TDLR; Reject modernity, Embrace Empire!
So for the non history guys wondering why this is a big deal 'we already have concrete?' Yes and it can be stronger than Roman concrete but does not have the longevity of roman concrete as look at the amount of Roman architecture still standing when left untouched by humans for thousands of years.
The cause is it's structure, roman concrete has a lot of lime deposits in it. When over time cracks form, when it rains the water reacts with these lime deposits, recrystalise and fill the cracks, essentially self healing the structure. The romans had nanomachines before they were a thing. Near seawater, their structures actually got tougher over time due to exposure to the minerals in the seawater.
So us finally understanding this means we can now create longer lasting and even stronger structures given time. Lets just hope this Roman concrete is ONLY used in ancient, renaissance or gothic architecture and not any of the shit we make nowadays!
Thought this was a fun example of how much studying history is extremely important to improving the current world.
From what I remember reading Roman concrete took years to cure to full strength. Which was acceptable because it took years for them to build structures.
Would be interesting to experiment with this for ornamental structures: statues, headstones, and the like.
This.
We want buildings quickly which isn't the purpose of roman concrete. Roman concrete was used for building important buildings and monuments. This is why normal houses faded away and only the monuments remained.
The sad part is that we aren't making buildings that are impressive and beautiful as architects are only interested in maximising building function.
Modern concrete can also increasingly gradually gain strength for months or years if kept moist. Rather than wait years though, the more sensible thing to do is to not design your structure so it depends on the last 5% of strength you'll get for waiting a decade.
True but I think modern concrete gains that initial strength much more quickly than Roman concrete did.