1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: Joathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you. It's time for a 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: text Stuff Tidbits probably gonna be how longer tidbits episodes? 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: I just don't know how to do short ones apparently, 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: But I wanted to talk about obsolescence. Uh. And this 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: is because I read an article which I'll be talking 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: about later in this episode that really got me to 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: thinking about it in kind of a big picture way. 11 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: And um, I really want to talk about the dangers 12 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,959 Speaker 1: of obsolescence, of of technology going obsolete. And I've done 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: a few episodes where I've talked about these kind of things. 14 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: I know, I as actor and I did a fun 15 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: episode where we just talked about, you know, technology that 16 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: no longer is really relevant. But this goes beyond that. 17 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: I've also talked about this with in connection to the 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: right to repair, and in case you're new to that phrase, 19 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: it refers to a movement in which consumers and some 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: organizations are really pressuring companies to open up options for 21 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: the maintenance and repair of their products. That they produce 22 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: so that you are not forced as a customer to 23 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: either throw out something that no longer works and then 24 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: replace it prematurely, or you have to jump through hoops 25 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: to go through the quote unquote official channels to repair it. 26 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: And we all know why companies want to build these 27 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: kinds of systems that require users to go through official channels. 28 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: And it's all called revenue. Um. If I make a 29 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: widget and I sell my widget to you, well that's 30 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: good for me, you know, but it's only good that 31 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: one time, because you might your widget and then you're 32 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: off on your married little way. But if I also 33 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: make sure that I build the widgets in such a 34 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: way that only I am able to do maintenance and 35 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: repair on those widgets, well then you have no option 36 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: but to bring the widget back to me when you 37 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: need that kind of work done and then pay me 38 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: a fee in the process. Or you have to throw 39 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: away your broken widget and maybe you're gonna buy a 40 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: new one from me. You know that either way, I 41 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: make money. And when my widget company becomes a global conglomerate, 42 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: you know, widgets around the world, I might end up 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: creating a whole network of repair shops out there, and 44 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 1: each one has to pay me a hefty license fee 45 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 1: for the privilege of being allowed to work on widgets. 46 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: And I then provide the correct tools and documentation so 47 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: that people can do that, but only if they pay 48 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 1: me the licensing fee. So that independent repair shop down 49 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: the road that you have a good relationship with, well, 50 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: they don't get access to in of those resources, or 51 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: you know, they might be ill equipped to do any 52 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: work on the product, or they might even be incapable 53 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: of during doing work on the product because I've locked 54 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: it away essentially, and they're not part of the system, 55 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: so you can't go to them. So the right to 56 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: repair movement essentially says it is unfair and anti competitive 57 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: for companies to lock down their products so that you 58 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: can't maintain and repair stuff yourself or to go to 59 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: someone of your own choosing. And we're seeing that kind 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: of story you play out across the world. Various governments 61 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: are starting to pass laws to try and guarantee the 62 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: right to repair. And this will also come into play 63 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: with the concept of obsolescence. So when I say obsolescence, 64 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about a few possible pathways that essentially lead 65 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: to the same destination. And the destination is that you've 66 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: got a product or maybe a service that no longer 67 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: is receiving support from the company that created it. Uh, 68 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: the product or service might still work, but there are 69 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: better or at least more supported options that are out there, 70 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: and over time its performance will diminish. So in other words, 71 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: maybe you've got a particular hardware gadget. The company that 72 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: made that gadget has gone out of business, and so 73 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: you don't have any way of getting in your replacement 74 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: parts or anything. No one's making them because the company 75 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: that did make them is gone now. So while it works, 76 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: it's fine, but once it breaks down, you might be 77 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: stuck with just a dead piece of technology. And this 78 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: is a huge problem in tech in general. And it's 79 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: also kind of what the tech industry is largely built upon, 80 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: and that can be a really bad thing. In fact, 81 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: it's kind of what you know, hype and product cycles 82 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: are all built around. So I always think of back 83 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: in the day when Steve