The magic washing machine | Hans Rosling
Why Hacker News recommends it
Referenced when discussing how much time household technology saved families and how heavy housework used to be.
What it is
Hans Rosling makes the case that the washing machine was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution. Using Gapminder graphics, he shows how electricity and economic growth free up time for reading and learning.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2013 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Cites makeramen · 2013-09 · on “Google Shopping Express now available to all SF and Peninsula Shoppers ”
I'd liken this to the "washing machine effect" that Hans Rosling explaned in his TED talk [1]. He essentially made the case that the washing machine made a huge difference in the history of the world so parents could spend more time with their kids (among other things) instead of many hours a week just washing clothes. I would say Google Shopping Express has a similar effect for shopping trips where the time spent greatly affects the amount of things an individual can accomplish in a day. [1] [this video]
Cites cjlars · 2020-02 · on “We need to take CO2 out of the sky – an overview of climate tech”
The whole "reduce, reuse, recycle" approach isn't tenable. Even a very environmentally conscious US lifestyle still produces a very substantial appoint of carbon emissions. For more, see how Hans Rosling covered the idea in his 2011 "Magic Washing Machine" presentation. [this video]
Cites suoduandao3 · 2024-05 · on “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife”
A factor I think gets left out of this conversation is that the 50's housewife was an aberration, a home-based adult in an age of washing machines, electric ovens and small gardens at most. There used to be so much housework you basically needed a dedicated person to do it all[1]. '50s housewives didn't need to do most of that BUT they were also the primary mental health caregivers for a generation of men who had just come back from something like the second-most brutal war in human history. Typically with support from a member of the clergy but they were on the front lines. It was an enormous but unacknowledged responsibility. And given that we didn't have a repeat of what happened after WW