Our technologies are far from pristine constructions. Frankly, they’re a mess.
Our software evolves over years, or even decades, with bits and pieces being added over time. The IRS uses technologies from the 1960s, and the Space Shuttle used computer chips that were decades old. The code in our automobiles is fantastically baroque, and in many cases may be too complex to understand. Everything from our kitchen appliances and medical devices to our legal codes and bureaucratic structures are, in a word, kluges. A kluge — a term from the engineering and computer science world — refers to something that is convoluted and messy but gets the job done. Think Rube Goldberg contraption meets MacGyver, but without the playfulness. Kluges often have been adapted and constructed over a period of time, with band-aids upon band-aids, serving their function. But woe betide the person who must maintain or fix such as monster.
