Being a somewhat complete human being requires an appreciation of the major works in fields other than your own.

>>What is the relevance to HN....

The up-voters know the relevance. Might have something to do with 900 year old history, surviving every freaking thing possible during that time, only to be burned during the most peaceful and prosperous time ...maybe ever? Victor Hugo? A lot of history has happened there, like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_Napoleon_I or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_de_Paris#Events_in_...

This is just an anecdote, and I wanted this to be a reply to the OP, but I've always felt there's a weird sort of connection between the stonemasons who built these masterpieces and the hackers of today.

It was the center of learning, during the Medieval era. The idea of left (progressive) vs. right (conservative), comes from here. Student's lived on a the left bank and spoke Latin. What could be salvaged from the Dark Ages, in terms of knowledge, was sheltered around Notre Dame.

However I do not believe that this is the most 'prosperous' time. It is the opposite. Life expectancy is falling in the West. This generation will not live as long as their parents, nor be as wealth, or successful. In places like Russia life expectancy for males is just 66 years (alcohol, suicide, poverty).

Will we look back at this era, a hundred years from now, and see that from the 1980s till now as a slow steady decline, slightly buoyed by the Internet, but with most opportunities squandered.

Whatever man, someone posted it, it got upvoted.

Yes, and i lost my karma quicker than I can say, don't take it personal ;P But I guess emotions go wild with these things. I off course mean no offence, and hope they can save as much as possible within firefighter safety.

Though I would think it was outside the HN posting guidelines.

I'm not an expert (routinely get downvoted every time I open my mouth, I'm used to Reddit's style of commenting), but HN's guidelines do say that any topic that might interest a hacker is good and doesn't have to do with programming, startups, etc.

Guidelines also say that one shouldn't post things that don't add to the conversation, I guess your comment is a classic of not adding anything and that's why you got downvoted.

As for the rest, it's completely crazy. If what we know now is true, the fire was started on the scaffolds (I bet a cigarette), just imagine that the company was supposed to restore the thing, and destroyed it.

Fair point. Thank you for pointing that out!

Even though -I- have trouble understanding the "hacker" relevance, the people has spoken :) And you are right, my initial comment did not contribute in any relevant way - I can see that in retrospect. For that I truly apologise.

And yes, it would be crazy if it all started, with something like a cigarette or similar.

Well, some of us hackers are fans of monolithic architectures..