Jobs was alive and he 84 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: was Master of the Product presentation at Apple. You could 85 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: really sense audience excitement in an Apple presentation. Even if 86 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: you were just watching that presentation on streaming video. You 87 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: could just sense how excited the crowd was, and Steve 88 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: Jobs would come up on stage and pull out the 89 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,559 Speaker 1: latest iPhone or iPad or Mac or whatever and gush 90 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: about how it blows the doors off all the other 91 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 1: technologies out there, either like introducing something for the first time, 92 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: like that first iPhone presentation way back in early two 93 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: thousand seven, or showing how the latest model has become 94 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: an incredible improvement over all past models, and everyone ends 95 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: up going nuts. The crowd ate it up. And these 96 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,359 Speaker 1: were the same crowds who a year earlier would have 97 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: gone gaga over the previous generation of those products and 98 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: so on, But now it was almost like they were 99 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: ready to throw their current iPhone or iPad or whatever 100 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: into the garbage and rush out and buy a new one. 101 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 1: Now I'm exaggerating a little bit, but only a little bit. 102 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: So Back in two thousand fourteen, Rogerner of Recon dug 103 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: through some data and discovered that about forty of smartphone 104 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: owners were updating their phones every single year. Now, that's 105 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: pretty incredible. Here in the United States, back when the 106 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: iPhone first came out, it was pretty standard to sign 107 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:24,160 Speaker 1: two year contract agreements with providers like cell phone providers 108 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,880 Speaker 1: and it would lock you into that provider for two years. 109 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: But as part of that you would typically typically get 110 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: a really big discount on phone models, so your your 111 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: phone choice was being subsidized. You weren't having to pay 112 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 1: the full retail price for a phone, which was considered 113 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: to be a pretty nice trade off because the upfront 114 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: cost was so much lower. In fact, with a lot 115 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: of phone plans, the phone would be part of the plan. 116 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: You wouldn't be paying any extra. Now that money would 117 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 1: be factored into your monthly ill, but that was monthly. 118 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: It wasn't all up front, and it was just a 119 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: different world back then. Like these days, you typically buy 120 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: your phone outright and then you have it added on 121 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: to whatever plan you happen to have, or maybe you 122 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: even switch plans. It's a very different world. But yeah, 123 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: back then, getting a new phone often meant that you 124 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: were agreeing to a two year contract, and if you 125 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: were upgrading every year, then it's not like you were 126 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: renewing that two year agreement. Instead, you were having to 127 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: pay the upfront cost of the smartphone and keep it 128 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: on the plan that you already had, or you were 129 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: gonna have to pay extra and cancel a plan. So 130 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: it was pretty remarkable that still for people of smartphone 131 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: owners were actually going through that process here in the US, 132 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: because I mean it was not it was it was 133 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: a considerable investment. Now that churn rate forty percent of 134 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: the owners upgrading every year. That was great for Apple, 135 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: It was tough on consumers, and it was terrible for 136 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: the environ It still is. But it showed that the 137 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: consuming public was a willing participant in this acceleration of obsolescence. 138 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: And I'm not even getting into the concept of planned obsolescence. 139 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: That's when a company creates a product or service where 140 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: the company already anticipates when it will stop supporting that 141 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: service or when it will replace it. Um. And that 142 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: means that we already know from the get go that 143 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: this thing that's going out has a limited lifespan, and 144 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: after that it's kind of buyer beware. Um, I'm not 145 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: even talking about that. Or you know technology that's only 146 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: designed to last a couple of years and then breaks 147 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: down so you are forced to replace it. That's another 148 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: element of obsolescence, but I've covered it before. Uh, but yeah, 149 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: that also plays a role in this. But let's think 150 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: about the consequences that follow from this trend of needing 151 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: to replace technology so frequent a and how those consequences 152 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,679 Speaker 1: can play out. Now, I mentioned environmental impact that actually 153 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: is really huge. The whole supply chain, from start to finish, 154 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: has a massive environmental impact, and it's rarely a good one. 155 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: For example, let's look at the very beginning of the 156 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: supply chain. So a lot of tech that we have 157 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: requires stuff that uses what we call rare earth metals. 158 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: Rare earth metals consist of a group of seventeen elements. 