Maintenance: it's what humans do

So, I am mowing the lawn. What to do better than thinking while I mow? Sometimes mowing is no fun. It is just a type of maintenance. How much of what we do is maintenance? I first thought about this when I was thinking about getting a new car. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to get the brakes changed or the tires rotated? I hate taking the car to the shop to get these things done (yes, if I was motivated I could do them myself). Here are some other maintenance things:

  • Mopping the floors
  • Paying bills
  • Keeping files organized on your computer
  • Brushing your teeth


How much of what we do is working on new stuff and how much is maintenance? From the dawn of man, it has been maintenance. Maybe that was the form of getting food (to maintain the body and the clan) but it was maintenance. It seems that the goal of humanity is to reduce maintenance (even though it seems like the opposite is happening). But think about it, how many of us have to worry about shelter and food (yes there are still people that worry about those things).

But theoretically, there really isn't such a thing as a zero maintenance system - is there? I think Mark from Arcsecond made a very insightful comment on this very problem in the comments to my Wall-E post.

The short answer: no.

More like this

While the economy is still performing CPR on itself, you may find yourself without a job. Worse still, if you are like me, you may not be able to find another one. In the meantime, here are 101 ways to improve your life (and take up some extra time) when you can't find a job no matter how hard you…
It is speculation time. My roommate and I were watching a story this morning on CNN by Sanjay Gupta about how astronauts lose bone mass while in space. One of the limitations with space travel is that because of the absence of gravity, your bones steadily deteriorate. Load bearing exercise is…
Time for lighter fare. There are some really good movies out there... Warning: A few minor spoilers ahead. First up, of course, is The Dark Knight. Superhero movies just keep getting better and better, but this one is going to be hard to top. It's two and a half hours long, but I wanted to go…
Right now, I'm sitting under one of the outer rain bands associated with newly-formed Tropical Storm Erin. We're seeing a moderately heavy thunderstorm right now. The rain's coming down fast and heavy. There's a lot of lightning right now, with thunder that's loud enough to set off the occasional…

But theoretically, there really isnât such a thing as a zero maintenance system - is there?

Non unless you can reverse the second law of thermodynamics.