This is why we can't have nice things
This video is about stuff: light bulbs, printers, phones and why they aren't better. Go to NordVPN.com/veritasium and use code VERITASIUM to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
References:
The Man in the White Suit - ve42.co/Suit
London, B. (1932). Ending the depression through planned obsolescence. - ve42.co/London32
Slade, G. (2009). Made to break: Technology and obsolescence in America. Harvard University Press - ve42.co/madetobreak
Krajewski, M. (2014). The great lightbulb conspiracy. IEEE spectrum, 51(10), 56-61. - ve42.co/Phoebus
Planet Money, The Phoebus Cartel - ve42.co/PMobs
The Light Bulb Conspiracy - fistream.info/work/videot/m5qwps-XZmmrsmA
Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Mac Malkawi, Oleksii Leonov, Michael Schneider, Jim Osmun, Tyson McDowell, Ludovic Robillard, jim buckmaster, fanime96, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Lyvann Ferrusca, Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Joar Wandborg, Clayton Greenwell, Pindex, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal
Written by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Ivan Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller and Raquel Nuno
Edited by Derek Muller
Video supplied by Getty Images
Music by Jonny Hyman and from epidemicsound.com"Aquatic Planet", "Rhythm of Dreams", "Tread Lightly", "Unexpected Visitors", "Curved Mirrors" "Drunken Lullaby" "Fluorescent Lights"
Thumbnail by Raquel Nuno and Karri Denise
Now just think - big companies and governments do this all the time with just about everything. It's all about keeping you dependent on buying their products and keeping you paying taxes for "your protection."
Why does it surprise anyone? All industries do this. Why do you think there’s been zero increase in the efficiency of gasoline or fuel oil since it’s invention. It’s left up to the car makers. Also for a more modern thought, look at Apple and them using components that they know have a certain lifespan so that people feel forced to buy a new phone every 2 to 3 years. It’s forced obsolescence and inefficiencies. My grandmothers had the same TV for 40 years, I’ve gone through five of them in 10. Other industries do it by increasing specifications like Camera companies.
Yay Capitalism! /sarcasm
Imagine this process but in your phones, cars, homes, and anything of the modern era
if the fiber of that movie was real, we could reduce polution a lot. those resources and workers would just shift to another industry. the industrial revolution would be impossible if the agricultural revolution never existed. the people went to the cities t find jobs and power the economy. If we have more eficient produtcs we can shift our production capacity for another things. but this is capitalism, and the companies just stick with their own invenction, so it needs to be always profitable.
"but capitalism breeds innovation!!"
You've been screwed do something about it
The problem nowadays is that LED bulbs work, only if you have a stable current all the time. I bought a lot of them, but in a sudden short circuit, almost half of them stopped working and they had less than 6 months old...
No, this is why we're not a spacefaring, multiplanetary civilisation who have solved all our problems such as poverty and energy. Because humans are too focused on the short term, making money, winning wars, conquering other land and people, instead of furthering our technology and ensuring our survival as a species.
This really starting to sound like an apple callout........ and i like it XD
The amount of things that I believe exist that just aren’t out for the public for monetary reasons. I’m sure there’s a definite cure for cancer right now there’s no way there’s not but if you could just get cured then you wouldn’t have to pay for constant treatment
Sadly, OSRAM LED lights are having a lifespan of 2 years tops...
More good reasons to pray for an extinction event.
capitalism literally preventing humanity to progress in action
This is why human civilization is in an unsustainable addiction to consumer products and fossil fuels. You name it, capitalism destroyed it.
Apple sheep herding through the doors by the genius sheep herders lol
Because folks is stupid AF! You have 1 light bulb runs forever.... Sell the bulb, the generator that powers it needs .... Seriously!? Oldest con in tge book. Norelco electric razor runs for ages still have my dads and it is old, replaced blades.... Further, bulbs break. ... even if it runs forever need brighter, smaller etc... No conspiracy just really greedy and short sighted humans living a fear based life... Besides: World is flat - turtles all the way down...
planned obsolescence should be illegal honestly, and companies doing it while also making it harder and harder to get stuff fixed is just evil
Well also with led bulbs they being designed to fail, as they pushed to their heat limit, all except the Dubai bulb which has more Chips but at a lower currency.
