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> There duration is highly estimated at 50 years. Every half century then our country becomes a tablua rasa, whereon we have to set out anew, as in the first mo
by philsnow 12y ago
> There duration is highly estimated at 50 years. Every half century then our country becomes a tablua rasa, whereon we have to set out anew, as in the first moment of seating it.
Maybe this was rhetoric (? who was that letter addressed to, and what was his purpose in writing it?), but I can't fathom the thinking that the entire country's buildings would simultaneously fail, in lockstep, every 50 years.
- sp332 12y agoIt doesn't have to be simultaneous. If buildings last about 50 years, then in 50 years you're going to have completely different set of buildings. You'll have no influences to draw on from 50+ years ago. It's from "Notes on the State of Virginia" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JEFFERSON/ch15.html http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JEFFERSON/ch15.html which was actually a book, a collection of essays published by Jefferson.
- philsnow 12y agoif it's not simultaneous, how does the country ever become a tablua [sic] rasa (a blank slate)?