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In complete agreement. Consider also the historical uniqueness of public libraries: if they didn't already exist in the fabric of civic life, would we really ha

In complete agreement. Consider also the historical uniqueness of public libraries: if they didn't already exist in the fabric of civic life, would we really have the political ability to build them? We have little imagination or desire to build civic institutions any more; we only know how to build commercial ones.

eru 8y ago
It's not just civic institutions. Manhattan would be illegal to build these days in Manhattan. I'm glad that incapacity hasn't affected the whole world, yet. But it's seems to be spreading.
- freehunter 8y ago
  >Manhattan would be illegal to build these days in Manhattan I don't really view that particularly to be a problem. Manhattan was already built in Manhattan, it doesn't need to be built there again. Now that it exists, it needs to be managed with the new problems that have arisen since the building of Manhattan. Problems change when you scale, things that were not a problem when you were growing are now a problem after you achieve massive success "Do things that don't scale" is great advice for a growing startup, and for a very good reason. Because once you get to Manhattan size, you have to start doing things that do scale. If Manhattan hadn't changed its building codes, it would be unlivable today.
  - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
    Nobody is really talking about building codes. Building a skyscraper without fire sprinklers is a bad idea, but requiring fire sprinklers is not a thing that prevents you from building skyscrapers. On the other hand, a rule restricting building height or imposing minimum parking requirements or the like does exactly that, and has no benefit other than to enrich the existing landlords when it prevents housing supply from responding to increased demand.
dreamcompiler 8y ago
Probably not. It would be easy to paint public libraries as "socialist" which is a dirty word nowadays.
- dictum 8y ago
  There was a window of time (roughly from the eighties until about 2016) when "socialist" wouldn't be used because it was perceived as outdated, too linked with the Cold War and Red Scare... so it would be painted as "entitlement" or "lack of personal responsibility": if you wanted to read, you should have bought your own damn books. (I think the discourse is being revamped in light of the rise of democratic socialism in US politics)

eru 8y ago

It's not just civic institutions. Manhattan would be illegal to build these days in Manhattan. I'm glad that incapacity hasn't affected the whole world, yet. But it's seems to be spreading.

freehunter 8y ago
>Manhattan would be illegal to build these days in Manhattan I don't really view that particularly to be a problem. Manhattan was already built in Manhattan, it doesn't need to be built there again. Now that it exists, it needs to be managed with the new problems that have arisen since the building of Manhattan. Problems change when you scale, things that were not a problem when you were growing are now a problem after you achieve massive success "Do things that don't scale" is great advice for a growing startup, and for a very good reason. Because once you get to Manhattan size, you have to start doing things that do scale. If Manhattan hadn't changed its building codes, it would be unlivable today.
- AnthonyMouse 8y ago
  Nobody is really talking about building codes. Building a skyscraper without fire sprinklers is a bad idea, but requiring fire sprinklers is not a thing that prevents you from building skyscrapers. On the other hand, a rule restricting building height or imposing minimum parking requirements or the like does exactly that, and has no benefit other than to enrich the existing landlords when it prevents housing supply from responding to increased demand.

dreamcompiler 8y ago

Probably not. It would be easy to paint public libraries as "socialist" which is a dirty word nowadays.

dictum 8y ago
There was a window of time (roughly from the eighties until about 2016) when "socialist" wouldn't be used because it was perceived as outdated, too linked with the Cold War and Red Scare... so it would be painted as "entitlement" or "lack of personal responsibility": if you wanted to read, you should have bought your own damn books. (I think the discourse is being revamped in light of the rise of democratic socialism in US politics)