159 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: Fifteen of them are lanthanide elements. The two others are 160 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,680 Speaker 1: not lanthanides, but they're frequently found in the same ores 161 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: as the other lanthanides are, and as rare earth metals implies, 162 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: all seventeen of the elements are classified as metals, and 163 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: unlike metals like iron, these elements don't appear as visible 164 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: lumps and or you're not going to find a vein 165 00:09:55,760 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: of these lanthanides. They're actually not that rare um not 166 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things. Most of them are 167 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: far more abundant in the Earth's crust than say, gold is. However, 168 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: most of the time they're found in such low concentrations 169 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: that mining them would cost more than what you would 170 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: get out of what you mind, so you would be 171 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: losing money on the process. So it's not that there 172 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: isn't a lot of these rare earth metals out there, 173 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: but that it takes a lot of effort to get 174 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: enough of them efficiently to make a profit. Now, these 175 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: metals are embedded in minerals and rocks, so you have 176 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,839 Speaker 1: to take several steps to get at the metals. One 177 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: way you could do this is you could just you know, 178 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: dig up a massive pit and you use explosives to 179 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: break up rocks, and you shovel up all the broken pieces, 180 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: and you put these pieces through a process in which 181 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: you crush the rocks down and use chemicals to separate 182 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: the metals from the minerals, and then you skim the 183 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 1: metals away and you use those and you're left with 184 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: a lot of waste rock and chemical mixtures that you 185 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: have to dispose of properly, and all of that just 186 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: to get it that low concentration of those rare earth metals, 187 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 1: and we need a lot of those. Not just for 188 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: the tech industry though, that is one that has a 189 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: very high demand for these rare earth metals. But they're 190 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: used in stuff like batteries, for example, and as we 191 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: shift more towards depending upon stuff like electric motors to 192 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: power our vehicles, the demand for rare earth metals is 193 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,440 Speaker 1: going to continue to rise dramatically. They're also really important 194 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: for renewable energy systems like wind turbines, which is kind 195 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:43,439 Speaker 1: of ironic when you think of the potential environmental impact 196 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: of mining. But we also use them for stuff like 197 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: catalysts to facilitate certain chemical processes, or phosphors to illuminate 198 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: stuff like screens, or use them to polish glass in 199 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: order to produce high performing optics. Militaries around the world 200 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: depend up on rare earth metals is a critical component 201 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: in high tech military gear, everything from GPS equipment to 202 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: guided missiles. So we need a lot of this stuff. 203 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: And like I said, while there's plenty of it on Earth, 204 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: it isn't always found in high concentrations. So this leads 205 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: us to the really ugly part of that situation. I'll 206 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: talk about that after we come back from this break. Okay, 207 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,240 Speaker 1: to have a mining operation that's large enough to get 208 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,440 Speaker 1: sufficient amounts of rare earth metals, and yet the operation 209 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,559 Speaker 1: has to be cheap enough so that it can be profitable. 210 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: Certain conditions need to be present, and one of those 211 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 1: typically is a general disregard for the environment. Putting environmental 212 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: protections in place, you know, taking care not to cause damage, 213 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 1: and addressing problems as they arise. All of that is 214 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: expensive and time consuming, and if your profit depends on 215 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: keeping costs down, you're probably not going to pay that 216 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: much attention to environmental concerns. So that means a lot 217 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,880 Speaker 1: of rare earth metal mining operations are taking place in 218 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: regions where there are lacks or no environmental protections in place. 219 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: Some places would forego pretty much even the most basic 220 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,359 Speaker 1: environmental protections and would just start pumping stuff like ammonium 221 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: chloride and ammonium sulfate directly into the earth, all in 222 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: an effort to separate rare earth metals from the rest 223 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: of the soil and rock in there. This was a 224 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: pretty common practice in China. For example, the chemical waste 225 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: can be environmentally hazardous. In China, it wasn't unusual to 226 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: simply build wastewater pools to hold the runoff. They were 227 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: kind of like massive above ground pools literally, and they 228 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: would just hold the wastewater and these pools frequently had 229 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: little to no protection around them, meaning that if something 230 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: were to disturb the pools, the wastewater could potentially contaminate 231 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: the local area. Some of the waste materials are not 232 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: just toxic, but somewhat radioactive, which creates additional concerns. And 233 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: I'm mostly using the past tense here because in recent years, 234 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: China has started to address this issue, working toward new 235 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: ways to mind rare earth metals that are more environmentally responsible. 