# How do you think life will get better in the next 40 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425 "2009-10-20T01:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/21 "2009-10-27T01:17:14Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Well, that would reverse a long downward trend. Everything today is made of plastic and made to break so you have to buy another. A toaster used to last years and years. Now you are lucky to get past the one year mark. I still have a plumber’s snake of my Dad’s that has been around since i was a kid, every part made of metal. Go in to a Home Depot and examine a new one. The ring that holds the friction screw is made of PLASTIC. If you tighten the screw enough to use the tool, it will snap on the first try. Furniture used to be made of hardwood. Now most furniture contains particle board. > > The fact is, a lot of stuff that is made these days is junk, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. That’s why I hold on to my old stuff. > [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > Yup. I still have the electric rice cooker my dad bought in Japan in the 1960s. I use it several times a week. It is nearly 50 years old and I don’t see why it will not still be around in 40 years. > [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Or your furniture. Or your house. Or your anything. > > It doesn’t matter if stuff isn’t _designed_ to break. If it’s designed to be made cheapshit so as to generate maximum margin, that’s pretty much the same thing. > > Sadly, that’s the only way you _can_ make anything today at a price most people can afford. In the spirit of fighting ignorance and all, would any of you like to provide a cite? Any evidence that “stuff was built better back then” is anything other than confirmation bias? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/22 "2009-10-27T01:45:03Z")
I’m through fighting ignorance. The more I see of the enlightened, the less I like them. Ask someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/23 "2009-10-27T01:58:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Um. I’m hoping for advances that will extend my life at least 80 years. > **[Home | Lifespan Research Institute](https://lifespan.io/)** > > Lifespan Research Institute is A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on strategically driving forward science to extend healthy human lifespan – through advocacy, ecosystem building, and direct support of cutting edge research into the root... ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/24 "2009-10-27T02:23:01Z")
One _good_ reason I can see why things are built so ‘cheaply’ now is this: technology is improving _fast_. Example: a month ago, I bought a toaster. It was cheap toaster. I know it was cheap. The money we paid for it was about what my husband makes in 20 minutes of work. We could have paid _much more_ for a more expensive one, but why? This toaster we bought has ‘cool touch’ walls, a four-slice capacity, and each two-slice compartment can be set to individual ‘done-ness’ of the toast. By the end of its useful life, we will probably, for about the same amount of money, be able to buy a _new_ toaster (with a ‘new toaster warranty’ to match) that does lots of _other_ nifty stuff we can’t even _imagine_ right now. Obviously, this is not just toasters, but electronics in general. Electronics are evolving so fast that we don’t _want_ our new ones to last 20 years! ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/25 "2009-10-27T02:46:57Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I’ll finally have my flying car, the one that was promised to me back in the 60’s that I’d have by the year 2000. It’s ten years late now and starting to really piss me off. It’ll be more than 40 years I’m afraid. Flying cars now aren’t an impossibility from a technical standpoint. Practicality, scalability and other realistic problems make it impossible, not technology. Technology might make it feasible when technology is there to allow them to fly themselves with more redundancy than what cars on the ground would require. Having a car hitting your house at ground level is much less frightening than a high speed flying vehicle crashing into it from 1/2 a mile in the air with the velocity that implies (no matter how fast it was going at the time). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/26 "2009-10-27T12:00:16Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > The end timers will be a spent force within 40 years. > That’ll have a major positive effect on the political landscape. That’s what they said in 1001, and 1667, and 1920… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/27 "2009-10-27T16:50:21Z")
