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RE: news roundup

I wear an automatic watch. It also has a perpetual power source - me. There is a clever arrangement of weights and ratcheting springs that takes the kinetic energy of me flinging my limbs about as I life with it on my wrist, and stores it in springs that drive the motions of the timepiece. I love it. I do note that such purely mechanical contrivances are subject to limitations of precision far from what can be attained by digital devices, but I don't need to have stopwatch precision for what I need to reckon time for, which is simply to account for my labors to clients, to get places on time, and etc. I far more admire the incredible ingenuity of the automatic mechanism than I mind the lack of temporal precision.

The most astounding thing about it to me is that it cost ~$100 brand new. I can't even hang a door for less than that. More than anything else I know of, the price point at which Seiko V automatic watches are profitable to their maker illustrates the incredible pinnacle of achievement of centralized industry and civil society. It will be a long time before I can fire up a 3D printer and order it to make me anything comparable. Decentralized means of production haven't approached the level of development necessary to free us from overlords. In truth, they've only just begun.