FWIW his quote also applies to a lotta devices here on Earth. For example guns are not designed to last forever, but they are designed not to fail. You don't want to hear a click when you expect a bang or vice versa. As a side effect, they last forever. It's fairly common for a 100 year old gun to work perfectly in 2024.
There are also expectations about maintenance and some notion of a “standard” environment. For example, unmaintained firearms work less well (or fail) when exposed to humid conditions.