236 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: But for a couple of decades that just wasn't the case. 237 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: And now there are regions in China where the locals 238 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: are having to tackle monumental cleanup jobs that could take 239 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: as long as a century to complete. Then, on top 240 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: of the environmental concerns, we have human rights concerns. In 241 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,239 Speaker 1: places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mining operations 242 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: are sometimes run by violent militias which sometimes rely on 243 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: forced labor to operate, the mind so slavery essentially. While 244 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: China is the main source for many rare earth metals, 245 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: some of them do also come out of Africa and 246 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 1: so are heavy dependence upon the materials helps support violent 247 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: groups and human suffering, and that makes that obsolescence problem 248 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: all the more critical, right. I mean, it's grim enough 249 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: that we're having to deal with the consequences of our 250 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 1: technological needs this way, but then to add with it 251 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: this cycle in which we're encouraged to replace our tech 252 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: frequently and make the problem worse. It exacerbates everything. It's 253 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: it's pretty gruesome when you think about it. And then 254 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: on top of that, for another environmental issue, what do 255 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: you do with the old tech, the stuff that went 256 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: obsolete if you can't repair it, which is you know, 257 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: part of the issue. If you're not able to repair it, 258 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 1: or even if you did repair it, but it couldn't 259 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: keep up with what you needed to do because everything 260 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: else has advanced beyond the capabilities of the hardware. What 261 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 1: do you do with the hardware? The ideally you would 262 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: send it to a place where it could be recycled 263 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: or the materials inside it could be reclaimed and then 264 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: used in other materials other products down the line. But 265 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: a lot of it just ends up going to landfills. 266 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: And that's awful, especially when you consider that a lot 267 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: of the stuff that goes into our tech is potentially 268 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: you know, it is toxic and could potentially contaminate the 269 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: environment if it leaches out of the hardware. So again, 270 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: this obsolescence issue is feeding into the environmental crisis. And 271 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: of course there are other things we should have to 272 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: think about two and these aren't quite as global a 273 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: concern like They're not like I would argue, environmental impact 274 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 1: that almost gets to existential levels of crisis. Human rights 275 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: violations also obviously incredibly important. But there are some other 276 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: things that we have to remember as well. There aren't 277 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: that critical in that same scale, but are still important. 278 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: For example, there's the burden that companies carry when they 279 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: go all in on a certain system. This is how 280 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 1: we get what we call legacy systems. So let's use 281 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: a hypothetical picture to understand this, all right, So we've 282 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: got this business um, and this business company does business 283 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: e stuff in the business world in the nineteen sixties, 284 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: and the company decides to purchase a brand new computer 285 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: system in order to run certain critical operations. That's going 286 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: to free up people so that they only have to 287 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: work an hour a day, at least, that's what we 288 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: all believe back in the day. It turns out that 289 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: work will fill up all the available hours, even if 290 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: we offload some of the workload to machines. Anyway, the 291 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: company's processes lean very heavily on this new technology. Some 292 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: of it's automated. All these different special proprietary programs have 293 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: been written, and these very key functions are moved onto 294 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 1: this machine. Now, meanwhile, the company grows and expands, It 295 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: adds to its services, it invests in new systems, but 296 00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: in an effort to be as efficient as possible the 297 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: but it continues to rely on this older computer system 298 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: to run that certain group of mission critical processes because 299 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: building a comparable new system to handle those tasks and 300 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: then migrating everything over to the new system would be 301 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: costly and time consuming. So time goes on. Now we're 302 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,919 Speaker 1: at a point where modern systems aren't compatible with the 303 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: older one at all, but we still need to run 304 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: those those old processes. They're still part of our business. 