Giles Slade Made to Break (pages 83-185)

Much of what Slade tells us in his book, Made to Break, is a history of certain technologies that became outdated due to new technological innovations. For instance, Slade gives us an account of the silk industry, primarily how the American Great Depression affected the manufacturing of silk in Japan. Due to the hard times found in America, and all over the world, in the 1930's to the eve of World War II, the Japanese silk industry was failing, and a call for a new silk replacement was being heard (Slade 116-118). Slade tells us because of this, later developments in technology gave way to synthetic silk, the future of the silk industry.

Slade later goes on to note the practice of "planned obsolescence" during the Cold War era, in which Vance Packard introduced "manipulation ism"  to the American economy, and new technologies were being produced to replace older styles of living. The Cold War, a time in which the traces of the modern computer were being developed, and new manufacturing methods were replacing antique ones, was a turning point in technological obsolescence in America. As civilization has made technological advancements in the past 200 years that exponentially exceed those of humankind's prior existence, it is no wonder that new technologies replace those developed just 5 years ago. We can only speculate as to what Slade will cite in the last part of the book, noting the obsolescence of technologies we all use today, even this moment, and the future of these technologies in a world where today's technologies are being expanded upon for tomorrow's new and cool developments.