There is a smear afoot that casts people (like me) who do not like what falls under the vague rubric of “technology” as Luddites. The term refers to people who – summoning Websters – “organized to destroy manufacturing machinery between 1811 and 1816 to protest the displacement of skilled labor, wage reductions and poor working conditions caused by industrialization.”
That is not quite the same thing as what is suggested about people such as myself.
I very much like indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water, electricity and refrigeration, to mention just a few. I also love cars, especially my 1976 Trans-Am. What I do not like is a refrigerator that does more than just keep my food cold. I do not like “smart” refrigerators that connect to the Internet, or that have LCD touchscreens or other such unnecessary electronic affectations that do not make a refrigerator cool better or or cost less and last longer.
The same goes for washing machines. I like clean clothes and I like not having to wash clothes by hand. The washing machines made 30 and 40 years ago did this work superlatively. New washing machines often do not wash as well – or last as long. They have electronic displays and controls rather than simple, durable mechanical controls and no displays. I don’t need a display.
I need clean clothes.
I also like a washing machine – and dryer – that still works fine even though it was bought 30 years ago. This used to be generally true about home appliances. People like me who were kids in the ’70s and ’80s grew up, went to college and came back home to visit and the same washer and drier that mom and dad bought in the ’70s and ’80s was still washing and drying in the ’90s and 2000s. If you were there, you remember. Today’s overteched appliances might last five years. Then one day a chip or fails and it’s not worth replacing because the cost is half as much as a new appliance and it’ll probably just glitch again. So you throw it away and buy – probably on credit – a new over-teched appliance to replace it.
Hot and cold running water is a marvelous thing. I have no interest in building a wood fire to heat a tub of water in order to get myself clean. But I have little (make that no) interest in “technology” that decides how much hot water I’m allowed to use or how hot the water gets. Just as I do not want a toilet that doesn’t flush what I deposit in it without multiple flushes. Toilets worked better in the pre-tech past than they do now. Perhaps you have noticed – and also that this is true in general. Car AC systems used to work better, too – in that they got much colder (and much faster) when they used freon (R12) to cool you down. Compressors got smaller and the refrigerant used cooled less effectively. Am I a Luddite for preferring the meat chiller cold of my ’76 Trans-Am’s Freon using AC system to the merely cool breeze generated by the AC systems of the new cars I test drive?
How about preferring that the AC in my TA is controlled by a mechanical (slide) interface rather than tap/swipe icons on an LCD screen? Does a tap/swipe interface cool any better or offer any functional advantage? I can manually move the slide from warmer to cooler faster than you just read that sentence. It’s a positive interface that’s intuitively superior in that moving the slide from left to right (from cooler to warmer) is something the brain and finger registers more easily than tapping an icon to do the same, which requires watching while you’re doing it because the absence of feel – of left or right motion – provides no feedback. The mechanical slide and similarly simple switches and buttons are inherently much more durable, too – and if they do fail, they are inherently inexpensive to repair or replace. A power window controlled by a body control module is not. 
I prefer metal keys over push-button ignition, too – because I don’t find it a chore to insert a metal key into a lock. Also, I like that metal keys are (once again) much more durable than keyless (electronic) fobs and (once again) far less expensive to replace if you ever need to. I could go on.
Is it Ludditism to prefer simpler, less expensive, more reliable – and less intrusive – over more complex (without meaningful benefit), more expensive, less reliable and more intrusive?
Has the smartphone improved our lives over the corded wall phone? The latter could not make calls from outside the house – unless you had a really long cord – but it lasted for decades and (this is really important) it stayed in the house so that when you left the house, you were looking at the world rather than staring at a screen. Kids played outside. Today, they tap and swipe inside. Social media has gutted socialization. “Customer service” means responding to AI voice prompts like a bipedal Pavlovian dog. We are watched by inhuman eyes everywhere we go.
The Unabomber – if you remember him – warned us about “technology” in extremis. Meaning, “technology” that develops beyond making ours lives easier and instead, making our lives more exasperating (as well as expensive and unreliable). In other words, “technology” for its own sake.
