I think it is very disturbing that the technology everyone relies on for day-to-day existence is no longer accessible to the common man. It used to be that an illiterate could learn to overhaul an internal combustion engine.

On the other hand, a large SUV nowadays gets the same mileage as a VW Beetle did back when I was in college. Also, more and more routine maintenance items aren't necessary any more. Been a long time since I had to get a grease gun under a car. Cars are better now.

And face it, a few pioneer types aside, how many people ever fixed their own wagons, built their own buildings, hammered their own iron, or did anything else requiring a specialized skill?

Guns used to be built by craftsmen, and handed down as heirlooms. With interchangable parts and mass production, the Great Equalizers could be had by other people as well. (It's interesting to note how much democratization is helped along by enabling the "little people" to have weapons. See also: Medieval knights and crossbows.)

The same pattern goes for a lot of other things people need, want, and use. Never before have so many options been available for so many people.

Electronic tech may be disposable, but it's also cheaper, and truly more accessible to the average person. You can get a cheap laptop now for less than $500. A thousand dollars will buy you a damn good machine, including monitor and all peripherals and goodies. I paid $6,000 for my PC-AT, and that was just the box.

Disposability happens when something is so affordable that it makes more sense to just replace it. Where the bar is depends on your own circumstances. I just bought a new shop vacuum instead of fixing the broken switch on the old one because it would have taken me an afternoon to find the obscure three-way switch, assuming there even was one in this area. My time was worth more to me, and I got a better vacuum in the bargain (the top lifts off to be a hand-held blower). But if the vacuum had cost twice as much, it would have been different.

I changed out a lot of the parts on my first car, an old Delta-88, including body parts. Browsed through wrecking yards for the items. Couldn't afford to care about color, so the old heap ended up looking a bit like a clown car. But these were simple items--a few bolts, put the belt back on. When I eventually needed an engine rebuilt on a later car, I paid someone else to do it.