http://dotsub.com/view/a...9-4df5-ae63-ad85f5572f27A documentary exploring planned obsolescence, the policy of deliberately flawed product design that has, since its inception a century ago by a cartel of lightbulb manufacturers, been applied to practically all mass produced goods. The implications of this 'design-to-fail' policy are absolutely central to capitalist consumerism, such that to replace your iPod battery or hack your printer's proprietary firmware becomes not just an act of basic product preservation, but a transgression against the values of a system addicted to profit by any means.
Some relevant wiki links...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-growthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Latouchehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_ThackaraSometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon.