Wired v. wireless

When I buy something with a battery, I feel kind of a regret. Lithium batteries always have an expiration date, and sooner or later you'll need to replace them. In the worst-case scenario—quite usual with Apple products—it's more affordable to buy a new product than to do a replacement. I'm thinking here about the AirPods, for example.

I feel bad when I think how many earphones will be rubbish in ~2 years just because wires are a thing of the past. I'm also guilty of this atrocity to our planet, but I understand the inconvenience of wired vs. wireless devices. Plus, new tech is too sweet to avoid the temptation.

I'm typing now on a wired keyboard. A few years ago, when I bought this iMac, Apple let you choose between a wired one with the numeric keypad and the Magic keyboard. The latter was more compact and beautiful, but I chose the first because I was lazy to charge another device. Nowadays, Apple doesn't sell wired keyboards anymore, which is quite contradictory after how often they brag about being such a green and environmentally friendly company. If you wish to protect the environment, you could create wired products at more affordable prices than wireless ones. That would be skin in the game and Apple betting for sustainability.

Last weekend, I listened to Friedberg at the All-In Podcast. He talked about how nuclear fusion could change the world in a few decades. To summarize, the idea is that nuclear fusion allows producing clean and unlimited energy (in a similar way to how the sun creates it). If we make this plasma fusion system work, we'll be able to build electric devices without batteries eventually. Friedberg also talks about how it would be possible to create heavy elements such as gold, using the same plasma fusion process.

That opens a new—and wireless—world of possibilities.

Imagine how nice would it be to drive a car with unlimited energy. To live remotely without solar panels (where hours of light are weak). How cool would it be to have everything unplugged, to avoid electricity bills, and the most important: to have AirPods lasting longer than ~2 years.