[HN Gopher] Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One
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       Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One
        
       Author : mitchbob
       Score  : 38 points
       Date   : 2026-01-20 19:01 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (press.stripe.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (press.stripe.com)
        
       | lowmagnet wrote:
       | Gotta maintain The Machines of Loving Grace.
        
         | actionfromafar wrote:
         | Or Democracy
        
       | whilenot-dev wrote:
       | Stewart Brands article _The Maintenance Race_ [0] was one of my
       | favorite posts in 2022.
       | 
       | [0]: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-maintenance-race/
       | 
       | EDIT: discussion at that time:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32196345
        
         | huevosabio wrote:
         | Yes, this article was one of the best articles in the last few
         | years. And to this day I think about it. It has that property
         | of good writing that lingers with you way after you read it.
         | 
         | Can't wait to read the book!
        
         | titanomachy wrote:
         | "In his journal [Crowhurst] would diligently make a list of
         | projects that needed to be done, do a few of them half-
         | heartedly, and then lose interest. Since he never got around to
         | organizing his stowage, he had to ransack everywhere to find
         | things."
         | 
         | This hits close to home... I don't think I should be a sailor.
        
       | kwiens wrote:
       | I was fortunate to read a preprint of Brand's latest. It's
       | magnificent.
       | 
       | How and why do things fail? What are the cultures that lead to
       | long-lasting products?
       | 
       | The undercurrent here is that Brand is behind the 10,000 year
       | clock and has a vested interest in making things last a long
       | time.
       | 
       | This book is an exploration of the world of things, how they
       | break, and how people fix them. It's a huge effort, and Part One
       | is right. He's been posting further work on Twitter from Part
       | Two.
       | 
       | He included some sword fighting manuals that I sent that we think
       | are the earliest written instruction guide.
        
         | koakuma-chan wrote:
         | > The undercurrent here is that Brand is behind the 10,000 year
         | clock and has a vested interest in making things last a long
         | time.
         | 
         | What do you mean by this? I have no idea who Stewart Brand is,
         | and I am wary of authors who advertise themselves by saying how
         | many books they have written, because it makes me think they
         | are fiction writers rather than people with real knowledge on
         | the subject.
        
           | tonyedgecombe wrote:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Brand
        
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       (page generated 2026-01-20 23:00 UTC)