The Philosophy of Durable, Durability
Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”
The importance of durable, durability?
An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.
Why does this matter?
Durabilis: Durable, lasting.
I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.
Becoming harder
Duro— harden, make hard.
Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.
Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.
I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.
Extended range as good!
Modular solutions
Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.
For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.
Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.
Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.
The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.
Durable investments?
Durable body?