Maybe it is true that in the US LED lightbulbs last for 30 years, but here in Brazil it barely lasts a year.
nice :D
My light bulb promises 12 000 hours of light, and came with a three-year warranty. It cost like 7 euros (and came in a pack of two). I got it over three years ago and it’s still burning bright. I swear to god no other object I’ve had or will ever have is gonna be as good as that light bulb.
That is to say, I very much agree that I’ll probably move out before that thing goes out.
Also, I bought it from my next-door grocery store. Not even a mall/supermarket, but a tiny ass corner store with only one shelf for stuff that isn’t food/drinks.
I've had many LED Bulbs burn out already, and now if you go to the light bulb aisle the LED bulbs have many different options that all have different hours of expected use. So I don't believe LED has solved this issue. I believe the light bulb manufacturers are still building in failure.
Oohhhhhh now do Tuskegee/Guatemala/Operation Mockingbird. So much of what we claim to know is manipulated.
Now you also understand why pharmaceutical cartels develop treatments and not cures.
apple isn't the most valuable company, that'd be the saudi run oil company.
Well, he is not speaking honestly, as his main interest his supporters, who partially dictate what to speak.
It's basically that our minds haven't evolved to get up to speed with the pace of development, which corporates take a huge advantage of in the name of innovation.
Many blame capitalism for these trends, that's like blaming the tool for shoddy work. Rather, blame the culture of consumerism.
When I was about 12 and the iPhone 5 came out turned to my friend and told him “they probably already have the 12 figured out but they release a feature every year to get people hype”. I was woke before it was a term.
Okay but why didn't light bulbs in the USSR last longer?
Nokia
Planned obsolescence is disgusting. Telling us to save the planet.
Love your T shirt
you had my finger hovering over the unsubcribe button when you mocked Man in the White suits Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. and followed it up with further slyly derogratoty comments! stick to science, and leave the film criticism to the appropraite experts. I'll let it slide this once... .(wow. i'm surprised at how genuinely annoyed i am!)
Sounds like what Democrats excel at: Collusion.
Thomas Edison is the father of the light bulb.
Alex Jones was right... about Everything.
"Right to repair" cash for clunkers did more harm and cost jobs to manufacture the parts required to keep better quality vehicles on the road. But hey, global warming,right?
In 2010 barakkk hussien obama gave wuhan china, specifically, 35,500,000 US tax dollars. Wuhan china hired Charles lieber, was a Harvard professor of chemical engineering and leading nanotechnology expert. He was paid approximately 1,750,000 dollars for both designing a chemical lab, in wuhan china, and working in that lab. He was indicted, along with two of three Chinese spies caught stealing biological technology, the other Chinese spy had a year long sexual relationship with congress member Jerry swallowell ( a democrat that is STILL in office). The wuhan flu #2 is the engineered biological attack, that is the vehicle, to make people run to an inoculation that does not protect anyone from getting the coronovirus. First hand experience with the fact that it does not work as a vaccine from the coronivirus allows me to have the on. The fact that the pharmaceutical cartels that manufacture the genetherapy are exempt from repercussions and responsibility is enough cause to not get injected with a " vaccine" that has been waiting for a vehicle to deliver for years. Good luck and be safe, God Bless.
But why do I have a dozen burnt out LED bulbs if they are so great? I've had 2 burn out in the last month.
LED bulbs don't last up to 25 K hours. About 4 years ago I replaced all bulbs in my house with LED bulbs either GE or Philips, so far about 25% had to be replaced. To get a bulb replaced under warranty, you have to send the bulb with a proof of purchase, which can cost more than buying a new one.
