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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: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 25 2018, @07:55PM (3 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 25 2018, @07:55PM (#778396) Journal

    They did do this and found it to be like 1000 times more efficient than dragging stones around.

    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

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 26 2018, @03:26AM (#778476)

    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)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 27 2018, @01:47PM (#778992)
    And where's the part that proves it actually locks up more CO2 than it produces?

    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.