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Maintenance: it's what humans do

By rallain on May 2, 2009.

So, I am mowing the lawn. What to do better than thinking while I mow? Sometimes mowing is no fun. It is just a type of maintenance. How much of what we do is maintenance? I first thought about this when I was thinking about getting a new car. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to get the brakes changed or the tires rotated? I hate taking the car to the shop to get these things done (yes, if I was motivated I could do them myself). Here are some other maintenance things:

  • Mopping the floors
  • Paying bills
  • Keeping files organized on your computer
  • Brushing your teeth


How much of what we do is working on new stuff and how much is maintenance? From the dawn of man, it has been maintenance. Maybe that was the form of getting food (to maintain the body and the clan) but it was maintenance. It seems that the goal of humanity is to reduce maintenance (even though it seems like the opposite is happening). But think about it, how many of us have to worry about shelter and food (yes there are still people that worry about those things).

But theoretically, there really isn't such a thing as a zero maintenance system - is there? I think Mark from Arcsecond made a very insightful comment on this very problem in the comments to my Wall-E post.

The short answer: no.

Tags
entropy
movie
Physics

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But theoretically, there really isnât such a thing as a zero maintenance system - is there?

Non unless you can reverse the second law of thermodynamics.