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A comment on Fast. Parent comment

Re:Fast by systemvoltage on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @09:21PM (#36609677)
Are you arguing that we would have been just as slow in 1955 if "There were existing infrastructure or residents to deal with"?

The whole point of this article is that we should aspire to be better, faster, more relisilient to failures, less bureaucratic and efficient. My gut sense (subjective) is that we profoundly suck today at doing anything aspirational. But, nitpicking each of the examples as many comments here are doing, is IMO missing the point. I don't think Patrick is trying to be super objective here besides trying to be as accurate as possible with sources/number of days it took to build those projects. It is kind of silly to say "Oh, they didn't have X, Y and Z in 1955" because you cannot accurately judge what would have happened if X, Y and Z were actually the impediments in 1955. I used 1955 as an arbitrary year to illustrate the point.

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Re:Fast by climatologist on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @10:10PM (#36610126)
The reality is more complicated than it appears but I've observed a bunch of construction projects near Millbrae CalTrain station and they finish the buildings extremely fast. A bunch of metal frames go up, then some pipes, then some wires, and then some concrete walls.

The project planning and construction is done by a single company, Truebeck Construction, and they seem to know what they're doing.

I don't know what Patrick's list is trying to illustrate but most construction projects in the US happen very fast.

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Re:Fast by systemvoltage on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @10:34PM (#36610319)
This is not a widespread opinion or pattern as I see it. This is first time I am hearing from someone that we in America "build things fast".

I suggest reading Eli Dourado's blog: https://www.elidourado.com/

and his many blog posts on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

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Re:Fast by climatologist on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @10:42PM (#36610385)
Just speaking from personal experience. The methods that I observed are very modern and very efficient. The parts for the entire building are pre-fabricated and then assembled at the construction site. So the stagnation narrative is more than likely overblown and the folks that think things are slower now should visit some of those Truebeck construction sites and observe for themselves.
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Re:Fast by climatologist on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @11:08PM (#36610582)
Have you personally seen those construction sites? Just go and observe, the stagnation narrative is overblown.
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