Podcast #1,064: From Public Citizens to Therapeutic Selves — The Hidden
History of Modern Identity
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When you scroll through social media feeds today, you’ll find countless
posts about “living your truth” and “being authentic.” These ideas feel so
natura...
18 hours ago
4 comments:
Is this a public confidence thing, by any chance? Some officials have in their heads, (maybe rightly so) that after the bridge disaster, people will feel better about a visibly well-supported slab of concrete than they would about a network of "delicate," "flimsy-looking" arches?
I dunno, probably not, but that thought did come to mind.
Probably something to that, though I'd have to point out that if you want to look at a bridge that's lasted a century, you're going to see some arches. Perception vs. reality?
I'd also have to guess that part of the issue is the simple fact that it takes labor to do all of those arches & supports from them. $200/ton or so for steel & concrete is a lot cheaper than $50/hour for qualified ironworkers to put a bazillion rivets or bolts into a structure, I'd guess.
Oh, sure, reality says that properly designed arches are just as supportive as, or better than, big hunks of "stuff."
But I was talking about perception. It's not the engineers and informed people of the world who drive political decisions these days, after all.
You know, it certainly would be interesting if those arches could be made actually cheaper than those monster chunks of concrete, and the public was presented with the evidence of which you speak.
I dare say it would sell some newspapers--why is the DOT rejecting the Golden Gate Bridge in favor of THIS?, and that sort of thing.
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