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What Air Conditioning Can Teach Us About Innovation and Laziness (vice.com)
In a think piece for Vice's Motherboard Ernie Smith argues that the invention of air conditioning in 1902 has had a big impact on the innovation we've made since. Smith, citing several studies and articles on the matter, states that it is because of air conditioners that we have things like skyscrapers, clean rooms for building advanced computer chips, shopping malls, and multiplexes. But on the other hand, air conditioners have somewhat limited our creativity in home and office designing. From the article:See, prior to the air conditioner reaching homes around the country, architects had to think more creatively about keeping people cool when options were more limited. This meant taking advantage of breezes, room design, and dimensional layout in a way that maximized the heat when it was necessary kept things cool when it wasn't. And it meant taking advantage of foliage around the home to build in some natural shade, as well as to build porches, which were often much cooler than the insides of homes during warm days.The article, among other things, also mentions that we are currently looking for ways to curtail the energy wastage that incurs because of ACs. But Smith points out that it took us a while -- generations, actually -- before we started to see a problem and began working on it. From the article:"One of the many ways in which we have become cognitively lazy is to accept our initial impression of the problem that [we encounter]. Once we settle on an initial perspective we don't seek alternative ways of looking at the problem," author Michael Michalko wrote. "Like our first impressions of people, our initial perspective on problems and situations are apt to be narrow and superficial. We see no more than we expect to see based on our past experiences in life, education and work." [...] It's hard to even get mad at architects who chose simple efficiency over complexity, or (to highlight a contemporary example) early carmakers that went with gasoline instead of something better for the environment. Because of human nature, it just makes sense that despite all the other advantages that came with air conditioning, the more challenging things that came with the invention -- the fact that conservation and efficiency still have their place -- didn't initially get their due.
The US government used to pretty much shut down in the Summer months. Anyone who's experienced DC Summer weather will know why. With the advent of air conditioning, those weasels are around stirring up trouble for the taxpayers 12 months out of the year. It totalitarian government ever comes to the US, blame air conditioning.
"Once we settle on an initial perspective we don't seek alternative ways of looking at the problem,"
You mean "if it ain't broke, dont fix it?" Sounds like reasonable advice to me. The article's line of thinking is how the world wound up with Walmart.
as opposed to northern climates that might have to shut down due to whiteout conditions for days at a time. This is why businesses tend to move to more southern areas.
Wrong on both counts. Factories in northern climates very rarely close due to weather. Municipalities have equipment to plow snow and people who live there know how to drive in it. The reason factories moved south in the US was to escape unions; same reason they're moving to Mexico and China today.
Bad design is mainly due to cost-cutting. There are numerous examples in contemporary design: A wall switch goes to an outlet for a standing lamp, to avoid running wire to a ceiling fixture and avoid the cost of the fixture. Rooms are smaller and shorter to save on materials costs; squarer to avoid expensive details. Wood trim around doors and windows is reduced in size or eliminated. Window area is kept to the legal minimum. Doors are hollow, providing no sound insulation. Those are all cases of cost-cutting, with no thought given to practicality or aesthetics. The result is people living in bland, dispiriting boxes.
Ideas like designing for cross-ventilation, large windows on the west side, and less windows on the north side in colder areas are good ideas for making a space livable, regardless of whether there's AC. Even people using central heat/AC can usually open windows throughout much of the year for fresh air. Arguably the laziness is on the part of the people who are willing to live in bland, stuffy boxes and rent hotel rooms with windows that don't open.
Once we settle on an initial perspective we don't seek alternative ways of looking at the problem," author Michael Michalko wrote. "Like our first impressions of people, our initial perspective on problems and situations are apt to be narrow and superficial. We see no more than we expect to see based on our past experiences in life, education and work." [...] (to highlight a contemporary example) early carmakers that went with gasoline instead of something better for the environment.
Early car designers tried all kinds of different power sources: electricity, steam, and internal combustion. It turned out that gasoline was the best alternative and hasn't (yet) been replaced by anything else. There was talk of using gas turbines for a while but they're too expensive and finicky. Maybe battery/electric will replace gasoline in the future when the technology advances to the point it's a viable alternative.
His point about air conditioning in building makes no sense either; architects design building for specific purposes - office space, retail shopping, manufacturing, whatever. New building techniques and materials are constantly being introduced. Could a building be designed for passive cooling today? Sure, but very few people would want it in place of central air conditioning. Being creative is one thing, building a product people actually want is something else entirely. And his rant about window unit air conditioners makes no sense at all; no building is designed to use window units, they're a hack. Sheesh
The same argument can be made with the invention of light bulbs and not modeling homes with sunlight in mind anymore.
Tired of my customary (Score:1)