{"id":239283,"date":"2023-07-17T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=239283"},"modified":"2025-01-10T13:42:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T13:42:58","slug":"profit-driven-systems-are-driving-us-to-our-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/07\/profit-driven-systems-are-driving-us-to-our-doom\/","title":{"rendered":"Profit-Driven Systems Are Driving Us to Our Doom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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13 Jul 2023<\/em> – I just read a disturbing paragraph in\u00a0a New Yorker article<\/a>\u00a0about the Instant Pot, a popular electronic pressure cooker whose parent company recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy:<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo what doomed the Instant Pot? How could something that was so beloved sputter? Is the arc of kitchen goods long but bends toward obsolescence? Business schools may someday make a case study of one of Instant Pot\u2019s vulnerabilities, namely, that it was simply too well made. Once you slapped down your ninety dollars for the Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1, you were set for life: it didn\u2019t break, it didn\u2019t wear out, and the company hasn\u2019t introduced major innovations that make you want to level up. As a customer, you were one-and-done, which might make you a happy customer, but is hell on profit-and-growth performance metrics.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just think about that for a second. Under our current systems for profit generation, which is the primary driver of human behavior on this planet, making a quality product that lasts a long time instead of quickly going obsolete or turning into landfill will actually drive you into bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0article in The Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0about the bankruptcy filing similarly illustrated this point last month:<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom the point of view of the consumer, this makes the Instant Pot a dream product: It does what it says, and it doesn\u2019t cost you much or any additional money after that first purchase. It doesn\u2019t appear to have any planned obsolescence built into it, which would prompt you to replace it at a regular clip. But from the point of view of owners and investors trying to maximize value, that makes the Instant Pot a problem. A company can\u2019t just tootle along in perpetuity, debuting new products according to the actual pace of its good ideas, and otherwise manufacturing and selling a few versions of a durable, beloved device and its accessories, updated every few years with new features. A company needs to\u00a0<\/em>grow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This just says such dysmal things about why our planet is facing the existential crises it\u2019s now facing. Corporations will die if they don\u2019t continually grow, and they can\u2019t grow without things like inbuilt planned obsolescence or continued additional purchases, which in a sane society would just be regarded as shoddy craftsmanship. Our entire civilization is driven by the pursuit of profit, and to keep turning large profits your corporation needs to continually grow, and your corporation can\u2019t continually grow unless you\u2019re manufacturing a crappy product that needs to be continually replaced or supplemented, and you can\u2019t manufacture those replacements and supplementations without harvesting them from the flesh of a dying world.<\/p>\n

As writer Robert Moor recently\u00a0observed on Twitter<\/a>, \u201cThe fact that Instant Pot is already being framed as a corporate cautionary tale \u2014 the company that went bankrupt because they made a product so durable and versatile that its customers had little need to buy another one \u2014 instead of as a critique of capitalism is deeply, deeply depressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The fact that Instant Pot is already being framed as a corporate cautionary tale\u2014the company that went bankrupt bc they made a product so durable & versatile that its customers had little need to buy another one\u2014instead of as a critique of capitalism is deeply, deeply depressing. pic.twitter.com\/GXwyVFauii<\/a><\/p>\n

— \ud835\udc11\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc1b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc0c\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2b (@robertmoor_) July 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n