Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It's Now Obsolete
Michael Straight said Lifeward refused to repair his $100,000 exoskeleton, which only had a minor issue with its battery.
Glad that he eventually got it fixed.
Fortunately, Lifeward eventually capitulated and Straight was able to get his exoskeleton repaired — but that was only after an intense campaign
Still, these are the issues that make me question why anyone is excited for products like brain implants. The longer we can go without commercialised body modifications, the better.
To me, it's why Right to Repair laws are incredibly necessary. Repair parts, manuals, everything needed to operate and maintain a sold product should be mandated as "must be available to buy from the patent-holder, or the patent expires and the part is legal for anyone to manufacture".
Shit like this is why we need strong regulations for anything that is a medical device that is depended on by people. I don't give a shit if it isn't profitable anymore, these companies need to support their customers that may be significantly impacted if their devices don't work.
Every two years, 99% of voters here in the US choose to put their stamp of approval on capitalism. Then they inexplicably clutch their pearls when capitalists do capitalist things, as if it's somehow shocking.
Looks like public pressure brought a positive outcome in this case, so that's something, but this is the stuff you should consider when voting for the two ruling parties.
You are that guy in the comic about a modern person blaming serfs for the persistence of feudalism.
Thank you for your response.
Hey, look at that. It's the inevitable consequence of the game theory of first past the post voting. Voting system reform is my #1 issue, and if you actually care about the fact that "99% of voters" are locked into voting for someone they dislike to avert disaster every 4 years, it should be yours as well.
There is no meaningful future for third parties until and unless this occurs. IRV is a good first step, but Score voting is better. Multimember districts are also important. Getting rid of the electoral college is a no-brainer.
While agree with the sentiment, electorialism will never end capitalism because of the power imbalance where capitalists will spend all their money if they need to for heavy propaganda campaigns in favour of capitalism.
Your energy is better spent on small scale organising your workplace, to make sure that you and your coworkers can actually use the only leverage you have through strikes.
Absolutely right. The only power we have now is local.
US voters are never given the chance to vote for non-capitalist candidates. But this year we actually have a socialist in the running which is why I am voting for Claudia de la Cruz this year.
In a two-party system, you're throwing away your vote that could get Harris instead of Trump elected for not even a blip on the radar. This is at best pointless grandstanding.
Edit: Decided to read a little into her. She's nothing but a spoiler candidate, meant to syphon voters away from Harris, just like Stein. Cherry on top: Apologia for China and North Korea and funding from China, which alone should motivate any decent human being to avoid her like the plague: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_De_la_Cruz_2024_presidential_campaign#Criticism
I respect your right to vote as you choose.
I've been voting for a while and never have I seen a candidate on the ballot who was against capitalism.
What do you suggest people do then? Protest the vote and take to the streets? Not asking to be a dick, just genuinely curious.
Vote third party and be public about it.
Protests are a waste, so taking to the streets doesn't matter much unless you can gather enough people to create a legitimate violent threat.
Work inside all of the political institutions to bring about constitutional change. Abolish electoral college etc.
The amusing thing about the people who complain that capitalists are the root of all problems, they don't make an effort to correct it.
Take the situation of this story. If your ideals are pure and would have the popular support of a critical mass of people, there is absolutely not one thing preventing the establishment of a company, chartered as a public good corporation, and ran as a non-profit entity to provide these kind of material goods for people at cost, or if someone is willing to subsidise the production even less so if you like. You could even get the seed money from a crowd sourced campaign, or so called 'angel investors' no strings attached, no ownership stakes to distribute.
they don’t make an effort to correct it.
An interesting take, but nevertheless, an incorrect one. The individual vote has no power to make significant change at the Federal level unless they're a billionaire or willing to commit an act of terrorism. (Both of which don't apply to either of us, I imagine.)
According to the dictionary the company is lying.
"No longer useful" according the company, as it doesn't make them money anymore.
I guess we will see if "there's no such things as bad publicity" works out for them.
I certainly don’t agree with the company’s position, but did you read definition 1b? I think you may have stopped reading a little early
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obsolete includes neglect
Companies should publish schematics, drawings, 3d files etc when they mark a product obsolete.
Don't forget to unlock the bootloader on products that have an operating system, so that people can also flash a replacement for it. So many Ipads and Iphones being wasted now.
If it will go in someone's body, it should be completely opensource, from hardware to software.
While I don’t disagree with the sentiment, exo means outside.
True, I had another comment on mind when I wrote it. Someone talking about brain implants. But that's also valid in this case.
Ridiculous, but depressingly unsurprising.
