It’s nearly that time of year again. The day of rabid consumerism approaches. People are already lining up to be the first to snatch some of hottest items at some of lowest prices, at the cost of a few tramplings every year. Out with the old and in with the new. With that in mind, it seems that Black Friday isn’t that special. It’s just like every other day of the year. Just amped up a few thousand times. Most people are always on the lookout for the newest and hottest products, but what happens to their existing possessions? More importantly, what happens to all that old tech?
New technology, especially new technological gadgets, is the most rapidly changing field in the world. As a result, it seems there’s a new product on the shelves every week. And, as a result, perfectly good, yet relatively old, tech gets quickly replaced in favor of the new flavor of the week. So, what happens to this old tech? Sadly enough, most of it gets trashed. Other times, it gets placed in storage. But, sometimes, it gets used or repurposed.
One of the most alluring things about the cyberpunk genre is its low-life aspect, namely, low-life using old tech. In most cyberpunk fiction, there exists to main classes of citizens: the wealthy elite and the low-life vagrants. Each class possesses its own tech. The wealthy have access to the shiniest, newest tech while the lower classes only have access to the scraps of old tech. Cyberpunk fiction is a bit romantic in this sense.
So don’t be in such a rush to discard your old tech. There will always be something newer and, purportedly, better on the horizon, but old tech is here to stay. Everything old was once new and most old tech still performs the way it did the day it first arrived on the scene. Give your old tech a chance, and let everyone else risk being trampled on Black Friday.
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