I wrote an article on how "new, improved" appliances will spy on your activities in your home, but not my home. I said I would not let them in my home.
I got this response on March 28.
RE smart appliancesI was over at the Toyota dealership the other day to get some OEM part
When the salesman saw me driving up in my 200k oldie he asked if he could interest me in a newer model and I said sure if he has one without airbags, ABS, GPS, seatbelts, Bluetooth, rear view camera, electronic doors and keys. I wanted a modern drive train and a shell with a couple of seats. He laughed!
Your only solution to a NOT connected house incl. appliances will be a tent, a camping stove and an icebox in the not so distant future, if you can find a place that is zoned and geo-fenced for it
Cheer up and hang on
André
He should have waited until April 1 to send this. It would have been far more appropriate.
This man is representative of a certain mentality: "It's all lost! We are doomed! We must conform! There is nothing we can do! Surrender and smile!"
He provided specific historical examples from the automobile industry. He thinks these were catastrophes in liberty: airbags, GPS, seatbelts, Bluetooth, rear-view cameras, and electronic doors and keys.
I think of seatbelts. I can remember writing to General Motors back in 1965 and asking if I could get a shoulder harness seatbelt for my 1954 Chevrolet. I saw the advantage of such a device. While I never approved of federally enforced seatbelts, which I always have called Nader belts, there is no question that the cross-chest seatbelt is a tremendous safety device. I was once in a car that rolled over. My wife and I both were wearing such belts. We suffered no injuries except to our finances.
I don't use Bluetooth.
I think a rear-view camera would be a tremendous addition to my 12-year-old Toyota minivan. My wife would like one on her 11-year-old Chrysler minivan. Having such a device could easily save me from backing into something, or running over a child. I think these are wonderful improvements. They are also cheap. Digital cameras keep getting cheaper.
My wife's minivan has electronic sliding back doors and an electronic hatch door. She thinks they're great. So do I. I wish my Toyota had a pair of them.
I have always thought electronic windows are great. I saw my first one back around 1953, and I'm glad I have them on my cars.
I would like to have a GPS on my car. Every once in a while I get lost in Atlanta, and I don't have a smart phone to lead me out of the maze of Atlanta's streets.
In other words, all of the things he listed seem reasonable to me, and we don't have to buy all of them. The ones you do have to buy, such as cross-chest seatbelts, are great ideas. I am happy to pay extra. I was willing to pay extra in 1965. I didn't have much money in 1965.
These devices are for the most part voluntary. You don't have to buy them. My April fool thinks we do have to buy them.
These devices offer obvious advantages. In contrast, a washing machine that is controlled by my smart phone offers me no advantage, since I don't own a smart phone.
The difference between items that consumers voluntarily pay for as add-ons when they buy a car vs. spying devices that offer no benefit, and which a company charges extra to install on all of its appliances, is a monumental difference. Consumers want the automobile add-ons. There is no indication that there is any consumer demand for washing machines that spy on them. The idea that these categories are equivalent is what constitutes the April fool nature of the email.
There is always some lonely, unpublished, and opinionated reader out there who wants to show his stuff. "Dear Dr. North. You just don't know how bad things are. I'm fully informed. Let me tell you just how bad things are." Anybody who publishes online gets a stream of emails from these people. They are pessimistic. They think that all is lost. They think their opinions count. They are wrong on all counts.
I am 75 years old. I can buy a 10-year-old appliance at any time, cheap. I can get a 10-year-old appliance fixed in most cases. There is no way that I am going to be forced to buy appliances that spy on me. I don't think the public will demand them. I don't think the public will pay for them. But if the public does, I will simply buy older appliances.
I can see a strong market for used appliances that are sold under this basis: Buy an appliance for me that won't spy on you. Someone could buy used appliances, double their prices, and sell them on Craigslist. It would be a nice little side business.
In this world, there are pessimistic April fools who tell me that all is lost, and I will soon have to conform. All is not lost, and I won't have to conform.
The great thing for me about April fools' emails is I can get articles out of the more obviously nutty ones. I am always looking for some blowhard who sends me an email that will serve as a launching pad for an amusing article.
Thanks, André!
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