What are some systems we live with today that were designed for a world of the past?

What are some systems we live with today that were designed for a world of the past?
Isaac Gaetz, Professional engineer.
"modern plumbing" is a severely flawed system, particularly toilets. Potable water is becoming an increasingly valuable resource, and yet we have plumbing that in order to handle a few ounces of waste requires polluting many gallons of water.

The width between train rails, or gauge, has been set for centuries based on the width of wooden roman chariot axles.

The sizes, shape and locations of windows on residences are generally based on tradition. These traditions originally occurred because of physical construction limits. Now, we could easily build homes with more and better natural lighting, but we don't because we are stuck in an old pattern.

Cars have 12v power connections in the cabin, they are still based on old car cigarette lighters, despite very few people using such a lighter anymore.

Most television remotes have dozens of buttons, one for each function the remote does, this is the opposite of most technology which is heading in the direction of simplification, less buttons, and more intuitive design.

Money is still printed on paper and stamped with coins, while nearly everything in our entire world operates on a digital platform. We have work around solutions with credit/debit cards, but the money itself could be improved by taking a different, more useful form.

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