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It was inevitable. Long ago you had to know a lot about cars and engines to own a car. Now only enthusiasts know that kind of stuff.
I always found it fascinating to learn about the things I used in my life worked, because as a kid I loved learning to take things apart, mod, and put them back together. But there never seems to be enough time to study and understand everything, because most devices we use are over-engineered (read: repair hostile), so I can't ever think about becoming a jack of all trades like my family members are.
Electronics, yes. Mechanical, no. I have to pay someone else to help me.
Same on the computer thing, but I feel that knowing how to tear a computer (or anything, really) apart reduces the "I don't think I can do this" threshold a bit. Not having a choice also helps, as in "Oh, the turbo died and all the shops say it'll cost more than the car is worth to replace? Guess I'm learning how to swap a turbo."
I'm not trying to be negative about blaming people who are in bad financial situations but idk why more people don't realize that you can get things that you wouldn't normally be able to afford if you're willing to learn about them and do some work. Technicians/mechanics aren't usually geniuses, they've just read the manual.
I spent a lot of time having a very tight budget. I realized that the only way to afford my first car was to buy a busted one and fix it myself. I couldn't afford a mechanic but I could afford a repair manual.
But, I'm also confused by people who simply aren't curious. They don't want to know. They're totally content just not understanding how all of this technology around them works. Like, how are they OK with that?
I've been in the spot before and honestly it comes down to risk management. Usually it's a case of considering fixing something myself, and as I analyze it I end up determining the risk of either being unable to fix it after investing in tools/parts or worse making it worse due to my lack of skill ends up outweighing the cost savings of just paying a professional.
Or for a real world example, I had the rubber gaskets wear out on one of my toilets. I took it apart, dremmeled off the corroded bolts (after buying a big honking screw driver and bolt cutters hoping either would help, and ultimately the bolts were too corroded to unscrew and the bolt cutters couldn't fit the space to reach the bolts to cug) replaced the gaskets and suddenly have leaks in new spots. Other parts looked corroded so I basically bought completely new innards for the toilet, replaced them, reassembled and it still leaked in the same places. Finally having spent about $300 in parts and tools plus multiple Saturdays of my time, I accepted there must be some art to this plumbing thing that I'm missing and I hired a plumber who fixed it in 30 minutes for about a hundred bucks.
You make good points and I agree that in this case, hiring a plumber right off the bat would have given you the better outcome.
As you mentioned, there is some risk to doing it yourself and this risk often motivates people to avoid even attempting to fix things. Part if it really is an exercise in learning about the thing and being realistic about how likely you are to succeed.
However, I don't think you should characterize the $300 as a total loss. You probably still have that big screwdriver and set of bolt cutters. Some of the toilet parts you bought might have been appropriate and included in the plumber's repair. You also probably learned a thing or two about plumbing, even if all you learned was that you'd rather hire a professional for future plumbing projects.
Exactly. I figure changing the sound card is like changing the transmission.
Eh, there's a curiosity aspect as well. I can't do work on my car, but I can change the oil, tires, brake pads, and such. I understand the principle of how an IC engine works. I'm a computer programmer but I think it's because I'm a curious person who likes knowing how things work, and computers offer more chances to learn than anything else on the planet.
It isn't ignorance that has ever bothered me about boomers, zoomers, or anyone else. It's that 99% of people you meet are fundamentally incurious. They don't care how things work, they don't care if they could work differently.
This so much, all the information in the world one click away online and most people just doom scroll nonsense. If money wasn't an issue I'd be a perpetual student, just learning things for the heck of it.
Great point, and well said.
Curiosity was always rare, and not always encouraged. We're the "make the same hand axes for hundreds of millennia" people, after all.
Reminds me about that line in World War Z (Max Brooks)
(Paraphrasing) "Some survivors were frustrated with the assignments they were given. A lady who was a former TV exec was furious that she was assigned to a janitorial unit, led by someone who's lifetime salary she made in a month!
For people like her, you didn't have to worry about fixing a plumbing issue or cleaning your home. She just hired someone else to do it, because she made money talking on the phone, and the more people she hired, the more time she could spend talking on the phone. After the Great Panic, nobody bothered to use phones anymore. There were no TV contracts that needed to be made, but there were toilets that needed work, and floors to clean. In a strange way, the blue collar workers outranked their "superiors" in importance to the community. We needed mechanics, engineers, HVAC workers, plumbers. We had those people of course, but there was never enough of them."
Reminds me of the story of Golgafrincham from the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy books:
And it was a good plan, for a while. Shame about that plague, though.
Didn't they all perish shortly thereafter from a disease spread via unsanitary telephones?
Yes
on the other hand there's bikes, which are basically unchanged and simple enough that most people can figure out how to do all the regular maintenance with some youtube videos and a couple hours.
Have you encountered modern shifters? They're fairly involved.
Electronic shifting, hydraulic brakes, liberal use of sealed cartridge bearings, carbon fiber parts requiring strict torque specs...these are definitely different than 70's friction shift ten-speed bikes.
You're thinking of high performance sports bicycles.
When bicycles are just basic transport to get around town, where reliability and easy maintenance are a priority, they are very much like they were in the 70's.
i have never seen those on a bicycle actually used in real life, it's either regular-ass derailleur or it's hub gears, both of which are pretty darn simple on the level you're going to interact with them (no one disassembles internal hubs and they don't really break)