This is why we can't have nice things

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This video is about stuff: light bulbs, printers, phones and why they aren’t better. Go to https://NordVPN.com/veritasium and use code VERITASIUM to get a 2-year plan plus 1 additional month with a huge discount. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!

References:
The Man in the White Suit — https://ve42.co/Suit

London, B. (1932). Ending the depression through planned obsolescence. — https://ve42.co/London32

Slade, G. (2009). Made to break: Technology and obsolescence in America. Harvard University Press — https://ve42.co/madetobreak

Krajewski, M. (2014). The great lightbulb conspiracy. IEEE spectrum, 51(10), 56-61. — https://ve42.co/Phoebus

Planet Money, The Phoebus Cartel – https://ve42.co/PMobs

The Light Bulb Conspiracy – https://youtu.be/e9xmn228HM0

Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Mac Malkawi, Oleksii Leonov, Michael Schneider, Jim Osmun, Tyson McDowell, Ludovic Robillard, jim buckmaster, fanime96, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Lyvann Ferrusca, Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Joar Wandborg, Clayton Greenwell, Pindex, Michael Krugman, Cy ‘kkm’ K’Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal

Written by Derek Muller and Petr Lebedev
Animation by Ivan Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller and Raquel Nuno
Edited by Derek Muller
Video supplied by Getty Images

Music by Jonny Hyman and from https://epidemicsound.com”Aquatic Planet”, “Rhythm of Dreams”, “Tread Lightly”, “Unexpected Visitors”, “Curved Mirrors” “Drunken Lullaby” “Fluorescent Lights”

Thumbnail by Raquel Nuno and Karri Denise

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About the Author: Veritasium

43 Comments

  1. Thanks for a great video, I really didn't know that companies were fined for making a long lasting light bulb. In our consumer society where profit is of highest value, not people's life, we will always have this situation where we can't have long lasting quality thing. We have to change consumer society to creative society format where human life is of the highest value. Right now millions of people are already actively building such a society. I encourage you to check out this project! It represent a true evolution of humanity.

  2. LED bulbs aren't good for your overall health. They contain lead, can seriously effect your eyes & skin.
    I have Lupus & was warned to beware of LED 💡.

  3. the filament you speak of was invented by Lewis Latimer, nothinG last forever but with a clean power source even a dolar store liGhtbulb can last a while. had a prof who had 40 year old liGhtbulbs in his shed because he reGulated the AC power cominG into the shed

  4. Electric cars are based in the same idea. They’re still selling you fossil fuels for your vehicle, they just fooled you with a wire instead of a hose.

  5. Simple rule: the more trashy products, the more stress on this planet resources!

    recycling is not efficient due to many uncontrolled variables.

    literally, we are trading our planet for a light bulb,…

    AMAZING VIDEO AS ALWAYS…

  6. LED bulb claim a lifetime that never is true.
    Probably I have replaced more LED bulb in the short period of time I’m using them, than in all the time before. Well, probably it’s an exaggeration, but for sure more than in a equal period of time before.

  7. So much wastage. Do we not realize that only humans are capable of wastage in nature? No other animals or living thing lets anything go to waste.

  8. Fashion isn't driven by a companies decisions of whats "in fashion" its driven by the collective consciousness, ideas and memes of designers, models, fashionistas, influencers, media, artists and every day enthusiasts interacting with the wider culture of the time. Fashion is art. It might seem vapid to some, but to many it is an artistic expression akin to music or painting. Everyone chooses the way they dress and due to society's memes your fashion choices are you signalling something about you. It is a vibrant collision of colours, fabrics, styles, brands, culture and comfort. Everyone has an individual style, everyone has an opinion of what looks fashionable or "good" – just like any artform.

  9. Here's an inateresting conspiracy. the energy based fiberglass insulation industry spread fire risk science reports about cellulose borax insulation, which kileld the cellulose insulation industry for 55 years until it woke up again in the 1990s.

  10. I built a HOT ROCK GENERATOR IN MY BACK YARD… that would be a good video. Siemens gamesa is saying they are commercially viable, and have 55 pc conversion efficiency… It takes 300 pounds of hot rocks to hold 50KWh at 200-600 degrees thermal capacity.

  11. The saddest part is politicians won’t change this since they will get paid or get some benefit from not attacking this issue.

  12. What about auto makers that patent the parts on their so the only place to get a part is from the dealership ford holds more patents than any automaker

  13. The problem with planned obsolescence, though, is that it makes a certain segment of the population perpetually poor. Even with a job, if EVERY company plans planned obsolescence at the same time, which is the way it’s trending, all of your income that you earn is used up by item replacement. Meaning that everyone except the owners of the company will continually go into debt.

    If planned obsolescence wasn’t a thing, then you could theoretically escape debt because you would not need to replace items at some point. Meaning the only reason you would need money would be for food and leisure.

    EDIT: And even then, you could grow your own food, and leisure is what you make of it. So most of our time, resources, energy…it’s going to businesses that, at the end of the day, we’re just a number to anyway.

  14. Except they've done the same thing to the LEDs there is a noticeable drop in longevity of LED lights over the last couple years they used to last on average around 10 years now you're lucky to get a year out of them.

  15. Very informative video. However, to your mention of how an LED bulb will outlast the older bulbs, it’s actually not the case in my experience. All my bulbs were replaced with LED bulbs and per every single bulb, they’ve gone bad/died and needed replacements just under 2 years on average, whereas the older bulbs lasted well over 2 years on average.

  16. So in other words….corporations are the root of all evil…in order to make their profits. There should be a law against planned obsolescence. It is such a dishonest way to do business.

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