EXTRA: In Praise of Maintenance (Update)
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We revisit an episode from 2016 that asks: Has our culture’s obsession with innovation led us to neglect the fact that things also need to be taken care of?
- SOURCES:
- Martin Casado, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
- Ruth Schwartz Cowan, professor emerita of history and sociology of science at University of Pennsylvania.
- Edward Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University.
- Chris Lacinak, founder and president of AVPreserve.
- Andrew Russell, provost of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
- Lawrence Summers, professor and president emeritus of Harvard University; former Secretary of the Treasury and former director of the National Economic Council.
- Lee Vinsel, professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech.
- RESOURCES:
- “Hail the Maintainers," by Andrew Russell and Lee Vinsel (Aeon, 2016).
- “A Lesson on Infrastructure From the Anderson Bridge Fiasco,” by Lawrence Summers and Rachel Lipson (The Boston Globe, 2016).
- Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier, by Edward Glaeser (2008).
- More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave, by Ruth Schwartz Cowan (1983).
- EXTRAS:
- "Freakonomics Radio Takes to the Skies," series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
- "Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
- "Why Larry Summers Is the Economist Everyone Hates to Love," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
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Free economics radio is sponsored by PNC Bank, boring, great word, bad rep. Yet time and time again, here at Free economics we find that when something culture changing happens, boring things like calculations and careful planning are usually behind it. Which begs the question, why not apply it to other aspects of life? Like banking, for example. Well PNC Bank did, since its inception, proving time and again that the best banking strategy isn't the exciting type but the steady, reliable, definitely not YOLO type. PNC Bank, brilliantly boring, since 1865, brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC Bank National Association, member FDIC. Free economics radio is sponsored by Hotels.com. Hotels.com helps you find and book the right stay for work faster. With business preferences, save your travel must-haves like gym access or breakfast, just once then get tailored results whenever you search for work travel. Plus with a free membership you can save up to 20% on hotels and earn rewards on every stay for future travel. Book now at Hotels.com, visit Hotels.com for details. Free economics radio is sponsored by Amica. You know what they say, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. So go with Amica and get coverage from a mutual insurer that's built for their customers, one that looks after what's important to you together. Auto, home, life and more coverage that fits your unique needs. Amica helps you protect what matters most, visit amica.com and get a quote today. Free economics radio is sponsored by Mint Mobile. With Mint Mobile's summer sale, all of Mint's plans are $15 per month, even unlimited. The free yourself from Big Wireless and switch to Mint for high-speed data and coverage on the T-Mobile 5G network. To get your new wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to mintmobile.com/freak. Upfront payment, $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months. Plan required, $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy, includes up to 20 gigabytes hotspot. Capable device required, availability, speed and coverage varies, see Mint Mobile.com. Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. We're always hearing about innovation and disruption and the new, new thing. And a lot of that stuff is wonderful, but I've been thinking lately that we tend to overlook something equally important, maybe more important, maintaining what we've already built. And then I remembered that we made an episode about this idea back in 2016 called In Praise of Maintenance. So we went back into the archive, dusted off that episode, updated facts and figures as necessary. And today we are playing it for you as a bonus episode. I'd love to know what you think. Our email is [email protected]. As always, thanks for listening. A while back, I got obsessed with the notion of maintenance. A really notion of how much time maintenance takes. You go to the gym to maintain your body so it can do what you need it to do. Maybe you go to a doctor and a dentist and a therapist too. You spend a third of your life's sleepings, your brain can do what it needs to do. And think about all the time and resources that go into maintaining your work life, the meetings, the memos, the productivity apps. Of course, there's also your personal life to maintain. I got so obsessed with the burden of all this maintenance that I decided to precisely track how many minutes I was spending of each day on different forms of maintenance versus all the other things I was trying to accomplish. But after just a couple of days, I quit this ridiculous exercise because it had become just another maintenance task that kept me from doing the stuff I really wanted to be doing. I decided that maintenance was simply a curse that had to be accommodated, that the less I thought about it, the happier I'd be. And then I read something that changed
Transcription truncated.
We revisit an episode from 2016 that asks: Has our culture’s obsession with innovation led us to neglect the fact that things also need to be taken care of?