Quality as an artifact of scarcity
Older goods can embody genuine durability without proving that the past valued quality more. When production served fewer, wealthier buyers—and cheaper construction had not yet been mastered—quality emerged partly from scarcity.
The beautifully made object from the past may be beautiful for an awkward reason: its makers did not yet know how to make a cheaper version that ordinary people could afford.
E1When durability is the default, not the goal
Early production often begins with expensive materials, labor-intensive methods, and a narrow customer base. Those constraints can yield durable goods, but they also keep access scarce. Later producers learn which materials, features, and tolerances can be removed while preserving enough function to reach far more buyers. What looks like declining craftsmanship may therefore be the visible cost of widening access—not simply cultural decay.
E1Scarcity does not explain every loss
This principle does not make every cheaper product a good bargain, nor does it prove that planned obsolescence and careless cost-cutting are imaginary. It only blocks the easy inference that an older object’s superior construction must reflect superior values. The surviving artifact may represent a market that excluded most people.
E1Price the missing access
When comparing an old product with its modern counterpart, add one question to the quality comparison: who could afford each version when it was new? Judge the lost durability alongside the access gained, then decide whether paying today for the removed materials or workmanship is actually worthwhile.
E1Episodes that teach this
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The Past Sucked - Here’s The Truth No One Wants to Admit - FutureIQ
· explained at 9:10
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Something is high quality because we didn't know how to create lower quality, cheaper stuff which everyone else can afford.