305 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: We might even be at a point where no one 306 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: on staff really has the knowledge that the company had 307 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: relied upon in the past. So building a new version 308 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: of the old system is even harder because no one 309 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: remembers how the old one was built. Right, You have 310 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: this loss of knowledge over time. This does happen in companies, 311 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: so then the company continues to try and support the 312 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: old computer system, now an ancient computer system that's running 313 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: this original process because those processes are still important to 314 00:18:57,160 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: the business, and the company really has to scramble whenever 315 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: the old computer system breaks down. And all things breakdown 316 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,920 Speaker 1: over time, gosh darn it entropy, so this is not easy. 317 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: By now, the company that produced the original computer system 318 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: might be out of business, or maybe it is in business, 319 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: but it's long stop supporting that piece of equipment, so 320 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 1: you have no one to turn to when things go 321 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: wrong in that case. Now, this happens all the time, 322 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 1: particularly for companies that have to build out really customized 323 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: systems to handle stuff that might be unique to that 324 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: one company. So every time they upgrade their processes or 325 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,360 Speaker 1: their systems, management has to decide whether or not they 326 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: should invest even more money to migrate stuff off of 327 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: old platforms or just to keep relying on the old ones. 328 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: And sometimes the idea of migration really feels like you're 329 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,159 Speaker 1: reinventing the wheel. So it kind of is hard to 330 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: go to different stakeholders in the company and say, hey, guys, 331 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: I know we've already done this, but we kind of 332 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: need to do it again in on this new system 333 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:05,680 Speaker 1: so that we can operate with fewer risks, and invariably 334 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,880 Speaker 1: someone's going to say, well, what's wrong with the old one? Now? 335 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 1: The same thing holds true for tons of individual consumers 336 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 1: to One of the things that always blows my mind 337 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,479 Speaker 1: is when I look at the market share for various 338 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: versions of the Windows operating system. Now, I know I'm 339 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: talking about software in this case rather than hardware, but 340 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: software does relate back to hardware because one of the 341 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: issues is as operating systems get more complex, they require 342 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: more advanced hardware to run. That means if you are 343 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,679 Speaker 1: stuck with an older computer, right you can't afford to 344 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: buy a new one, maybe you don't have access to 345 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: a new one. You could be in a part of 346 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: the world where you have an old computer and that's 347 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: that's as good as it's going to be for you. Well, 348 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: you have no real access to newer operating systems because 349 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: your hardware isn't capable of running them, so you're stuck 350 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: on the older models. I decided I wanted to look 351 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: at the distribution of current Windows market share on desktop computers. 352 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: So more than eight of those computers are still using 353 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: Windows ten. I should remind you that's not the latest 354 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: version of Windows, but it is by far the most 355 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 1: popular version out there. However, point four nine per cent 356 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 1: of desktop systems are still using Windows XP. Now, I 357 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: know point for nine is tiny, it's literally less than 358 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: half a percentage point, but keep in mind Windows XP 359 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: first came out in two thousand one, more than twenty 360 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: years ago, and Microsoft ended all support for the operating 361 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: system back in. That means there have been no patches, 362 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: no updates for about eight years, and there are a 363 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: whole bunch of reasons why that means sticking with Windows 364 00:21:54,640 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: XP is a bad thing. Interestingly, there's still more folks 365 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: using Windows XP then there are using Windows Vista. Windows 366 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: Vista accounts for just point one nine of all desktop 367 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: Windows machines, and Vista came out in two thousand seven. 368 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: It was actually meant to be the successor to Windows XP. 369 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: So you see how that went. All right, I'm gonna 370 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,399 Speaker 1: be ranting a little bit longer, but actually probably get 371 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: a drink, so we're gonna take another quick break. Okay, 372 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: before the break, my point was that people rely on 373 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,320 Speaker 1: computers running on Windows XP no longer have support for 374 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: that operating system. Microsoft does not support it anymore, and 375 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: any vulnerabilities in the operating system are going to stay 376 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: there no matter what. There's no hope of the security patch. Now, 377 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: you could argue that because the market share is so 378 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: low that so relatively so few people are actually using 379 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: Windows XP, no one would really bother to try and 380 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 1: exploit a vulnerability that's there anyway, because the target population 381 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: would be too small to make it worth your while. 382 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: In other words, you could create malware, but you would 383 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: be hitting so few people. What would be the point that? 384 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: That is a an argument security through obscurity, But when 385 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: companies in support, it means folks can be left without options. 