What would you change?

>
> > This list has been dormant for a while, so I'll do my part to get
> > discussion going again.
> >
> > Let's assume that we're entering the age of orbital habitats and
> > we're at the design phase now.
> >
> > We're starting with a blank slate and can set new standards for
> > EVERYTHING that we manufacture. We all know that there are some
> > things on Earth that illogical but continue on due to inertia.
>
> History shows that attempts to design from the ground up tend to
> produce inefficient systems in the early iterations. Systems
designed
> to permit the users to adapt them as needed will always be
superior to
> inflexible ones in the long run.

You make a good point. What I'm really trying to get at is what
Earth standards should we abandon?

Right now, if you wanted to make appliances that ran on 145v rather
than 120/240 you be out of luck because there'd be no place to pull
the power from.

It's unlikely that we'd be launching fridges and stoves into orbit
for our colonists.

There'd be no legacy standards in orbit. If we adopted 120/240 then
we'd have to have a better reason than "we need to so that exisitng
appliances can work" (there aren't any in orbit) or "because that's
what the rest of the world uses." (so what)

So, do you see any standards around you that just don't make sense
but are used because it's just too difficult to change a worldwide
user base?

I'd be interested in your observations.

TangoMan