t have the code or because the battery subscription wasn’t paid. They can’t repurpose any tech to make a ‘lab’ because the parts won’t talk to each other or start up again. Then again, it might be a bit of a boring show.
I feel like this is a problem of ignorance. And maybe that DIY community needs to catch up on the softwares to repurpose the parts.
It’s a problem of capitalists intentionally doing everything they can to make products irreparable and obsolete within a prescribed timeframe. There’s a big ‘right to repair’ movement about this. It’s a losing battle for as long as there are imperialists. But that movement still represents the segments of the DIY community that have come up against the limitations of trying to make or repair things without permission from rights holders.
What you’re talking about could be illegal. If a local garage gets caught fiddling with the software to get a Ford back up and running without paying the licence fee, Ford might sue them for IP beaches. I’ve no doubt that some garages will do it anyway. But it’s no way to run a successful business in the long term. And it’s an inordinate amount of work for someone who just wants to change the battery on their car – which used to be a five-minute job (and still is, for the physical part of it). Fiddling with the software on a car might also e.g. void one’s insurance.
This is what the monopoly stage of finance capitalism looks like (i.e. imperialism). Individuals cannot make a dent.
I agree that the DIY community should learn a bit of software development but now you’re talking about two communities and a wholly different skill set. Most people, including myself, wouldn’t know where to start. Different tools are needed, too, increasing the cost. All because manufacturers insist on adding software and complexity where it isn’t needed; purposely to force consumers back to the manufacturers or their subsidiaries, shutting out third parties.
I agree about companies making things harder to repair. But things are going in the right direction in Europe at least.
For the skills I understand it’s hard, especially because it also is about two communities that don’t understand eachother well : software and hardware engineers.
There are a lot of resources to learn programming for DIY communities though if you look at the robotics or domotic stuff. Arduino and raspberry pi are among those.
The opensource community is the next step. A lot of free softwares are being developed. For obscure stuff it may not be easy, but if you understand electronic and programming, you can do a lot.
And this is the direction for modern stuff. Somehow it’s reviving the renaissance man spirit.
Capitalism is even ruining capitalism
In groundskeeper Willie voice: “Damn capitalists, they ruined capitalism!”
Seriously though this is just part and parcel of the inherent contradictions of capitalism which is a self-destabilizing and self-sabotaging system.
One big issues is you used to be able to get materials for the same or similar price points as the manufacturers. So things you could build yourself, housing, furniture, etc., you could really save money on. Then the capitalist realized they could buy, and resell, all the materials at marked up prices. So it no longer is cheaper to build yourself when the other capitalists can get those same materials cheaper, export as much labor as they can, and give you a product that is not only cheaper than doing it yourself but also takes less of your valuable free time. Free time which no one has because we are working our lives away for other capitalists.
What is the saying about Ikea/premade furniture? Something like “I can build something just as good for twice the price.” ?
And it’s not just that kind of construction. Premade PCs are often cheaper because the makers are getting the materials at cheaper prices whereas when we go to the market for components they are heavily marked up.
So many hobbies and diy stuff is like this. Hobbies popped up using different things because those items were cheap and affordable. Once a market developed for them they crank up the prices and people move to the next thing that they can afford. Until there’s nothing left. So we sit on our phones and/or TV all day and rot out brains out because there is nothing else we can afford to do.