386 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: And I want to be clear, I am not saying 387 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: that companies are obligated to continue to provide support, and 388 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: definitely that would be unreasonable and frankly impossible unless we 389 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: all just collectively said, yeah, we're good, we don't we 390 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,119 Speaker 1: don't need things to be any better than how they 391 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: are right now. And you know that doesn't sound likely. 392 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 1: So it's more that I just want folks to be 393 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: aware of these consequences, that these things happen, and to 394 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 1: plan for that, to take that into account. So let's 395 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: relate this back to that right to repair movement. So 396 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: another reason it's so in hordnant to have the right 397 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:05,360 Speaker 1: to repair is because companies can and do in support 398 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: for certain products, whether they are hardware or software. Sometimes 399 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: the company does this by choice because they want to 400 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: focus on newer products. Sometimes it's by necessity because the 401 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: company might just go out of business so there's no 402 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: one left to provide support. But then, what happens if 403 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: you depend upon that company's older product. What if that's 404 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: critical to your business. Well, for small stuff, it could 405 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: be an annoyance, right, maybe a tiny hardship for you 406 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: to go out and find a replacement. But let's think 407 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: about bigger things, like massive pieces of equipment or more critically, 408 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: medical gear. So first let's talk about heavy equipment. So 409 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 1: some of the most passionate folks in the right to 410 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: repair movement are farmers. They want the ability to do 411 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: maintenance and repair on farming equipment, which they rely upon 412 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: for their livelihoods and which, due to heavy use, can 413 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: frequently require maintenance and repair by companies like John Deere 414 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: have essentially locked away the ability to make those kinds 415 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: of repairs so that you can only do them if 416 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: you have the access and tools to do them, and 417 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: John Dear reserves that access to licensed repair shops and dealerships. 418 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,400 Speaker 1: That means if you are a farmer and your equipment 419 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: breaks down, you can't fix it yourself. You have to 420 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: take that to one of these licensed entities to get 421 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: work done. You probably won't have many options in certain regions, 422 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 1: which also means you're going to get locked into whatever 423 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: the price to repair the thing is right at that place. 424 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,360 Speaker 1: You can't shop around. In the words, you can't say, oh, well, 425 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,480 Speaker 1: this repair shop gave me a quote of X thousand dollars, 426 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,439 Speaker 1: let me go ask this other one. You might not 427 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: have those options. So it's the very definition of anti competitiveness. 428 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: But what if John Deer were to go out of 429 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: business entirely. Now, that's not likely to happen, but let's 430 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: assume that it did for some reason. If the equipment 431 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,440 Speaker 1: is all locked down with proprietary systems, and if there's 432 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: no way to increase access to those systems, then that 433 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: equipment is obsolete. That doesn't mean the equipment is just 434 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: going to spontaneously stop working, but does mean it's living 435 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: on borrowed time. If a formerly licensed repair shop goes 436 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,679 Speaker 1: out of business in a region, that could mean that 437 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: the farmers in that area have no local options when 438 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 1: it comes to maintenance and repair, which would put additional 439 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: hardships on the farmers. So you can see how obsolescence 440 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: paired with a proprietary approach to repair can be really harmful. Now, 441 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,720 Speaker 1: the whole reason I decided to dedicate an episode to 442 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: this is I read a very upsetting piece in the 443 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: I E E E Spectrum and it's titled their Bionic 444 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: Eyes are Now Obsolete and Unsupported, which like science fiction, 445 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: but it is science fact. The piece covers the story 446 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 1: of how a company called Second Site Medical Products developed 447 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 1: retinal implant systems that could restore some site actually not 448 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: even really restore, but provide digital vision to visually impaired 449 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: and blind people. It is not ultra high definition resolution 450 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: images or anything like that, but it would provide some 451 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: visual capabilities to people who otherwise would be living without them. 452 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: And by some I mean there were a couple of 453 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: different models. The first one had sixteen pixels a vision. 454 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: So imagine that your vision consists of sixteen blocks, and 455 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: those blocks can either be white, gray, or black. That's 456 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: kind of what people were experiencing. UH. The follow up 457 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: to that had sixty pixels, so a better resolution, nothing 458 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: close to what we experience with typical human site, but 459 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: ill better than nothing, in fact, significantly better than nothing 460 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 1: if you're using it to help navigate your environment, avoid obstacles, 461 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. But in this company, Second Site 462 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: was teetering towards bankruptcy and ended support for its Argus 463 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: line of retinal implants, which meant that if a recipient's 464 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 1: implant began to fail, there was no way. There's no support, 465 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: there's no support to address a failure, the recipient would 466 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: become technologically blind. And again, the implants did not just 467 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: all spontaneously fail once the company got into trouble, but 468 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: as problems would come up for a person, that person 469 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: found they had few options available to them. Here's another example. 