My kids will have moved out of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/28 "2009-10-27T18:40:54Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > That’s what they said in 1001, and 1667, and 1920… Very good point. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/29 "2009-10-27T18:59:10Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > One _good_ reason I can see why things are built so ‘cheaply’ now is this: technology is improving _fast_. Example: a month ago, I bought a toaster. It was cheap toaster. I know it was cheap. The money we paid for it was about what my husband makes in 20 minutes of work. We could have paid _much more_ for a more expensive one, but why? > ! This is what I was going to say. Sure, I could buy a $200 DVD player…but why bother, when I’m just going to get a blu-ray player soon anyway? And I think part of it is confirmation bias. I have a blender that my in-laws gave me, that’s about 50 years old. It’s miles better than the new one I got a few years ago. Sure, it’s lasted this long - but they don’t have a single other appliance that old in their house, everything else is new. So, this one thing lasted 50 years, but everything else broke. And they’re not people who throw away working stuff in good shape, so they didn’t get new stuff just on a whim. As for the future, I’m still waiting for everyone to be wearing silver jumpsuits all the time, I believe we were promised this in almost every 60’s sci-fi movie. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/30 "2009-10-27T19:31:50Z")
> [@Epimetheus](#): > > It’ll be more than 40 years I’m afraid. Flying cars now aren’t an impossibility from a technical standpoint. Practicality, scalability and other realistic problems make it impossible, not technology. Do you REALLY want the asshole and idiot drivers you see every day to have their own flying cars? The ones who drive at 45 in the left lane while texting? ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/31 "2009-10-27T19:50:17Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Do you REALLY want the asshole and idiot drivers you see every day to have their own flying cars? The ones who drive at 45 in the left lane while texting? Depends - could I go up and over them? Because I would like to do that now, but it’s not really possible. By then it won’t be texting, anyway. We’ll just have chips imbeded in our heads in order to communicate long distances. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/32 "2009-10-27T20:12:38Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#): > > Depends - could I go up and over them? Because I would like to do that now, but it’s not really possible. That’s not really the problem. I’d be worried about one of them crashing into my house. Right now, it’s pretty well protected from maniac drivers. If there were flying cars, that wouldn’t be the case. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/33 "2009-10-27T20:39:45Z")
As more women achieve positions of power, their particular abilities in looking at society as a group effort rather than a Me First grab for power will achieve great strength for our country. I’m hoping that will be the pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/34 "2009-10-28T18:16:23Z")
> [@elelle](#): > > As more women achieve positions of power, their particular abilities in looking at society as a group effort rather than a Me First grab for power will achieve great strength for our country. I’m hoping that will be the pattern. Don’t tell Margaret Thatcher and Ayn Rand about that. On another note, I have heard some people theorize that more women on wall street would’ve helped prevent the collapse by creating an environment that was a bit more risk adverse and more willing to address dangers. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425/35 "2009-10-28T19:35:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, that would reverse a long downward trend. Everything today is made of plastic and made to break so you have to buy another. A toaster used to last years and years. Now you are lucky to get past the one year mark. I still have a plumber’s snake of my Dad’s that has been around since i was a kid, every part made of metal. Go in to a Home Depot and examine a new one. The ring that holds the friction screw is made of PLASTIC. If you tighten the screw enough to use the tool, it will snap on the first try. Furniture used to be made of hardwood. Now most furniture contains particle board. > > The fact is, a lot of stuff that is made these days is junk, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. That’s why I hold on to my old stuff. My dad, when he was alive, used to rant about this. Except to say the opposite. He said when he was young, cars were expensive and required tooling with em every week to keep em going and still broke down in 4-5 years…worn out. Now days you can reasonably expect a new (even relatively cheap) car to last 10 years and you can let em go months without touching them and then only to get an oil change. Quality is out there. My wallet which I bought 5 years ago looks just like new. You could almost put it on the rack and sell it new. Of course, it cost $100… Quality clothes are out there. I have sweaters, shoes, shirts etc that feel great, last forever etc…but the sweaters cost $100+ and the shoes can run over $200. I have a dining room table that I know will last until the sun swells up to a red giant and engulfs the Earth. DAAAAMMMNNNN…it is a nice table. I bought it 15 years ago and spent over $5000 on it including chairs. That being said…I don’t want to spend $200 on a toaster. I will buy one for $20 and replace it when it breaks. We live in the best of both worlds. We can have quality if we want. We can have inexpensive if we want. Inexpensive stuff is everywhere…but you need to look a bit to find the good stuff and you will pay for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-think-life-will-get-better-in-the-next-40-years/514425.md?page=1)