We are – as the sign on the wall says – there.
Frank Herbert, who wrote the Dune series, also foresaw what would happen to us when “thinking machines” replaced thinking humans. In the novel, human beings revolted against the thinking machines. These humans were not Luddites. They used technology. But they understood that technology can get out of hand and when it does, it is not Ludditism (neo or otherwise) to rise up and smash those machines.
. . .
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 who do not like what falls under the vague rubric of "technology" as Luddites.){kind=link}
Yep, I’ve been a “neo-luddite” for a long time now
Why you must be a neo-Luddite to hear an actual live vocal performance:
‘Auto-Tune, a Kleenex-type word that originally referred to one proprietary software but has become a blanket term for pitch correction technology, has been around since the late 1990s, with live application available beginning in the 2010s.
‘Catherine Provenzano, an assistant professor of musicology at U.C.L.A., said that “you can bet that any high-profile live performance since then has had somebody working live sound with Auto-Tune on it.”
‘The singer JoJo asserted, “The standard for live singing isn’t human anymore.”
The two largest factors at play, she said, were live Auto-Tune and prerecorded vocals. Lalah Hathaway said that, to her, using Auto-Tune is like “sanding off your fingerprint.”
‘Old-school divas like Etta James or Aretha Franklin were never 100 percent on the center of pitch,” Ada Vox said, “but nobody cared because everything else was also raw and live, and it worked.”’ — NYT
https://archive.ph/RJ7Xf#selection-4511.354-4515.144
Fake and gay: even right in front of your eyes, after you paid $750 for a front-row seat, it’s still fake and gay. Smash the black boxes.
There’s a Youtube guy who does have pitch perfect hearing and does analysis on who’s using auto tune and to what extent.
He’s a working pro and seems to have the opinion that having some help when live isn’t all evil. It’s tough on singer’s voices doing shows night after night. You’re bound to miss a note or have tired cords. So if it helps them preserve their voice it’s inevitable. He calls out those who have genuinely good voices and those who rely solely on pitch correction. You can’t necessarily make a terrible singer good with it, you have to have phrasing, timing and be pitch close for it not to sound robotic and synthesized.
Blame the business side, too. Back in the old days a musician didn’t have to tour relentlessly and constantly hawk merch to make money. Their record sales and air play made them decent money. Their residencies and tours were human-scale. They’d write into the contracts days off to rest their voices.
Using it on recording is absolutely cheating. There’s no reason a good singer can’t rest their voice and prepare for a session.
Morning, Anon –
I agree with all yours points. That said, though, it’s cheesy and then some to see a major headliner such as Vince Neil from Motley Crue cheating – because why does he need to do that? I mean, does he even need to perform – at all? If he’s spent all the money he had then he’s an idiot and it’s sad to see him begging for money, basically. If he is just greedy for more money, then he’s not an artist anymore. He’s just a greedhead out to fleece his audience.
If I were him I’d do a couple of shows every now and then just for fun – and not because I was desperate to extract some more shekels.
Hi Jim, I think David Lee Roth must have cheapened out and forgot to pay for auto-tune. Most of his recent shows indicate an almost total loss of singing skill.
Hi Bill,
It depresses me to see David Lee Roth “perform” nowadays. He was never a great singer but he was (when he was young) the best frontman, arguably, that ever was. He can’t do the physical stuff he used to be able to do and he’s also a bald, toothless old man with bad hips and other maladies. He can’t help that. None of us can help aging. But now that he can’t “front” the way he used to – and now that he looks like the old man he is – it only magnifies that he can’t sing, either.
A time comes when it’s time to leave the stage. If Dave had Sammy’s voice, he could do what Sammy can still do. But Dave isn’t Sammy.
Our church’s praise team uses software called Live Professor. It can do many things, like emulate effects. But it is mainly used for autotune. I get it, they aren’t professional singers, but one thing that makes church choirs sound nice is that smearing of pitches across a large number of people.
Yo Sparkey,
I believe the last time I heard genuine “unfiltered music” was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (2015) sitting in a pew as they practiced (for free)…….in, guess what city.
