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from the nothing-lasts-more-than-8-years dept.
Mankind has a history of long term projects. The Pyramids, Stonehenge, The Great Wall, getting Mickey Mouse into the Public Domain...
Some of these projects took multiple centuries of effort. Not a single person present at the start of those saw them completed. This is made worse when you consider lifespans that were half or less what they are currently.
But what was the LAST project that spanned lifetimes? Do you know of any going on today?
The Great Wall was started in 300 B.C. and completed some 1900 years later.
As humanity considers things like colonizing other planets and space megastructures we are talking about activities that will take centuries of effort. This turns into millennia as we look at things like terraforming and actually spreading humanity beyond our own star.
Does humanity in the current instant gratification social media quarterly results era have the appetite for projects that our grandchildren won't see completed?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 24 2018, @10:36PM (8 children)
The solution to so many issues is to build long-term durable structures from cast limestone like they used to do: https://www.geopolymer.org/faq/faq-for-artificial-stone-supporters/ [geopolymer.org]
1) Lock up carbon in rocks and emit less CO2 that portland cement (for people who think that is an issue)
2) Can survive natural disasters
3) Requires minimal maintenance
4) Last for generations, creating a psychological link between present and past
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 25 2018, @01:33AM (7 children)
The site you linked to demonstrates top notch skills in brainwashing. I know nothing about geopolymers and have no opinion about their use in Egypt. I'm talking about methods. For example:
The geopolymer theory does not need a book or a throng of believers. It only needs a proof - and given that the work was, purportedly, done by ancient Egyptians, it surely can be done by a modern PhD, a bucket and a shovel. The quarry and Nile are still there. Get a few students and build a small pyramid - say, fifty feet tall. Publish your findings.
Personally, I think that the three pyramids have more in common with the Sphinx and the nearby megalithic complex than with step pyramids and Egyptians. Egyptians did not make the big pyramids, they imitated them by building a multitude of smaller ones. They certainly did not create the Sphinx due to its age, but it is the obvious focal point of all surface objects on the site.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 25 2018, @03:21AM (5 children)
They did do this and found it to be like 1000 times more efficient than dragging stones around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znQk_yBHre4 [youtube.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 25 2018, @07:55PM (3 children)
And yet where's the proof that the Egyptians did it that way?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @03:26AM
The various evidence is shared here:
https://www.geopolymer.org/faq/faq-for-artificial-stone-supporters/ [geopolymer.org]
In short, when chemical engineers interpret various stele they see they describe the process of making limestone concrete. Also, went artificial limestone is sent for analysis the geologists dont notice anything strange. Finally, it is just so much easier to do and explains all the stuff that "ancient aliens" type theories have fixated upon.
And this isn't just the pyramids, it is megalithic architecture found from all around the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:47PM (1 child)
The video mentions the use of Lime. Where and how do they produce it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_(material)#Production
Converting CaCO3 to CaO releases CO2.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @06:18PM
Just look up "geopolymer CO2":
http://www.geopolymer.org/fichiers_pdf/False-CO2-values.pdf [geopolymer.org]
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39268269.pdf [core.ac.uk]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday December 31 2018, @06:00PM
Making lime is not 1000 times more efficient. Nor is breaking up the limestone. And you still have to drag this stuff around no matter what form it's in.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday December 25 2018, @03:24AM
Who else was there to make them? Occam's razor - you have a society capable of making the Giza Pyramids, you have historical evidence backing that (with particular leaders and engineers named as responsible!), the pyramids in question are consistent with the time span and engineering practices of ancient Egypt, and there's nobody else around to make the pyramids.