470 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: Because of the elements in these implants, you couldn't go 471 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: and get an m r I done because mr I 472 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: uses very powerful magnetic fields and elements in the implants 473 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: could end up being damaged. It could end up damaging 474 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: the patient, it could damage the m r I equipment. 475 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: So before you ever got an MRI I done, you 476 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: were supposed to contact the company and talk with them 477 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: about this possibility, but with the company in financial turmoil 478 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: and ending support, there was no answer on the other 479 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: end of the line. So it wasn't just that the 480 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: technology was failing, but that when other things were cropping up, 481 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: like health issues, there was no way to chat with 482 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 1: the company and work out an approach. So it gave 483 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: very few options available to the people who had received 484 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: one of these retinal implants. They could have the implant 485 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: surgically removed, but that process is obviously an invasive process. 486 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 1: It's expensive and potentially quite painful. Typically, these implant surgeries 487 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: are done under local and esthetic, not like general So 488 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: for many of us, when our tech goes obsolete, it 489 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: creates an inconvenience. You know, it could be a significant 490 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: in inconveni It's depending on how far in you were. 491 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,480 Speaker 1: Like if you were one of the people who bought 492 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: an HD DVD player and bought an entire library of 493 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: HD DVDs, thinking this is the future of video. When 494 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: HD DVD went under, you're probably a little frustrated that 495 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: you were stuck with this library. It was never going 496 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: to expand beyond what you had, and if your player 497 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: breaks down, it's kind of game over. But when we're 498 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: talking about medical technology, this goes well beyond that. It 499 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,479 Speaker 1: becomes a real impact on quality of life or perhaps 500 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: even the ability to live. It can be a life 501 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: or death matter, depending upon the technology. Second Site, by 502 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 1: the way, held a public offering in one This was 503 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: essentially an effort to raise more funds and to pursue 504 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: the development of a new brain implant system called Orion, 505 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,959 Speaker 1: which is that the company has a very limited kind 506 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: of pilot program where they have the Orion system. Now, 507 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: the Orion is not a retinal implant, it's a brain implant. 508 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: It's also meant to provide artificial vision to recipients, so 509 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: it is a vision system, but it involves a brain implant. 510 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: So if you think a retinal implant is a risky 511 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: thing to remove, imagine having a brain implant where you've 512 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: had something surgically implanted into your brain and the company 513 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:23,360 Speaker 1: responsible for the technology is potentially going out of business. 514 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: That is terrifying. So for the six people who received 515 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: the Ryan implant so far, one has already chosen to 516 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: have it surgically removed, which could not have been an 517 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: easy decision. Second Site, the company continued to struggle. The 518 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: initial share price of Second Site when it had its 519 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: public offering was five dollars per share, but in February, 520 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: like this month, the price had fallen down to a 521 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: dollar fifty per share. The founders pretty much all left, 522 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: like all the leadership had stepped down, almost all the 523 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: employees were laid off, almost all the equipment had sold 524 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 1: off at auction. And now what remains of Second Sight 525 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: is merging with a company called Nano Precision Medical. And 526 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: there's still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Argus 527 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: and Orion products. So the question like, is the merged 528 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: company going to restore support for the argus retinal implants. 529 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,000 Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to that, although I feel 530 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 1: like there's an ethical obligation to do so. But again, 531 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: we're not talking about whether or not your smartphone can 532 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: support you know, the latest OS here, we're talking about 533 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: actual vision. The Second Site story also reminds us of 534 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: the importance of standardization. There are other companies out there 535 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,959 Speaker 1: in the biomedical space. They're creating text that can provide 536 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: digital vision to the blind, but it's not as simple 537 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: as someone with a failing argus to retinal implant going 538 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: to a competing biotech company and getting a tune up. Right, 539 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: They can't just swap out parts. These are all proprietary approaches, 540 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: sometimes fundamentally different approaches to try and get the similar result. 