3 ms·
The schism was modernism, a mental breakdown in the west after the world wars. What was easy, convenient, efficient from a machine perspective, therefore was wh
by trgn 3y ago
The schism was modernism, a mental breakdown in the west after the world wars. What was easy, convenient, efficient from a machine perspective, therefore was wholesome, aspirational, valuable from a human perspective.
Other explanations, survivor bias, population boom, ... are fundamentally wrong because even though they may have ab after the fact rationalization, they were not the instincts that animated this revolution.
We're turning out of it, finally, luckily.
- distances 3y agoOne of the major points, afaik, is that these beautiful buildings require a lot more manual work. It used to be that materials were expensive and labor cheap, but that equation reversed, and skilled labor required for such a nice facade now comes with a heavy price. But I have no expertise in construction nor history so can't say if that's true.
- trgn 3y agoYes, that's true, but the style also changed so dramatically, not just means of production. e.g. machine production does not have to mean that overall building proportions became so weirdly unattractive as well. But really, just because it was _cheap_ an _easy_ for a machine, therefore it meant it was _aspirational_, _desirable_ for a human. That is the core shift, it was primarily ideological (and we rationalized this new mindset _after_ it already reified itself).