When you have slave labor and authoritarian control, building aesthetic wonders is easy.
There is so much wonder around and people are simply not noticing because it is so normal. We have a 57km long tunnel where you can drive through in a high-speed train with up to 250km/h while sitting in a comfortable chair. While you’re @200km/h and 2,5km below the alps, you can still use your pocket computer to communicate by video with nearly everyone on this planet in real time. Some of that communication will go through space. You also may use that pocket device to show pictures to thousands of strangers which are claiming that humans have stopped building wonders
Reminder that big government science projects, like space programs and supercolliders, count as wonders.
The LHC is 27km in circumference. Still not as big as the Great Wall of China.
ETA: The Burj Khalifa is certainly a wonder of engineering, if it’s not regarded as a wonder, itself. But it’s the first occupiable tower to exceed Barad-dûr. (Tolkien fans have since adjusted the Sauron’s tower to be even taller.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Rong_Khun
Opened in 1997. The murals inside are full of contemporary references like Goku and Master Chief
And the… Twin towers being eaten by a gas pump demon? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Rong_Khun_wall_painting.jpg
While simultaneously being flown into by a plane… and also Red from Angry Birds. Ben 10 is also just running off a rooftop for some reason.
Not much, wat rong wit you?
Because it’s not profitable. Modern versions of cathedrals would have corporate sponsors.
And everyone would riot if the government decided to spend a couple billy building something to look cool.
Which is why there were protests against Stuttgart 21. And why authoritarian petro states still do it.
Interesting point. I live in America, unfortunately, and we have giant multi billion dollar stadiums in most major cities that are almost entirely funded by taxpayers. The corporations who’s name goes on the front don’t pay for most of the costs, it’s taxpayers. And most of those taxpayers will never see the inside.
Although to be fair if Americans ever were to riot I would hope it would be about the rise of fascism and the comically large wealth inequality gap rather than taxpayers funding buildings.
And local governments don’t even get to own the teams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Família
The central Tower of Jesus Christ reached structural completion on 20 February 2026, when the final piece was installed,[14][15]
Construction on Sagrada Família is not supported by any government or official church sources. Private patrons funded the initial stages.[89] Money from tickets purchased by tourists is now used to pay for the work, and private donations are accepted.[90]
The building work started 144 years ago and is ongoing, so “still building” has a slightly different meaning in this case.
The church, you see, is building. It’s also a building
You beat me to it, I’d love to see it if I finally ever make it to Spain
Like that ball in Vegas. Only interesting if you can show ginormous ads on the outside.
A local sports stadium is named after a drug manufacturer, because I guess, they paid a big sum of money for that… 🙄
In Canada I think we have at least four different Rogers Place’s. Rogers being one of the three telecom companies that form a monopoly on cellular data and internet. And unimaginative, soulless names for stadiums.
I present to you, China:
This but unironically. What was once a marvel is now mundane.
Modern skyscrapers are built with base isolation and mass dampening to make them resistant to earthquakes. Have you seen recent cargo ships? Warehouses? They are great and awful in every sense of both words.
we didn’t, Australia has architectural marvels like the Big Prawn, the Big Banana etc
Brazilian Giant Rubber Duck
it’s fkn ded
Zombie Rubber Duck*
Because humans stopped reading in a coherent direction.
to bottom?
from top
doesn’t read
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Ah, the chairmans house
We have stopped building wonders because the modern contractor industry is built deliberately to waste as much money as possible by letting it all go towards middle managers and people at the top.
The government is complicit in financing and upholding this system and has stopped employing people directly to actually do productive building work.
This is hamstringing us, because it means that we are literally uncapble of building great things. All things we try to build will be infinitely delayed and sever times the original budget. Because then, middle managers will be able to suck more money out of the broken system.
Bridges in the US now cost more than entire rail networks back in the day or what the sagrada familia cost over 100 years.
I get the sensationalism but your position is generally wrong. Projects are more expensive because of multiple legitimate reasons (property / land costs, stakeholder costs, building costs, wages, financing costs). I acknowledge that corruption is a thing. But that’s less of a driver than legitimate costs.
I mean, the first one definitely makes me go “Hmm, I wonder why anyone would build that?”
I think they like fish.
My favourite is this:
I didn’t know Yogi Bear owned property!
It was the HQ of a basket producing company
I figured something like that, I just like the idea of Yogi Bear making buildings shaped like a pic-a-nic basket, thus the dumb joke.
This is in the city I grew up in, the reason is because it’s the headquarters of the national fisheries development board.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Fisheries_Development_Board_building
It’s highly likely that anyone visiting Hyderabad will see this building on their way to/from the airport - so keep your eyes peeled!
Okay that’s actually cool as fuck and also totally appropriate.
