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Have You Hugged a Concrete Pillar Today?
- xname 12y ago1901~2000? Does this comparison make sense?
- cushychicken 12y agoTotally. The Interstate Highway Act alone was just one of the huge projects using tons and tons and tons of concrete in the US - part of why the figure's so mindboggling, really.
- twrkit 12y agoYeah I think the point is that the majority of urbanization in the US occurred in the 20th century, whereas China has only very recently been doing so.
- syncerr 12y agoFrom the article: > China used more cement in the last three years than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century. It seemed strange to exclude years from the 21st century. From 2011 to 2013, China consumed roughly 28 times that of the U.S. From 2002 to 2013, China consumed roughly 15 times that of the U.S. ____ http://www.ficem.org/boletines/ct-2013/presentaciones2013/1-EXPERTOS/2_THOMAS-ARMSTRONG/ICR-FICEM-Presentation-Handout-30Aug13.pdf http://www.ficem.org/boletines/ct-2013/presentaciones2013/1-...
- devindotcom 12y agoWhy is it strange? "The 20th century" is a complete and relatable concept for many people, easy to comprehend as a unit.
- syncerr 12y agoIt usually makes sense to vary a single dimension when comparing metrics; not two.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- maxerickson 12y agoI think the idea is more to emphasize the relative rate of development in China in recent times (as opposed to the specifics of the comparison being terribly interesting).
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- staunch 12y agoHe said "...in one century" in the video and I don't see anything in text. Are you sure your quote is accurate?
- latch 12y agoI'm shocked that Bill Gates drinks 3-4 Diet Cokes a day. Probably harder for me to understand than seeing educated people smoke (since, at least with smoking, there's a chemical dependency at play)
- shabble 12y ago> I'm shocked that Bill Gates drinks 3-4 Diet Cokes a day. Why? The caffeine, or the fact that it's Coke and not coffee or tea (or ...)? > at least with smoking, there's a chemical dependency at play Diet Coke still contains caffeine (~50mg/can), which is generally considered to also cause physical dependence and withdrawal effects on abrupt cessation[1]. Granted, nicotine withdrawal is a lot worse, but serious caffeine fiends won't have a fun time of it for a few days, and it can be disruptive for several weeks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine_addiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine_addiction
- latch 12y agoI wasn't thinking about caffeine (but if that's the issue, tea or coffee seem like good alternative). I was thinking about the health issues its linked to (kidney problems, type 2 diabetes, dental issues, ...)
- gavinpc 12y agoIt's the aspartame. You can decide for yourself whether it's poison, but it's definitely the reason many people regard diet sodas as such. EDIT, I guess this should have gone on parent. At any rate, latch, I had the exact same reaction. And this is a man with resources. (Indeed, maybe he drinks some secret power soda and just used Diet Coke to give it a plebian air. Maybe such details are even handled by his blogging software.)
- mikeash 12y agoAren't those health problems avoided when drinking diet? Not that it's necessarily super healthy, but I thought sugar was the great enemy here.
- staunch 12y ago> "China used as much concrete in just three years as United States in one century" He wants you to think he's comparing the last 100 years. In reality he's comparing two different time periods because U.S. acceleration ruins the wow factor. > "Chinese now consume more Guccis and Bulgaris and Louis Vuittons than the rest of the world combined." He wants you to think Chinese consumers have a lot of buying power. They don't. They just happen to like those specific brands. Even Japan spends more than the U.S. on those specific brands, with half the population.
- Istof 12y agoalso, weight per can in 2010 (12g) is displayed higher then the weight per can in 1980 (19g)? but at this point I don't even think I can trust the can weights... is that really from Bill Gates? Very deceiving article...
- adwf 12y agoThey are pictured on a set of scales. A heavy can will depress the scales more and be lower. People seem to be trying to go out of their way to read deception into Gates' article. Can't we accept it as slightly fuzzy figures, just like all real world figures are?
- hkmurakami 12y agoThere is also a passage about the difference in weight of aluminum cans saving the equivalent of aluminum used in 3400 Boeing 747s, but when we hear this I think we instinctively think of the total weight of 3400 jets rather than just the aluminum in those jets. I thought that was pretty deceptive.
- cperciva 12y agoIsn't most of the weight of the 747 airframe Aluminum? I know newer planes use lighter-weight composite materials, but the 747 is a pretty old design.
