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Mostly North American problem, not Western. Europe is still building gigantic bridges, rails, ports and etc. Not as fast as China, but it still happens. US/Can
by tokioyoyo 2y ago
Mostly North American problem, not Western. Europe is still building gigantic bridges, rails, ports and etc. Not as fast as China, but it still happens.
US/Canada is stuck on financial engineering loop, instead of… engineering. Big things happen when it’s required, but it feels like there’s no public nor political appetite for it.
- rapsey 2y agoThe UK is insanely fumbling their nuclear plant build.
- Arnt 2y agoAnd the Thames tunnel, for which just the planning is likely to cost more than the complete construction of the world's longest, deepest undersea tunnel, which you may assume is being built in China? Not China. It's actually in Norway. Denmark is also building a giant tunnel, and Austria, Switzerland and Italy are active in the Alps.
- bogtog 2y agoUSA-UK comparisons are always tempting because the UK is English speaking, but my feeling is that the UK is in such disarray that its not a good European reference point
- brightball 2y agoIf you look at it from a government project standpoint, there’s still the James Webb Telescope which is a monumental achievement IMO. Outside of that, there’s plenty of private work having huge impacts like SpaceX and Starlink.
- tokioyoyo 2y agoMuch respect to SpaceX and NASA, and I understand their importance to long term impact. But that’s not exactly what we’re talking about. We have lost talent and expertise in making our countries better, and it takes billions of dollars to build a couple of km of subway lines. We refuse to make incremental upgrades and shoot for moonshots every time.
- brightball 2y agoAnd that’s totally valid. Numerous groups have complained about over regulation causing this issue too.