How DARE you speak of Thomas Edison but don't even utter the name Nikola Tesla. You honestly should be ashamed of yourself. If you only knew the truth you would not speak Thomas Edison's name in a positive manor for the rest of your life. The fact that you speak of the history of light bulbs & electricity but don't even utter Tesla's name just goes to show how much you don't know. I feel bad for anyone who comes to you for education on this topic, for you do not give them truth. How about you speak on Tesla & how he invented a current that is not dangerous & can be produced from ones own body? How about when Tesla was able to light a bulb just by putting it in the ground of the Earth? How about how Thomas Edison screwed Tesla over completely & tried to have him murdered on multiple occasions. How about the 1,000 of patents that Nikola Tesla has created that we still use today. As well as the patents that he's created that we should be using but don't because they cause more accidents & repairs for corporations as well as help with population control over the years. There is so much truth you could have exposed but chose to ignore one of the greatest men to ever grace this physical plane. Shame on you.
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There's no reward for extra effort. I probably shouldn't have watched this on a Monday morning while planning my work week. I'll be sure to keep things mediocre so I can earn more money.
True. God said, ..And do not waste wastefully, Indeed the wasteful were the brothers of the devils and was the devil to his lord ever ungrateful. Q:17.26-27
he's being all disparaging about 'the man in the white suit', but he doesnt realise that's Obi Whan Kanobi himself in the lead role, sir alec guiness rip
Congratulations! You just earned enemies like apple and other gigantic corporates.
What you're saying about the iPhone is not true. Apple throttled the CPU of iPhones with batteries that needed to be replaced to ensure that the device did not shut down randomly. It's bad that they did not give the user an option to choose, but it was not out of bad intentions.
No one can deal with their own problems.. they want someone else to fix it for them.. all you weak beta males, kitty whooped make weak families, weak and sickened children who dont even know what's between their own legs... betas send me your wives to fix... wait I already do that... wow
Wow
Actually, manufacturers are running LEDs lightbulbs to their limits by overpowering them, thus significantly reducing their lifespan. The good news is, you can easily modify an LED lightbulb using nothing but a butter knife (I'm serious..) by opening it up and removing a single component. This will extend the lifespan of the lightbulb to potentially 100x the original lifespan. If you want a description or video on how to do this then like or comment on this and I will upload a video tutorial on how to do it.
4:22 This is why they put in place "standards".
And we still dont change that companys rule us and destroy our economics and resources just for profit. This World is a disgusting place without morals.
Right so we could just share Earth's resources and abolish world hunger but no because in order to sustain capitalist institutions we need to destroy the planet okay cool got it.
This is why Samsung phones die magically after 1.5 years
The quality of all the old footages used is jaw-dropping
The reason for all of this? The power of Money. Money buys power. It buys Political Power. It buys Social Power. Due to the fact that our brains are hardwired to seek out conditions that better ensure our survival, having social and political power - i.e. having lots of money - is what we all strive for. We have made money so powerful that getting it is all most people can think about. Innovation to make people's lives better? Forget about it. Researching newer needed technologies? Forget about it. We have created a ticking timebomb in the form of super bacteria because Big Pharma does not see the profitability of creating better anti-biotics. WE ARE WILLING TO SACRIFICE THE LIVES OF BILLIONS JUST BECAUSE THE QUARTERLY SHARE HOLDER REPORT WILL NOT LOOK GOOD! Add what we are doing to the planet and, BINGO: the (un)planned obsolescence of humanity
This is just upsetting to know that materials that could be durable would be voluntarily damaged or made less resistant for marketting reasons putting aside the "waste", overconsumption and ecologic problems this occurs. Prefering getting more money from customers over satisfaction of good products is maybe strategical for those companies but far from being ethical or responsible. Sad humanity
He's either hopelessly optimistic, or a fool for thinking that this stuff is so unbelievable. Glad they made this video cause we need this to be more top-of-mind. "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public."