Incredible!
My washer, dryer, and fridge by Whirlpool are still working fine after 30 years or so, all mechanical. Unfortunately the dishwasher (also Whirlpool) had the first version of a push button electronic timer that got fried, and I couldn’t find a replacement anywhere since it was so old: it killed me to throw out the entire thing since the guts – motor, copper windings, etc. we’re pristine. Yeah that’s “sustainable”. The Frigidaire freezer in the basement might be almost as old as I am, bought it used shortly after buying our house in 1974. Only crapped out one time and was an inexpensive repair – replace the starting capacitor on the compressor motor. Murphy’s Law not being repealed this happened while we were away on vacation so had to toss a lot of spoiled food but it has saved us a ton of money over the years by being able to stock up on meat when it’s at a good sale price. Especially useful now so I can load it with beef before it becomes unaffordable or contaminated, thanks to the Orange A-hole.
I repaired a simple little fridge twice via you tube instructions same thing the starter and then later, the mechanical thermostat. The thermostat was a slightly different model number but fit and functioning like the original with the dial mounting flat in the same position. The only difference I noticed was a longer sensor line not a problem just made a loop & tucked it away. $40 in parts via Amazon vs $200 or more for a new mini fridge.
The key takeaway from the second YouTube guy: If the fridge has been working properly for two years or more, it’s worth repairing as that means the coolant lines are intact/not leaking. Good bet it’s a starter or thermostat problem. YEP!
The guts, about 10 years ago read an article about fridge compressor sourcing. Like car batteries, 3 manufacturers but compressors all overseas. Hopefully you get a fridge with a ‘middle of the bell curve’ or better, built compressor. Same cheap ass guts in the $800 basic as the $3000 joke with the touchscreen.
Speaking of guts. Found out my spendy Daiken HVAC system actually shares parts with Goodman, the basic builder grade outfit they bought out in 2012. Both the furnace and the AC unit have had the fan motors replaced in the first year, “Goodman” on the motor labels. For all the air movement racket the advertised “silent Daiken” makes I should have bought just another builder grade system like was installed when built in 2003. POS Daiken.
We have an older kenmore fridge/freezer going on twenty years old. It was in a house we bought. Have replaced the ice maker, which is so easy and cheap. Also makes more Ice better than any 3-5K$ model. If you have an RO feeding some of these newer fancy connected models the ice maker doesn’t work well.
Even the basic appliances now have aggravations. The LG fridge bought in 2013 made it two years, became borderline cooling. Repair guy “coolant leak, it’s about done for, and sorry to say that leak is somewhere not accessible- you have a $1200 boat anchor”. “Also no LG, no Samsung – garbage!” Replaced with a Kitchen Aid. POS came with a misfit duct in the freezer. Repair guy comes out, not fixable the attach points in the structure mis located & cannot be redrilled. Back that goes after one week.
Bought a plain Jane no ice maker, no nothing side by side. (Kenmore / Whirlpool). It works! However, can’t just have the interior light on/off with a simple switch. Oh no, must have “opera lighting” via electronic board controlled LEDs. That lasted just past the warranty. Whirlpool factory board $150, aftermarket about $80. That lasted another year. Rinse repeat. Finally found a replacement just the LEDs, no “opera” fade on. Works fine, I don’t give a F that the light is instant on instead of slow on. This is the BS they design in, even in the simplest stuff.
Morning Sparkey.
For what it’s worth I’m using an old Goldstar microwave made in 1987. Goldstar became Lucky Goldstar then LG.
Why am I using it? Because the newer one made in 1989 broke (probably the cooling fan). Sometimes stuff just keeps working and you keep using it.
Eric speaks of reliability — like the 35-year-old Maytag washer ‘n dryer, and the 30-year-old Briggs & Stratton lawn mower, that I sold with the house when I fled BAMA [the Boston Altlanta Metro Area]. For all I know, those appliances are still humming along today!
An important aspect of robustness is NOT centralizing systems. ‘Smart’ appliances patently violate this rule, by adding new failure modes. Just yesterday I posted an article about how a flight system glitch at Heathrow airport managed to shut down elevators and send the baggage claims into chaos.
