Post #4293696

Meanwhile in Europe, in some places you can literally get a castle for free!* *Just as long as you can pay the titanic maintenance bill to maintain it to historical standards. In an era of rapidly evolving technology, there ultimately isn’t much point to construct buildings, especially individual homes, that will last for centuries. Yes, the house may still be there two hundred years from now, but will anyone actually want to live in it? Or will it require so much updating that you would be better off just building something new? If we hit a wall on rapid technological progress, then things will be different. If you can be reasonably certain that human beings will be living much as we do now in 500 years, than building a house to last that long will make sense to me. Until then, why waste the resources? I definitely want to see houses be made of materials that can be recycled. But raw durability is not itself a virtue. Remember the ultimate truth here. Buildings serve people. That’s why they exist. And most people in 2026 do not want to live in a home built for the lifestyle of a 16th century peasant. How many people today know how to tend and cook on an open hearth wood burning stove? Yes, some homes that age do survive. But if anyone is still living in them, they have been heavily renovated and modified, many times over the generations. Old buildings like that are very much Ships of Theseus. The wisdom of the American style of home construction is precisely in its impermanence. It’s an admission that we don’t have all the answers for all time, and that many of our choices today will seem foolish to our grandchildren. Yes, American homes can be quickly built and quickly torn down. But that is the entire point. I am Ozymandius, King of Kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.