For some reason, economic and cultural modernity has striven to give us things that require less and less attention. As a consequence we have been freed up to acquire more and more things, each of which we give less and less attention.
Products that are supposed to take care of themselves are invariably complicated to the point that they often break down and then of course can no longer take care of themselves. At this point, since we have given them so little attention, we have no qualms about throwing them away.
A sustainment is a deliberately conservative product in this regard. A sustainment is never low maintenance. It always requires regular attention; it demands that you know how it functions and forces you to interact with it to keep it functioning.
We have found that these sorts of environments are rewarding in ways other than functioning better for longer. People lead richer lives in such environments, taking care of all that in turn takes care of them, participating in the process of sustainment.
By contrast, 'smart environments' with totally automated features, tend to make people stupid and useless.