Chipped autos are the same: when they glitch, multiple systems can be affected. And it’s not as if you could figure this out with a wiring diagram: trail-and-failure is how you learn what a busted black box does.
My neo-Luddite tribe is the Lo-Teks: an anti-technology subculture of guerrilla information outcasts living in the rafters and suspension cables of the Sprawl’s massive geodesic domes. Our sacred arena is a corrugated metal plate hooked up to synthesizers and amplifiers that boom with electronic rhythms during ritual combat with our deadly enemies, the AI coders.
Howdy, I’m Jimmy Mnemonic — pleased to meetcha! 🙂
“So you throw it away and buy – probably on credit – a new over-teched appliance to replace it.”
What you’ve just described is a self inflicted financial wound.
Life is hard, it’s a lot harder if you are stupid.
Hi “Barney” –
I agree – in principle. That said, what can you do when an $800 circuit board fails in your $1,500 ‘fridge?
Get on Craigslist and go buy a used – old school serviceable appliance for cash.
Just recently bought a late 80s refrigerator for $99. Works great.
Will likely last another decade or two.
Life is all about creating options for yourself.
Absolutely, “Betty”!
But – you realize this is the Cuba Solution, right? It’s outrageous that we’re effectively forced to make do with old stuff because the new stuff is overpriced crap.
You lost me.
It’s bad to buy used with cash – why? What does Cuba Solution mean? Used is the better environmental solution vs putting it in a landfill just because it’s old. Is it the Cuba Solution to drive a 76 Trans AM?
You don’t like what’s offered as new but don’t want to buy used either. So what’s your proposed solution? I mean it’s one thing to bring up the point you’ve raised A it’s 100% valid. But at the end of the day what is the solution?
The appliance industry is probably one of the least regulated manufacturing sectors. Why not start building new appliances to your liking? No one has forced microprocessors, IOT connectivity, and app interfaces into appliances via explicit regulation. No one has legislated reduced quality and shorter product lifecycle.
As RG has written, there are still appliances like Speed Queen washers & dryers that are built to a standard and are still analog controlled. They actually command a price premium for the old school approach.
Save up cash and buy one of those. Or spend $100 and buy serviceable used.
But at the end of the day, debt for appliances is a financial wound of one’s own making.
Eric, a little side note on those boards. One of the trasnmitters at a radio station I maintain had a controller board failing…it is just a proprietary ATX style computer mother board, Circa 2004 with specific programming: FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Morning, Bill!
Yikes! Though it’s not much better when it comes to ‘fridges. It’s common for these to list for $2,500 or more. For a refrigerator! No wonder so many of us are broke!
Hi Eric, I got lucky, in that when I finally had to replace the dryer, I bought this as-dumb-as-I-could-find dryer on sale, two hundred bucks off. And, the store actually delivered to me, which is not always the case. For another hundred bucks, the guys who installed my new dryer hauled off my old one, which was worth every penny. In the end, I paid around $700 bucks instead of $900 (including the $100 haul-away fee for the old one) due to the store having a sale. Now as for how long this “as-dumb-as-I-could-find” dryer lasts, is the million dollar question. No pun intended.
Excellent, Shadow!
Some good news to start the day!
And to top it off, here is one quote from this site that I loved. Again, I apologize, I do not know who (screen name) of the one who posted this, but thank you, because it still makes me chuckle, for how very true it is!
I want to buy a new car that cost twice what my first house cost and is worth less than half of what I paid for it within two years. I want to buy a new car that is too complicated for me to do the most basic maintenance. I want to buy a new car loaded down with “safety” items I do not want. I want to buy a new car with a $1,500.00 headlamp assembly because a $15.00 sealed beam is no longer useful….
….said no one ever
Silicon became cheaper to manufacture than electromechanical appliance timers. A rotating program disk or drum requires mechanical precision. A microcontroller does not, at least once it gets to the production line. A silicon wafer can produce hundreds or even thousands of microcontrollers at a time, and the process for getting them into a useful package is almost completely automated. The actual product that engineers use to produce a controller circuit board might cost as little as $0.08 in bulk. And instead of needing to worry about the apes down on the production line twisting the assembly when they tack weld or rivet it in place, the board is going to be flexible enough to take some abuse.
