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We'll fix it later
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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I've been to this bridge. It's the Devil's Bridge in Wales.
Here's another angle, ripped from Wikipedia:
The river underneath is insanely deep. Pictures do not do it justice just how much further it goes out of the bottom of this frame. You do not get out of there. That is death.
The bottom-most bridge was built around the 12th century. How the hell they managed to build stuff like this way back then staggers me.
Labor was free because of slavery, so the economics were not the same. Current engineering has the concept of "over engineering" which is what cracked-up addicts in wall street call "building to last", due to the "expense" of not being shortsighted on a quarter by quarter basis.
Actually overenginnering is the thing with pre-modern structures, like the bottom bridge here. Survivorship bias played a role, where things they don't build to last, evidently don't last to this day, but mostly it's because they don't really understand the math behind all of it so they take the most conservative and the tried and tested rules of thumb when doing big structures. This is why big projects back then can take decades to complete.
In the modern day, we design specifically to balance durability and cost, and we are confident of our maths and understanding of material science to use the least amount that does the work for the design life that we choose.
From my pov I think you're repeating exactly what I said, but I appreciate the additional details.
My last point is that "the design life we choose" is usually dictated by non-engineering forces. A 12th century king can throw resources at a problem. A 20th century governor cannot, and doesn't care to. They care about the bridge lasting until the end of their term limits.