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- kristianp 12y agoPrevious discussion (with cleaner url too): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7887266 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7887266
- dang 12y agoOddly, that one set off the voting ring detector. It was a false positive. (Edit: or at least I believe it was. Hard to know for sure.) We cleaned the url.
- oska 12y ago> After reviewing the trends, Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given product more efficiently, with fewer materials or energy, prices go down and consumption goes up. Looks like Gates isn't very familiar with the ideas of Buckminster Fuller then. Bucky identified ephemeralization as a key technological trend over 70 years ago. [1] [1] R. Buckminster Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon, Anchor Books [1938] 1971 pp. 252–59.
- portlander12345 12y agoThe thing that Gates finds surprising is that ephemeralization results in more resource consumption, not less.
- VintageCool 12y agoThe English economist William Stanley Jevons made the same observation in 1865. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
- oska 12y agoThank you for the link. However, at least in the wikipedia article, it seems to be more a discussion of fuel use (the original observation was about coal) rather than material use. Fuels are used up; materials used to build things can be recycled. From my recollection of Buckminster's discussion of ephemeralization, he restricted it to only material use. And Gates' discussion in the article is again only about material use. I think it's quite conceivable that a world with a stable population could rely almost entirely on recycling of at least some materials. In Brazil, they already recycle 98% of aluminium can production.
- genieyclo 12y agoFunny that gatesnotes.com is using Apple's 'Share' icon and not the Windows version…
- photoGrant 12y agoFunny title, I created an award-winning photo of a concrete pillar saying 'hug me' a good 6-7 years ago. Here's the image! http://imgur.com/4VJwXRg http://imgur.com/4VJwXRg
- return0 12y agoThat's what i expected; i thought it was world concrete hugging day or something.
- chrismealy 12y agoThe car I drive to work is made of around 2,600 pounds of steel, 800 pounds of plastic, and 400 pounds of light metal alloys. The trip from my house to the office is roughly four miles long, all surface streets, which means I travel over some 15,000 tons of concrete each morning. Bill should get a bike.
- benjiweber 12y agoThe 4 mile trip in the article would be about 12 minutes by bicycle (once you get fit). It would be less than an hour simply walking briskly. It's difficult to understand why people drive such tiny distances. I ride close to 20 miles each way to work and it's still much faster than driving and slightly faster than the train. I also get less sweaty than people using the trains due to sensible clothing. It also means I don't need to use the gym and can eat what I want (I burn about 3500 kcal/day)
- vacri 12y agoAn hour's walk each way = 2 hours out of your day commuting. For a workaholic billionaire with a prediliction for charity, that's quite a waste of time. Similarly with riding, it's not just the ride. A car is easy if you've got a parking spot at both ends. Hop in, hop out. Commuting by biking (usually) requires you to change clothing, which really should be included in your commute time. And some people just enjoy driving, like some people enjoy walking or riding. I haven't met the person who likes being crammed into a sweaty train-crowd yet, though :)
- twic 12y ago4 miles is 12 minutes if you can sustain 20 mph door-to-door. If Bill's commute brings him into contact with traffic lights or urban traffic, he won't be able to do that. I commute about five miles by bike in London, and it takes me about 25 minutes. There are maybe 5 minutes of full-speed travel in that time, and about 20 of filtering and waiting. It's still a lot faster than driving, though!
- hackuser 12y ago> It's difficult to understand why people drive such tiny distances. I agree with a general point about benefits of non-carbon-producing transportation. I don't want to judge any particular person, however; I simply don't know and it's not my business. Maybe Gates has a lot to carry; maybe he has bad knees; maybe his personal security is an issue; maybe he has allergies this season. Maybe he's simply uncoordinated. Also (and I doubt this applies to Gates), I've lived in places where cars are too dangerous to bicyclers to ride regularly, either because of the drivers, the rules, the lack of bike lanes, etc.
- ugk 12y agoThe construction/real estate bubble in China is not long for this world. China might have used a lot of a commodity/product, but we should be careful in believing that is an equivalent 1:1 economic comparison.
- tdaltonc 12y ago> Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given product more efficiently, with fewer materials or energy, prices go down and consumption goes up. This is called Jevons Paradox; or at least it used to be. Economists have a good handle on this idea now so we don't call it a paradox anymore.
- GFischer 12y agoIt has a Wikipedia page :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox Edit: it was pointed out earlier further downthread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7894415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7894415