I agree with a whole lot of what you're saying about the whole "replace not repair" thing - in terms of more complex tools, like cars and computers, it's a combination of the fact that repair requires a dedicated toolset that isn't always available, plus the ways that corporate producers of these tools try to actively make them difficult to repair as part of the "planned obsolescence" model of development. For simpler stuff, though (say, shoes or clothes), I think it relates to the way that life has, generally, grown more complex over the past century or so, to the point that skills of repair and maintenance are less available for people to learn or practice. The easy availability of replacements is also a noteworthy factor, of course, since that removes the pressure that would previously have made those skills essential for life.
All that said - holy shit that take on space settlement couldn't be more wrong. The thing that makes such settlements hard to do is the absolute need to repair or recycle every component of the lived environment, often in shorter, tighter loops than the natural processes of the Earth. I mean, you've got a couple paragraphs in here about Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories of being a family that was part of a newly established community with intermittent, expensive contact back to what might have been external suppliers of goods. How can you possibly miss that any sort of space-based community would necessarily be like that but more so?
I agree with a whole lot of what you're saying about the whole "replace not repair" thing - in terms of more complex tools, like cars and computers, it's a combination of the fact that repair requires a dedicated toolset that isn't always available, plus the ways that corporate producers of these tools try to actively make them difficult to repair as part of the "planned obsolescence" model of development. For simpler stuff, though (say, shoes or clothes), I think it relates to the way that life has, generally, grown more complex over the past century or so, to the point that skills of repair and maintenance are less available for people to learn or practice. The easy availability of replacements is also a noteworthy factor, of course, since that removes the pressure that would previously have made those skills essential for life.
All that said - holy shit that take on space settlement couldn't be more wrong. The thing that makes such settlements hard to do is the absolute need to repair or recycle every component of the lived environment, often in shorter, tighter loops than the natural processes of the Earth. I mean, you've got a couple paragraphs in here about Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories of being a family that was part of a newly established community with intermittent, expensive contact back to what might have been external suppliers of goods. How can you possibly miss that any sort of space-based community would necessarily be like that but more so?