At first it was enough to just replicate the functions of the rotating disk. But the chips got more power, and eventually someone took a look at all that unused ROM and extra machine cycles, and thought they could add features. So they told marketing to come up with features. Marketing couldn’t think of anything useful, so they went with “Your fridge will tell you when the milk’s running low.”
I’m not against automation, and certainly appreciate getting an alert when my freezer is thawing out or my basement is flooding. But I really don’t need the “in your face” features that are really just gimmicks to show off at CES. And not at the expense of reliability.
The other real problem is that efficiency has become a marketing feature. Not “oh, and it uses less electricity,” more like “This water heater uses an air conditioner to heat water, because moving heat is cheaper than producing it.” Okay, that’s great (I guess) if you have an all-electric house. But my gas bill is nothing compared to my electric bill with a gas water heater and gas boiler. I can’t imagine what I’d be paying to heat my house and water with electricity. Not only that but the net energy consumed is greater with electricity since most of my electricity grid is powered by natural gas anyway. So fine. Install a “super efficient” air conditioning water heater, at least it will keep the garage cool in the summer, right? But they take ages to heat water. So you have to upsize them. Hope you have enough space in the mechanical room. They draw heat from the room, which is fine in the summer, but when it’s -20ºF and your boiler (well, heat pump since we’re going for maximum efficiency), is running all day, where’s that heat coming from? And it blows out cold air, compounding the problem.
Can’t get something for nothing.
They push those ridiculous heat pump hot water heaters here in WA. I looked up recovery rates. 40-55 GPH for a gas unit. 8-12 for a ‘hybrid’ unit operating in heat pump mode, 20-25 when in pump plus elements mode which is the same as an electric resistance unit. They never mention this in the Puget Sound Energy propaganda nor how long will that hot water heat pump last beating its guts out all day? No thanks
Maytag repairman at “work”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZempUhZ_5L4
I actually called a Maytag appliance repairman, circa 2010 after the company began to degenerate.
The look on his face as he came down the stairs and espied my 1979 vintage washer ‘n dryer was priceless: he burst into laughter, as if I’d parked a Model T down there. ‘You think I can get parts for this?’ he guffawed., slapping his knee.
He couldn’t, but I could. DIY saves the day! Now I’m studying rocket science on Youtube.
I always look for the lowest tech and usually cheapest appliances. I tried the fancier, pricier ones and none of them lasted.
Unfortunately, it is getting very difficult to find simple appliances anymore, which I don’t understand. Are rheostats and switch buttons more expensive than computer boards?
Hi Dan,
Speed Queen makes an excellent washer. Miele makes a good dishwasher and vacuum cleaner, but you are right the majority of appliances manufactured today won’t last more than a few years. I still have my 25 year old Kenmore refrigerator and my old 28 year old Hamilton Beach hand mixer that I bought when I left home. I am still bummed I didn’t take my grandmother’s 1967 GE refrigerator when she sold her home a few years ago.
I wish I had the insight to realize how crappy most things would become.
Ditto on the speed Queen washer. I bought one 4 years ago after that POS Samsung (hi-tech) washer bit the dust after 2 years. And….and the Speed Queen has a real agitator and optional water saver setting if so choose to use it. It’s the best $1,800 I’ve ever spent.
Seven years in on the Speed Queen washer. There was a short span when they went “tech” fortunately went back to their old mechanical guts. HOWEVER the one I bought my daughter three years ago no longer has a pure mechanical timer. A computer runs the thing, sigh.
Another plus for a mechanical timer, you can interrupt cycles, shorten, add an extra spin anytime you want. Stainless steel drum ensures a forever machine. A porcelain drum eventually gets rough and starts the cuff and collar frays.
One glitch in their dryers, the drum support rollers flat spot so the initial startup = thump thump thump for about 1/2 a minute.