541 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: And I feel the second site story really illustrates the 542 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: risks involved in adopting a technology. Now, if the payoff 543 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: for that technology is significant enough, like if we're talking 544 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: about a return of vision, you can convincingly argue to 545 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: me that the risk is worth it. Right, that risking 546 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: the possibility that the company that creates the tech could 547 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: go under and you are left with technology that has 548 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: a limited lifespan that might still be worth it to you. 549 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: I think that has to come down to the individual. 550 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: But I feel that this does help us frame what 551 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,600 Speaker 1: we should be thinking about when we evaluate any company's products. 552 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: And the more critical the product is, the more closely 553 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: we should look at the company, and it behooves us 554 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 1: to ask really tough questions like what happens if that 555 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: company should go out of business. We're looking at all 556 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: these companies talking about the metaverse right now, with some 557 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,720 Speaker 1: of them offering up virtual real estate in virtual environments, Well, 558 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: one of the questions I ask is how likely are 559 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 1: those environments to survive long enough for whatever the metaverse 560 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: ends up being to really be a real thing, you know, 561 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: not just bits and pieces Star Citizens style, but an actual, full, 562 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: cohesive and coherent thing or many things in the case 563 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: of multiple metaverses or whatever. If you don't feel like 564 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,959 Speaker 1: that one company is going to last the test of time, 565 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: it makes no sense to buy virtual real estate that 566 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,759 Speaker 1: the company is providing, because those servers may just not 567 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: even be on by the time there's anything useful to 568 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: do in the metaverse. So that's something that I'm seeing 569 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,360 Speaker 1: right now, Like that's a Those are questions that I 570 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: think a lot of people need to be asking themselves 571 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,359 Speaker 1: before they start getting into this virtual gold rush of 572 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: the met to verse and web three and all that stuff. So, yeah, 573 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:07,120 Speaker 1: this episode covered a lot of ground, but it really 574 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: all comes back to taking that big picture look when 575 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: it comes to our relationship with technology. I feel it's 576 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,879 Speaker 1: our responsibility to to do that every now and then 577 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: to step back and to understand what our love of 578 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,840 Speaker 1: tech means not just to ourselves, but to each other 579 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 1: and to our environment and two people in other parts 580 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 1: of the world. We need to be aware and understand 581 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: that so that we make decisions that make sense and 582 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: we're not just buying the next new shiny thing because 583 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 1: it's newer and shinier than the stuff we already have, 584 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: and maybe taking a little more care when it comes 585 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 1: to adopting text so we can make the price we 586 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: pay actually worth it. Right. What if you go out 587 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: and spend a couple of thousand dollars investing into technology 588 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,600 Speaker 1: and the whole thing goes could put It's not just 589 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:01,800 Speaker 1: that you lost a couple of thousand dollars, which is 590 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:05,680 Speaker 1: already a big deal, but all those other prices that 591 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: are paid throughout the supply chain, the environmental price, all 592 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,839 Speaker 1: these things like that's part of it too. And that's 593 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:17,560 Speaker 1: why I think it's good to take this critical thinking 594 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 1: and compassionate approach to approaching tech. Uh. And you know, 595 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: I'm someone who uses a lot of tech myself. I've 596 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,960 Speaker 1: got a smartphone, I've got a couple of different computers, 597 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,640 Speaker 1: I've got a television, and you know, various components connected 598 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: to it. So I am I am part of the 599 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:37,319 Speaker 1: system too. I'm not saying this is some sort of 600 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:43,479 Speaker 1: techno hermit who has decided to stand away from any 601 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 1: technology whatsoever. I'm just trying to make it more of 602 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,480 Speaker 1: my process to take these sort of things into full 603 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: consideration before I jump in on stuff. I feel like 604 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,479 Speaker 1: it's the responsible thing to do as a consumer. All Right, 605 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,759 Speaker 1: that's it for this episode. I'm gonna jump down off 606 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: the soapbox. It's feeling like it's a little tall for me. 607 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: And if you have suggestions for topics I should cover 608 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 1: in future episodes of tech Stuff, please reach out to 609 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: me on Twitter. The handle for the show is text 610 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: stuff H s W and I'll talk to you again 611 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:24,880 Speaker 1: really soon. Y. Tech Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 612 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 613 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 614 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:32,240 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.