slade part 3

As we move forward on the road of obsolescence, it begins to take new forms and implications. As technology became more complex the wasteful marketing strategies are masked by the label of technological advancement. Computers began to become smaller and faster every couple months. Even programming and other intellectual products began to be affected within months of their existence.

“In the 1960’s it became possible to describe people’s knowledge, training, and skill sets as victims of obsolescence” (187).

Another phenomenon that began to occur was miniaturization. Consumers began to prefer smaller computers and other electronic devices despite the loss of power and function. This gave companies another dimension to creating their electronics products and they took full advantage of it. They began to create cheaper computers and put them on the market for those who could not afford the top of the line systems, and found their market niche. Business used this opportunity to create a network of computers now known as distributed computing. This involved companies having computers in all their locations to input information and then send it to a mainframe computer located elsewhere. Operations like this increased the demand for cheaper computers and miniaturization began to boom.

“Moore pointed out that the level of an integrated circuit’s complexity had increased in relation to its minimum cost at ‘a rate of roughly a factor of two per year’” (196).

As Moore realized, the development of circuit boards was moving at an astonishing rate, leaving mounds of useless electronics in its path. If we look  back on the history of electronic products on the market, the trend is products became faster and smaller over time. “In the united states, cell phones built to last five years are now retired after only eighteen months of use” (260). As most people in my generation have seen in our short lives, cell phones have changed drastically in the matter of a few years. Phones barely last two years without looking useless compared to the new models. Innovation has reached new levels with the growing demand for new products.

“In 2001 silicon valley toxins coalition estimated that the amount of electronic consumer waste entering America’s landfills that year would be between 5 to 7 million tons” (265). The unnoticed problem with this advancement is that all the unused cell phones, computers, TV’s, toys and many other electronics needed a place to go, which was dumps all across America. These “mountains of e-waste” released high levels of biological toxins into the ground and in the air harming the earth and life which lives on it.