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resilients:resilient_boating [2013-01-30 02:28] – [Cooking in the sun and soaking in the rain] nik | resilients:resilient_boating [2013-01-30 02:37] – [From plastic rafts to wooden yachts and knowing when to stop] nik | ||
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The four layers of utility seem to be: not quite useless, disposable, keep, and treasure. | The four layers of utility seem to be: not quite useless, disposable, keep, and treasure. | ||
- | (image: PayoffDiagram) | + | < |
The two curves on the diagram attempt to show the amount of work needed for something that is useful and disposable versus something that is worth keeping. This probably also has a lot to do with the amount of effort one has already invested, as the first hour of any project hurts a lot more than the hundredth. (A formal analysis here would be straying into the realms of economists and efficiency consultants – for our purposes we can leave them fairly rough-and-ready.) | The two curves on the diagram attempt to show the amount of work needed for something that is useful and disposable versus something that is worth keeping. This probably also has a lot to do with the amount of effort one has already invested, as the first hour of any project hurts a lot more than the hundredth. (A formal analysis here would be straying into the realms of economists and efficiency consultants – for our purposes we can leave them fairly rough-and-ready.) | ||
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In connection to boating, we can think about these layers of utility as follows. The bottom layer is the one-use-only raft of plastic bottles roped to an inflatable mattress and some sticks, made for fun on a summer afternoon and taken apart when we leave. The disposable version might be the river rafts that I observed being used on the Fransisco River near Salamaua in Papua New Guinea. Cutting down some wild bamboo or other fast-growing trees, lashing them together with vines and using the construction to travel downstream before pushing the raft off to wash ashore elsewhere in the bay and biodegrade into compost. | In connection to boating, we can think about these layers of utility as follows. The bottom layer is the one-use-only raft of plastic bottles roped to an inflatable mattress and some sticks, made for fun on a summer afternoon and taken apart when we leave. The disposable version might be the river rafts that I observed being used on the Fransisco River near Salamaua in Papua New Guinea. Cutting down some wild bamboo or other fast-growing trees, lashing them together with vines and using the construction to travel downstream before pushing the raft off to wash ashore elsewhere in the bay and biodegrade into compost. | ||
- | (image:PNG_1,_2,_3 in that order) | + | < |
The next level is the vessel we will keep for a few seasons or even decades, a racing dinghy or a fishing boat that slowly tears at the rivets and gets damaged in a series of small accidents until it becomes unusable. At the top of the scale we have the fine handworked craftperson' | The next level is the vessel we will keep for a few seasons or even decades, a racing dinghy or a fishing boat that slowly tears at the rivets and gets damaged in a series of small accidents until it becomes unusable. At the top of the scale we have the fine handworked craftperson' | ||
- | The Subak and Subak2 of Control of the Commons were more than PNG river rafts, but not built to last for years. They were not envisaged as something that would fill up a supposed gap in our own or someone else's life, to greet us every Discardia by asking us why they were there. The amount of effort that would have been required to make them really work as functional long-term vessels was more than would have been useful. There is always one more thing to do. I think we are glad we didn' | + | The [[subak_construction_notes|Subak] and [[subak2_construction_notes|Subak2]] of [[Control of the Commons]] were more than PNG river rafts, but not built to last for years. They were not envisaged as something that would fill up a supposed gap in our own or someone else's life, to greet us every Discardia by asking us why they were there. The amount of effort that would have been required to make them really work as functional long-term vessels was more than would have been useful. There is always one more thing to do. I think we are glad we didn' |
====References, | ====References, |