Economical Blocks - Tiny Steps Max the Income

When you look at your coffee machine and wonder why it is spending energy to keep the coffee warm, instead of just entering a thermo canister directly, one may wonder what went wrong in the evolution. Actually, we (the consumers) can already buy a better model that waste less energy (and undrinkable coffee), but do not buy it, or do not see it in the shop.

It is painfully common to find clever designs on the shelves, or abroad, but only to see them disappear again next year, or never reach Europe. Another ridiculously simple and ingenious design by the Japanese company Toto is the combination of a water tap on the cistern of a toilet. Beautifully, the space of a sink is taken away, the main water line and the cistern is even better separated, and you save about a deciliter of water (if you wash hands) every time a person flushes. The catch? You can't buy it if you are not living in Asia or US!

So why do we as consumers invest fortunes in cappuccino machines, but leave the strangely intelligent design (not to confuse with fancy design by the same name)? I have come to the belief that xenophobia could be part of the answer - better take the safe choice (my wife strongly opposes me for not doing the latter).This off course is not very progressive in an evolutionary process.

Engineers still allow heat conducting pot handles in the 21st century, apparently ignoring common sense. I am not an engineer, so I hope the otherwise (assumingly) bright engineers parry orders rather than try to push the limit in their work.

So lastly, but most importantly, I think it could distill down to the mindset that if you can produce infinite variations on the same design until the demand for something better is too great you release the next model; it will maximize the company income. We all know Microsofts bad rumor of fixing deliberate program bugs. It is a logical capitalist approach, and not wrong for the dominating market powers. A tiny step ("now with enzyme X", "upgrade 2.3.4.1", "innovative design") keeps you buying the same product, because you know it will do the same (at least), but a totally different approach (and perhaps better) to solving your daily needs, gets less room in the consumers home.