In today's world do you think MacGyver would succumb to "Replace instead of repair" mindset we seem to find ourselves in these days?

Back in the 80's and 90's if your toaster broke down, you took it to the appliance repair store and got it fixed for $20-30. These days you throw it away and go buy a new one for $20-30. This applies to just about everything now big and small, so I wonder if a modern MacGyver would have fallen into this mindset as well?

'Some things, just can't be fixed and this happens to be one of them.'

I don't know. Usually when somethings is broken I appeal on my grandfather, if it involves clothes I appeal on my grandmother. I think I'm also a replacer guy than a fixer.

What would Mac do? Mac has the gift to be able to fix anything. I think in some ways if he can't fix anything anymore, he becomes useless sort to speak. Replacing is easier than fixing. But knowing Mac he would still attempt to fix anything.

Maybe the modern-day MacGyver would still repair things; after all, he would do the fix with something he had available, rather than paying a repairman or buying a part to fix it. For the rest of us, this just isn't sensible. Things are not made as sturdily as they once were and products are cheaper as well. So, when the part costs the same as a new product, why aggravate yourself.

Let us not forget that some basic things in our lives - such as alarm clocks, music playback devices, stoves, phones, and cars have changed much in 30 years. It's one thing to drop Mac from the '80s into our world and imagine he would have a learning curve; it's another to understand how much he must have read about technology all the time. He would be up to the task to fix anything because he would know everything about whatever he was fixing. Mac's true talent was the ability to learn anything.

I can fix a normal handset telephone; I know how they work. I don't know how the innards of a cell phone work, so I can't fix it, I have to replace it. Same with a modern MacGyver - there's no limit beyond knowledge, tools and time.

Ari

good point

I have to disagree. I don't think Mac would have a learning curve b/c he mostly just... does, figures things out, how stuff works, etc all on his own. Being mechanically inclined, creative, inventive or whatever, dosn't come so much from what you learn, but what you can understand and solve as it presents itself. You either have it or you don't to a large extent, sorta like painting or playing music. I think Mac relies on that for the most part, in addition to real life experience and what he learns from reading. He also implies on several occasions that he dosn't have a formal education in several areas, areas that he still *clearly* has a lot of knowledge in, so this is another reason leads me to believe he pulls a lot of ideas out of his hat.

It's true about electronics though, he'd find himself pretty handicap now-a-days. A lot of devices are too tiny to be repaired by human hands and/or are so integrated they can't be repaired period. He'd still have plenty to keep him busy though. For instance he'd repair his fridge, his washer or other appliances, those are things that can run forever. He'd also still be driving his same Jeep, provided he hadn't totaled it in an accident. Oh wait, he did in that episode with the Amish people and STILL fixed it! Ok, so cars are indestructible in Mac's hands. I think Mac's computer would be custom built from parts these days. A couple years old probably, but upgraded so it's not slow. That seems like it would fit his personality - repair (or upgrade) instead of replace.

Speaking of, since Mac was well acquainted & friends with seemingly EVERYONE who ever appeared on the show.... can you imagine how many facebook friends he would have?!!!!

Err, wait. Are you saying he *wouldn't* have a learning curve, or?... Sorry, just confused a tiny bit on what you mean.

I think Mac would still be a repair type person, even in this day and age of electronic gizmos. I know my husband and I both tend to try to fix things before we decide to replace. both of us are engineers and have that problem solving mindset that Mac has.

There are a lot of things that run on microprocessors and integrated circuit boards, but there are also a lot of manuals available for fixing that type of stuff. If you can get a manual, have a pretty good feel for electronics (which I believe Mac does) and a sodering iron and associated tools at home, you can fix a lot of control panels. We've done it for car dashboards, replaced components on dryer control panels, and dishwasher control panels. We've even put our knowledge to use in silencing annoying kid toys

It's not difficult if you don't mind doing a bit of research and have some patience. I know it has saved us a bit of money over the years. And it's kinda fun too

So, yeah, I think Mac would still try to repair before replace.

Geekgirl,

what I was referring to specifically as being near impossible are stuff like ipods, cell phones, netbooks, basically anything that's very small in form. These things were soldered together by machines and you'd have to have a very expensive soldering rig and steady hands like a surgeon to even attempt, probably not even then. Everything else is fair game and Mac could handle it.

I save a fortune fixing my own stuff too. I have things I bought 10-15 years ago that still work fine, had the same car for 8. The best repair I ever made to that was taking the dashboard apart and getting rid of that damned annoying DING! DING! DING! chime that went off every time you opened a door with the keys in the ignition.

Yeah the ding, ding, ding is rather annoying and should be removed. We performed similar surgery on a couple of kids toys

We have played with the surface mount soldering in our basement. My husband does integrated circuit board stuff for fun, so we have a workshop with the capability to deal with some small stuff. Now that being said, I haven't tried to deal with the really small stuff like cell phones and such since I've had the same cell phone for 8 yrs, well until it fell into grass and was run over by the lawnmower. FYI - I don't think that Mac would have been able to fix that one!

My thought is though, it doesn't hurt to try, even if I don't succeed. It's still fun to take things apart and try to figure out what's wrong.

Agree. It's always worth a try at least. Just don't expect to do much more than replacing the battery when someone ask you to fix their broken ipod.

I think that some things are worth fixing if they have sentimental value

now a days you can get warranty on newer things, but the older things you can not, the older the item is the higher the price is. i would only have it fixed if it belonged to someone close to me or a good friend who has passed, thats if you can't fix it yourself.

I think Mac would be a Mr. Fix-it. All he'd have to do is read the manual and he could do it. He seems to learn well.

I'm mostly a fixer. When it comes to items with teeny-tiny parts, I replace. When something goes wrong, I usually ask for help. My dad is good with parts and my mom can help with the taste in fashion.