Indoor Plumbing Is an Amazing Invention

Indoor Plumbing Is an Amazing Invention

By 
 | 
Posted Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, at 3:25 PM ET
107168125
A young woman washes her face at a newly built deep water well in 2010
Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images.
Robert Gordon has a working paper out making some not-particularly-persuasive, super-pessimistic, speculative claims about the future of American economic growth that does include, as an aside, this very persuasive observation about consumer surplus:
A thought experiment helps to illustrate the fundamental importance of the inventions of [Industrial Revolution] #2 compared to the subset of [Industrial Revolution] #3 inventions that have occurred since 2002. You are required to make a choice between option A and option B. With option A you are allowed to keep 2002 electronic technology, including your Windows 98 laptop accessing Amazon, and you can keep running water and indoor toilets; but you can’t use anything invented since 2002.
Option B is that you get everything invented in the past decade right up to Facebook, Twitter, and the iPad, but you have to give up running water and indoor toilets. You have to haul the water into your dwelling and carry out the waste. Even at 3am on a rainy night, your only toilet option is a wet and perhaps muddy walk to the outhouse. Which option do you choose?
The answer, obviously, is that indoor plumbing is more important than the combination of everything that's been invented in the past 10 years. Indoor plumbing is a really amazing invention.
But I think it's actually quite important to not mix and match arguments about subjective utility with arguments about GDP and economic growth. I'd gladly give up small kitchen appliances (toasters, microwaves, coffee machines, food processors, and even my beloved immersion blender) rather than Wikipedia. Giving all that stuff up would be annoying, but I could make coffee with a French press, and I'd really hate to lose Wikipedia. But the high subjective value I place on Wikipedia doesn't change the fact that the manufacture, sale, distribution, and marketing of small kitchen appliances is a substantial industry creating tons of jobs and economic activity in a way that Wikipedia doesn't. These are just different things.
Still—take a moment to sit back and try to appreciate the stupendous difference in your quality of life that comes to you courtesy of indoor plumbing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Orifice and Weir flow calculations

Note: Orifice and Weir Flow Computations The orifice flow calculation proceeds as follows: 1. Initially and whenever the setting (i.e., the fraction opened) changes, flow coefficients for both orifice and weir behavior are computed as follows: a. For side orifices: Define Hcrit = h/2 where h is the opening height. b. For bottom orifices: i. For a circular orifice, compute area over length (i.e., circumference) as AL = h /4. ii. For a rectangular orifice compute AL = h*w/(2*(h+w)) where w is the opening width. iii. Compute Hcrit = Cd*AL/0.414 where Cd is the orifice discharge coefficient. At step 1b, the critical head for the bottom orifice, where orifice flow turns into weir flow, is found by equating the result of the orifice equation to that of the weir equation Cd*Area*sqrt(2g)*sqrt(Hcrit) = Cw*Length*sqrt(Hcrit)*Hcrit or Hcrit = (Cd * Area) / (Cw/sqrt(2g) * Length) The value of Cw/sqrt(2g) for a sharp crested weir is 0.414.
Read more

SWMM 5 Error Messages

Engine Error Number Description ERROR 101: memory allocation error.                                                                                             ERROR 103: cannot solve KW equations for Link                                                                                   ERROR 105: cannot open ODE solver.                                                                                              ERROR 107: cannot compute a valid time step.                                                                                     ERROR 108: ambiguous outlet ID name for Subcatchment                                                                            ERROR 109: invalid parameter values for Aquifer                                                                                  ERROR 110: ground elevation is below water table for Subcatchment                                                         
Read more

EMC Washoff in SWMM5

Image
There are four steps to using EMC concentrations in your network: 1. Define your pollutant by adding a pollutant using the Data=>Quality=>Pollutant command : 2. Define the Land Use by using the Data=>Land Uses command or the Land Use Editor: 3. Define Buildup to be None by clicking on the None Tab: 4. Define the EMC Washoff concentration by clicking on the Washoff Tab: This is where you would add a GW concentration More: http://www.swmm2000.com/
Read more