I look forward to buying only used and repaired appliances in the future. Keep repair shops open and techs working.
Speed Queen for the win on washers and dryers, all mechanical and made in the USA!!! Ours is 18 years old and runs just like the day it was plugged in.
We had some maytag/whirlpool appliances that were from the late 80’s/early 90s, that worked fine but wife “had” to replace them when kids came along.
The washer was a 1st generation push-button circuit board “smart washer”, that broke 3-4 times yearly, we could never count on making thru a cycle without needing a reset, and we maxed out the warranty/service plan with Sears. Every repair guy was , yea, these are the worst ones we’ve ever made and we get called out regularly to repair. After 3 years of frustration, I researched the best washer to get, and we finally broke down and got a speed queen. The dryer we got with crappy washer, we just leave on one setting and it still gimps along.
Buy once, cry once! Its literally been as reliable as Granite. It’s done thousands of loads with the only maintenance being running a cleaning solution thru it. Its one of the most appreciated assets I’ve ever acquired.
Good luck, y’all, we’re gonna need it!!
I’ll probably inherit my folks appliances when they go, and they’ll be worth their weight in gold probably., LOL.
YMMV…
Hi Dan, my friend moved back here after her husband died. In the ten years or so she has been back, she has replaced her refrigerator already, which was a Samsung brand. I have been warned by friends that Samsung and LG cannot make appliances worth buying, because they do not last. Oh, how I wish these fools took to heart the saying that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. Apparently, these companies have decided, instead, to see how much money they can squeeze out of consumers, while at the same time making their products last as little as possible.
I have a “dumb” washer, and after nearly 30 years it still works great. Sadly, my “dumb” dryer finally crapped out a year ago, and after more than 30 years of use. I did manage to find as dumb a dryer as I could find at the store. Whether it lasts 30 years, I have my doubts. It just needs to dry clothes, not give me the weather report. Newer is not always better or improved, Eric, as you have reiterated many times. In a note of irony, who would have thought that those ugly-as-hell, yucky coloured, yellow refrigerators would outlast the new-n-improved ones of today? But hey, you get a touch screen and radio on your refrigerator door! As though that is a great selling selling point. However, all the “connected” appliances also connect to your non-analogue smart meter. So, if you are using too much energy, such appliances will simply be shut down! You know, for the earth and all….
My landlord finally gave up trying to find parts to maintain the Maytag in the laundry room, too old to find parts for.
Off to the laundromat…
My first water heater was installed in 1999 when the house was built. I bought it in 2013 and kept it until 2017 because it was pretty well full of calcium and other minerals. I asked about on-demand water heaters and was quickly talked out of it by the plumber, who gets most of his work these days up valley in Aspen and Snowmass Village. He sold me a pretty nice basic water heater, and told me to just drain off a few gallons every other month “until it runs clear.” I probably need to replace the anode again next year. It will probably last longer than I will. At most I expect I’ll see a failed thermopile some time.
Hi RK,
Which water heater did you end up installing?
We have State Industries water heaters (manufactured by AO Smith) on our properties. It is more of a commercial grade water heater, but they are well made.
Bradford-White. Not the cheapest but I think it’s probably better value than the Home Depot specials. At least it wasn’t dented on arrival.
Hi RK,
Bradford White makes good hot water heaters. Anything the trade guys recommend is usually what I steer toward.
Hi Ready.
I arranged the piping at my hot water to give me an option to reverse the flow in the hot water tank and direct it to the outside wall hydrant. I shut the power supply to the tank off and run the tank till the water is pretty cold then spin a couple valves and it lets me flush the tank continuously whilst also watering my lawn.
Pretty cheap to do if your handy but a decent plumber could get it done in a few hours though.
As with much of computerized “technology” there was a peak around Windows 7 and XP. Since then, it’s been trying to see how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There have been massive changes with little or no discernable improvement.
Also, the more “connected” the less reliable. And that reliability is now dependent on some hacker not being able to get into your stuff. If you’re not connected to the internet that’s a virtual impossibility. If you’re connected it’s a guarantee.
Now it’s all contrived complexity for job security for the “IT” industry.