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ASK SN: Has Mankind Lost its Appetite for Long Term Projects?

posted by martyb on Monday December 24 2018, @10:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the nothing-lasts-more-than-8-years dept.

RandomFactor writes:

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?

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by CZB on Monday December 24 2018, @11:35PM (2 children)

    by CZB (6457) on Monday December 24 2018, @11:35PM (#778204)

    Building cathedrals, temples, pyramids, walls, and other mega projects require a unified community with a lot of extra resources, or a powerful dynasty with a consistent surplus of resources.
    I've looked at building a pyramid, but "just because it would be cool" isn't enough to motivate a large enough group of people.

    What would motivate you to join a mega construction project? (Other than the local tyrant making it mandatory.)

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Tuesday December 25 2018, @12:17AM (1 child)

    by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Tuesday December 25 2018, @12:17AM (#778214) Homepage Journal

    Building cathedrals, temples, pyramids, walls, and other mega projects require a unified community with a lot of extra resources, or a powerful dynasty with a consistent surplus of resources.

    An excellent point. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine [wikipedia.org] is a good counterexample [stjohndivine.org]:

    [From the Wikipedia entry]
    There is some dispute about whether this cathedral or Liverpool Cathedral is the world's largest Anglican cathedral and church.[5] It is also the fifth largest Christian church in the world.[2] The exterior covers 121,000 sq ft (11,200 m2), spanning a length of 601 ft (183.2 meters) and a width of 232 ft (70.7 meters). The interior height of the nave is 124 feet (37.8 meters).

    It's been more than 100 years and the cathedral is still unfinished. IIUC, when (if ever) finished, it will be the largest cathedral in North America. It's taken this long, among other reasons, because resources haven't been sufficient to complete the work.

    Since there hasn't been a patron (governmental or otherwise), raising funds for further construction has been a significant limiting factor. In the 21 century, the cathedral has entered into long term leases [nytimes.com] with developers on several parcels of the land.

    This provides a revenue stream other than patrons and individual donations.

    As an aside, while I'm not a christian, I find that the cathedral is both beautiful and quite impressive. If you've never visited, I highly recommend it.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 25 2018, @09:16PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 25 2018, @09:16PM (#778412) Journal

      Sagrada Família [wikipedia.org] - started 1882, Gaudi took over in 1883.

      The completion of the spires will make Sagrada Família the tallest church building in the world.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford