Back in my college days my girlfriend and I rebuilt an old Series Land Rover. It was very straightforward. Other than a bit of fuss finding a few parts now and then, all it took was patience, 7/16 and 1/2" wrenches, and that was pretty much it. And that thing is still going strong, just requiring the odd bit of tinkering or the renewal of a dried-out gasket. Nowadays I drive a Gen III Montero. It's a highly competent and very comfortable vehicle, but when something goes wrong it's almost always electronic.
Computers: it's a love/hate relationship. There is no doubt that they've improved our lives in ways that we still don't understand. At a very simple level, I've been able to do things in my garage and my driveway by watching YouTube vids on my tablet that I would not have been able to do in the old days. At work I'm constantly pulling up information on the computer or on my phone, information that's critically important for the welfare of my patients. My kids have access to the entire world; researching school projects is child's play.
But when my Montero blinks an error code at me and 4WD stops working, it's not because a bearing is going or because a linkage needs adjustment. It's because one of the damned computers has sensed an error. When one of the sexy MB Sprinter vans that I formerly owned went into "limp" mode it took weeks to discover that the culprit was a shorted filament in a tail light lamp!
Yeah, computers make our world better. No doubt about it. But they're sensitive, they're finicky, they get wonky very, very easily. Here's perhaps the really big part: they have a finite lifespan. And when they misbehave, things simply stop working.
Metal and grease can be renewed and refreshed forever, but in 50 years there won't be any transmission ECM computers lying around on the shelf for my Montero. Don't get me wrong, I love the thing, my family loves it, and I'll do whatever I can to keep it going for as long as possible. But when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, no one will be repairing these delicate electronics with baling wire and duct tape.
I once met a guy in the Galapagos Islands who had retired from an executive position with a large company, bought himself a big sailboat (though he'd never sailed before), and was setting off to see the world. When I met him he was getting ready to do a 2,000 mile crossing to the Marquesas Islands, about the longest ocean crossing there is. He convinced a young friend of mine to join him because he needed a crewmember (little buddy had never set foot on a sailboat). He didn't have a sextant because (a) he didn't know how to use it, and (b) he had a fancy Racal TRANSIT SatNav box. This was long before GPS; once every 60, 90 or 120 minutes a bird would pass high overhead and you'd get a fix (if it "took"). I had one of these gadgets, too. It was made in England and behaved accordingly; I think that it must have had some Lucas smoke in it. I never heard from either of them again...have no idea if they ever made it. He put their lives into the hands of that primitive little computer; I hope it worked out for them.
