[dk]

Are you saying this is just an exalted critique of unitaskers (a la Alton Brown)? It seems to me there's more going on here:

"Perhaps the majority of human activity can be reduced to a desire to make life more comfortable for ourselves, and has thus far led to being able to buy a toaster for £3.99 [among other achievements]. But looking at toasters in relation to global industry, at a moment in time when the effects of our industry are no longer trivial compared to the insignificant when our, they seem unreasonable. I think our position is ambiguous - the scale of industry involved in making a toaster [etc.] is ridiculous but at the same time the chain of discoveries and small technological developments that occurred along the way make it entirely reasonable."

As if "global industry" exists only to create "toasters [etc.]". In agreement with the essay, I think there's a whole lot of context that's being dropped by focusing on a device with relatively narrow purpose.

[anigbrowl]

As if "global industry" exists only to create "toasters [etc.]". You mistake me. As with things like CPUs, stoves are fantastic general purpose tools for preparing food and worthy of industrial effort.

Toasters do seem to pass that test as well, because most western households have a toaster or something similar. In that sense the market has spoken. But it is reasonable to ask how much bang for the buck (and also for the environmental buck) the toaster delivers compared to other food preparation tools. I suppose your view of the price:performance ratio is strongly correlated with your personal toast requirements.