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Obsolescence is a necessary evil we can never get rid off
Capitalism. :)
Yep patents, unused future opportunities and chained to drudgery
Corporations hate it when the product lasts a long time. They create an army of specialists to make us sad and convince us that we need their product to be happy
the second you screwed in that LED lightbulb you were awash in harsh light
How did we go from sentence long movie titles to two phrase titles?
I wish my headphones wires didnt break every 6 months
I have a brand new black Ford F-150 with the new auto off engine and it had nothing but trouble with it. Crazy.
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From one thing, know 10,000.
Was hoping to find Taylor Swift in the comments section.
Man the quality in ur content outstanding everything in this video very informational and eye opening u honestly deserve to be subscribed to well done man
Oh snap, you were on QI!? You finally made it, huh? hahahaha.
That's why, I don't buy Apple iPhone.
Was watching this channel on and off, but after this Vid I really liked him.
Tungsten is 3200 kelvin
mmm monke
Seriously great video and channel!
I truly hope that one day all these terrifyingly awful techniques used to fuel a consumers unconscious stupidity in the name of greed and profit finally come to an end
We all need to grow the hell up and do what is right for everything. Simple, it should be but it isn't, the answer to that is looking into why that is.
Well, no. They do the same with the LED lamps. Intentionally running both the LEDs and the circuitry to power them too hot. Watch the Big Clive video on the Dubai lamp, which Philips refuses to sell in other countries as it's actually built to last.
As i was watching this video, the LED bulb in my hallway burnt out
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This is chakulamakula
Thats why i eat, 1 hour later am hungry again...also i go to sleep to get some rest and i still wake up tired and have to sleep again... Universe using this tactics
Well, if you were taught in school that the geniuses/heroes were Edison and Einstein then you were misinformed
Oh no it’s TEPCO... it always reminds me of the electric bill every month haha
You can't use Nord VPN on a Macbook Air that is 5 years old. The irony in his product placement is hilarious.
The final bulb installed includes planned obsolescence. The L.E.D.s have tens of thousands of hours ratings, but other parts within the bulbs are designed to fail far sooner. =(
DeLorean anyone? Anyone?
Your final point falls flat. What regulation caused LED light bulbs to be everlasting? The point is, there was none. So the rest of your video is pure nonsense.
Inventing the light was "Difficult" not "hard" Glass is hard. Thanks for the awesome video though
Veritasium please stop spreading misinformation about the battery issue. There was no planned obsolescence with that event. That was purely about engineering of batteries. Batteries have no "planned obsolescence" aspect to them. What happened was that batteries as they get old have lower current and voltage limits. If you had an old phone and suddenly used a high intensity app on low battery it would literally shut off the phone from brown out. That's what android phones did and still do. And Apple still limits the performance of apps on older phones with degraded batteries. It's got nothing to do with "planned obsolescence".
12 seconds in and my guess is we are getting a high teir video about PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE!? I figured most people knew about this already. So this actual conspiracy to make products ruin faster, or not be fixable to force consumers to purchase a new one, was widely known about.
At 9:45 - “The Man in the White Suit” stars Sir Alec Guinness ... aka the original Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Do you think politics works at the same way? Not giving at the best
nice touch to the fact that the vast majorities of companies do make their products "replaceable" after a certain amount of time. now all people have to do to see the huge scams going on is apply what this video teaches them to other products. its ever so obvious that the car industry is an ongoing scam to get you to buy a new car or pay very high prices repairing your old car, and most mechanic shops bank on that! but look at your new home in subdivision areas and then you will be shocked at what the real value of the materials used is. we are being scammed by already wealthy companies keeping us from reaching our dreams!
Mark my words: Neural-link or something like it will be the LED lightbulbs of the phone industry.
Yeah, but when they made LED bulbs available that last 10 times longer than incandescents, they made the price go up 15 times! Totally inconsistent with the cost to manufacture and distribute. Imagine if we lived in a world where everything got better - and cheaper - over time, which is the natural result of progress.