This video discusses the history of planned obsolescence, starting with the Phoebus Cartel in the 1920s, where leading light bulb manufacturers agreed to reduce the lifespan of their bulbs to increase sales. The video also mentions instances of planned obsolescence in other industries, such as Apple's practices with iPhones. It emphasizes the importance of technological innovation over artificial obsolescence and mentions the growing movement for the right to repair products.
1. The video is about cars, phones, light bulbs, and a conspiracy that made these items worse [Document(page_content="00:00:02.18: - This is a video about things like cars,\n00:00:05.44: phones, and light bulbs\nand an actual conspiracy\n00:00:09.15: that made them worse.\n00:00:12.39: This video was sponsored by NordVPN,\n00:00:14.76: more about them at the end of the video\n00:00:17.65: I am outside Livermore\nFire Station, number six.\n00:00:21.13: And in here, they have the longest,\n00:00:23.65: continuously on light bulb in the world.\n00:00:26.90: It has been on for 120 years\n00:00:30.54: since 1901.\n00:00:31.81: There it is.\n00:00:32.64: - [Host] Yeah, that's it.\n00:00:34.03: - It's not even connected\nto a light switch\n00:00:36.70: but it does have a backup\nbattery and generator.\n00:00:39.21: So the big question is,\n00:00:40.65: how has this light bulb lasted so long?\n00:00:43.43: It was manufactured by hand not long\n00:00:45.89: after commercial light\nbulbs were first invented,\n00:00:48.51: And yet, it has been running\nfor over a million hours,\n00:00:52.08: way longer than any light\nbulb today is meant to last.\n00:00:55.58: Awhile back, a friend of\nmine told me this story,\n00:00:58.09: that someone had invented a light bulb\n00:01:00.55: that would last forever years ago,\n00:01:02.89: but they never sold it\n00:01:04.42: because an everlasting light bulb makes\n00:01:06.14: for a terrible business model.\n00:01:08.03: I mean, you would never\nhave any repeat customers\n00:01:10.64: and eventually you would run out\n00:01:12.16: of people to sell light bulbs to,\n00:01:14.63: I thought this story sounded ridiculous.\n00:01:16.69: If you could make an\neverlasting light bulb,\n00:01:19.14: then everyone would buy your light bulb\n00:01:21.04: over the competitors.\n00:01:22.43: And so you could charge\nreally high prices,\n00:01:24.26: make a lot of money, even if\ndemand would eventually dry up.\n00:01:28.07: I just couldn't imagine that\nwe had better light bulbs\n00:01:30.59: in the past and then\nintentionally made them worse,\n00:01:34.26: but it turns out I was wrong.\n00:01:37.28: At least sort of.\n00:01:39.53: Inventing a viable\nelectric light was hard,\n00:01:42.86: I mean, this is the typical\nincandescent design,\n00:01:45.09: which just involves\npassing electric current\n00