It's actually an achievement in its own right, it wasn't a 8 lane road bridge, it was a fucking walkway, maybe 10 meters long. If they laid down a pair of tree trunks and hammered a few planks on it, it would last hundreds of years.
I feel like this is what happens when you want to copy something you don't understand, and thereby only get the trappings of it.
Because it looks like they wanted a "modern" bridge to make them look more advanced and smart, but had no idea how those work. Rather than sticking with what they know, like tree trunks.
In the South Seas there is a Cargo Cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas—he’s the controller—and they wait for the airplanes to land. They’re doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn’t work. No airplanes land. So I call these things Cargo Cult Science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential, because the planes don’t land.
Read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. It's an extremely easy read. A sampling:
• Feynman gives a commencement speech at a SA university where he tells everyone, students and faculty, they're retarded, except the one guy who turns out to be a German exchange student.
• A PUA acquaintance tells him how to get women. He tries it and it works. Feynman concludes the guy is probably right, but it feels unsporting, so Feynman never tries it again.
• He tries to put forth the 'critical thinking' meme, but most of his math stories are about how memorizing way too much ended up saving the day.
• He was such a good lockbreaker at Los Alamos that engineers would ask him to open file cabinets of people who were away rather than wait for the owners to return. He would have to sit in an empty office for 20 minutes with the door closed doing nothing to make sure he didn't accidentally open the locks too quickly.
A PUA acquaintance tells him how to get women. He tries it and it works. Feynman concludes the guy is probably right, but it feels unsporting, so Feynman never tries it again.
Like pushing deer. It works every time, but doesn't seem fair.
Man, I should reread that book, it was great. There's also a really funny story where he's asked to review some plans for a new facility. He has no idea what he's looking at, so he just randomly points at a spot and asks "Why is this here?". The architects take a look, pause for a while, and go "Oh wow, you're right, that makes no sense! You're a genius, Mr. Feynman!"
It's actually an achievement in its own right, it wasn't a 8 lane road bridge, it was a fucking walkway, maybe 10 meters long. If they laid down a pair of tree trunks and hammered a few planks on it, it would last hundreds of years.
I feel like this is what happens when you want to copy something you don't understand, and thereby only get the trappings of it.
Because it looks like they wanted a "modern" bridge to make them look more advanced and smart, but had no idea how those work. Rather than sticking with what they know, like tree trunks.
Cargo Cult Science, from 1974:
Read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. It's an extremely easy read. A sampling:
• Feynman gives a commencement speech at a SA university where he tells everyone, students and faculty, they're retarded, except the one guy who turns out to be a German exchange student.
• A PUA acquaintance tells him how to get women. He tries it and it works. Feynman concludes the guy is probably right, but it feels unsporting, so Feynman never tries it again.
• He tries to put forth the 'critical thinking' meme, but most of his math stories are about how memorizing way too much ended up saving the day.
• He was such a good lockbreaker at Los Alamos that engineers would ask him to open file cabinets of people who were away rather than wait for the owners to return. He would have to sit in an empty office for 20 minutes with the door closed doing nothing to make sure he didn't accidentally open the locks too quickly.
Like pushing deer. It works every time, but doesn't seem fair.
Man, I should reread that book, it was great. There's also a really funny story where he's asked to review some plans for a new facility. He has no idea what he's looking at, so he just randomly points at a spot and asks "Why is this here?". The architects take a look, pause for a while, and go "Oh wow, you're right, that makes no sense! You're a genius, Mr. Feynman!"