<story><title>Ask HN: Boring but important tech no one is working on?</title><text>In the 2020s most old generation people are retiring and not only the replacement generations smaller but there is gap in generational knowledge transfer. What do you think is important tech out there in which are we are losing our collective knowledge and hard won wisdom?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>sowbug</author><text>Less a specific technology and more a mindset. Repairing things around the house. Today, it&amp;#x27;s almost always rational to throw out the broken thing and buy a new one. There are a bunch of reasons why that&amp;#x27;s true: cost of one&amp;#x27;s own labor, lack of discrete replacement parts, lack of repair documentation, improvements in technology since original purchase, risk of further breakage, risk of injury to self, etc.&lt;p&gt;But the real cost is that people generally don&amp;#x27;t know how things work anymore. They&amp;#x27;re just black boxes, even simple things like a coffee maker or a clothes dryer. Which further reduces the demand for repairability, which seems like a downward spiral toward everything being disposable.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ccorcos</author><text>I feel like there&amp;#x27;s a city vs suburbs correlation here too.&lt;p&gt;If you live in a city, (nevermind the fact that you&amp;#x27;re probably renting and paying way to much in rent consider fixing anything yourself) you probably don&amp;#x27;t have the space and the tools to enjoy taking apart and fixing things.&lt;p&gt;In the suburbs, you probably have a garage and a side yard where you have the space to entertain these kinds of hobbies.&lt;p&gt;Just recollecting: the last thing I fixed was a bolt that broke off inside a nut that was welded to a pipe. Luckily I have a workshop table, a vice, and a drill with various attachments. All of this takes space.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Boring but important tech no one is working on?</title><text>In the 2020s most old generation people are retiring and not only the replacement generations smaller but there is gap in generational knowledge transfer. What do you think is important tech out there in which are we are losing our collective knowledge and hard won wisdom?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>sowbug</author><text>Less a specific technology and more a mindset. Repairing things around the house. Today, it&amp;#x27;s almost always rational to throw out the broken thing and buy a new one. There are a bunch of reasons why that&amp;#x27;s true: cost of one&amp;#x27;s own labor, lack of discrete replacement parts, lack of repair documentation, improvements in technology since original purchase, risk of further breakage, risk of injury to self, etc.&lt;p&gt;But the real cost is that people generally don&amp;#x27;t know how things work anymore. They&amp;#x27;re just black boxes, even simple things like a coffee maker or a clothes dryer. Which further reduces the demand for repairability, which seems like a downward spiral toward everything being disposable.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bee_rider</author><text>Also it is just a nice feeling, every time you use something you&amp;#x27;ve repaired. I&amp;#x27;m not very handy, but every time I open the door that doesn&amp;#x27;t squeak anymore it cheers me up a little.</text></comment>