Repurposing jordanmarsh6, June 10, 2021April 5, 2023 There is nothing I find more boring than a new car commercial. The basic idea each time is the same: some new head light that shines 2% brighter, the heavy use of the term “MSRP” which I have never cared to learn what it means, and panoramic views of the car driving through a country road. I just yawn every time I see one. As a general rule, I don’t really care much for cars outside of them getting me from point A to point B fast. There is one exception: Tesla. I get excited about Tesla’s. Consider what it was like before Tesla came along to drive electric cars. They couldn’t hold a charge very long, it took FOREVER to charge the whole battery, and the maximum speed couldn’t get above 40 mph. You’d have to endure a drastic downgrade from a gas-powered car if you were worried about the environment. On top of that, there was always the annoying but true argument that electricity largely came from burning fossil fuels anyways, so electric cars defeated the point. Enter Tesla. Suddenly, electric cars can hold a charge as long or longer than a regular tank of gas, you can charge them overnight just like you would your phone, and they go really fast. Of course, they can be a bit of an annoyance on road trips when you need to recharge. Supercharging stations can get the car to about 80% in 30 minutes which is still slower than filling up with gas. Even still, Tesla made consumer electric cars feasible first, and then they made them desirable. Now as society works towards finding cleaner ways of producing electricity, we’ll be ready with electric cars that can help us maintain our way of life. Tesla repurposed cars in a way that made a better car possible. Here’s a crucial point: we don’t have to sacrifice our current way of life to adopt Tesla’s. Tesla repurposed cars into a healthier alternative. Another example that comes to mind is the impossible burger. The idea is simple: make the impossible burger taste, smell, and feel exactly like the real thing except it is not actually made from meat. Now it is up to debate to determine how healthy the impossible burger is compared to the real thing; however, the benefit is still clear that those who wish not to eat meat will be able to enjoy a hamburger with the impossible burger. Impossible Foods, the maker of Impossible Burger, repurposed our concept of eating meat. Do you want to know why I thought of these two examples? I thought of them because of the simple idea of adding thiamine to alcohol (as mentioned in previous posts). If we added to thiamine to alcohol, we would avoid the consequences of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome for thousands of alcoholics, and not make them change their way of life. Especially for alcoholics, who notoriously have a difficult time changing their drinking habits despite their best efforts. We would repurpose the alcohol to create a healthier alternative. You might understand my point here: can we take a look at the habits we want to break and repurpose them? This probably won’t work in many circumstances. But I am positive that it could work in some! Instead of sitting at a chair for work, we get a standing desk or an exercise ball to sit on. Instead of listening to music on our drive to work, can we listen to audiobooks? We can repurpose different parts of our life for better alternatives. Self Improvement