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It's time to build: a New World's Fair

cameronwiese.com

61–70 of 237 posts

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#61

Nitpicky/unsolicited UI feedback: I do a lot of double/triple clicking to highlight text as I read online (fidgeting, but also helps keep track of where I am). On your site, triple clicking unintentionally hits the twitter share button, which opens a new, unwanted window. Bit annoying. Medium does something similar, but they offset the button so you have to move cursor in between clicks to actually trigger the button…

There are a handful of sites I've encountered that do this and I hate it. Feels like a violation when I can't select text the way I normally do, for some reason.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#62
The 1963-64 world's fair shaped my entire life. My earliest clear memories were from that fair, and ever since I've been fascinated by "futurism", technology, computers, space, architecture, etc.

Every school and career choice I've made was based on some inspirational spark that hit me there.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't go, but the photos of the architecture from the different countries were beautiful. Apparently, the American pavilion was not among them: Now that the US Pavilion has been open for several days, its reviews, to be generous, are mixed. Visitors, after a two-hour wait, enjoy the upbeat attitude of the student “ambassadors” who greet them in Mandarin — but few are impressed by the three films that constitute…

The US seems to have largely decided that any amount of national pride is something to be ashamed of.

Is that sarcasm? American nationalism and over-the-top expressions of patriotic pride border on the jingoistic.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#65

I admire the optimism and motivational tone of the article, but fairs and expos are a thing of the past. We don't need to build elaborate, carefully constructed single-use cities to showcase the scientific advances of the world. Those showcases happen day by day on the internet and mass media.

Yet international art fairs and specialty conventions had been taking off for the 20 years before the pandemic. People still like to travel and come together under well organized events. The issue is the wisdom of a city or region pouring in billions of billions for a week-long event. Maybe there's a new model to be invented.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#66

I admire the optimism and motivational tone of the article, but fairs and expos are a thing of the past. We don't need to build elaborate, carefully constructed single-use cities to showcase the scientific advances of the world. Those showcases happen day by day on the internet and mass media.

Why bother showing up at the Olympics in person? We can just watch it on TV right? :p

But to refute more directly, the unplanned interactions with other visitors, being able to talk directly with makers who built the things you’re seeing, the viral sense of wonder; all are good reasons to have it in-person.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#68

From the article: ...wait eagerly for Jessica Watkins to take the first step on Mars There's an unfortunate name collision, I didn't know who Jessica Watkins was so Googled her, and the top results are for a Jessica Watkins who participated in the attack on the USA Capitol... I spent a moment pondering what her link to Mars was.. but farther down the results list is NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins. It's a shame that t…

Yes, a bit unfortunant, and I did the same thing. Being a non-american I thought she was a congresswoman as well. But it's such a minor detail and in the end no less, that it shouldn't detere from the main point of the article

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#69

I admire the optimism and motivational tone of the article, but fairs and expos are a thing of the past. We don't need to build elaborate, carefully constructed single-use cities to showcase the scientific advances of the world. Those showcases happen day by day on the internet and mass media.

I don't think the argument is valid because it can be applied to nearly every event where people come together, including sporting events and concerts. But like with the Olympic Games, the World's Fair can serve as a catalyst for urban development projects. Also, the "science showcase" is a thing of the past, the BIE switched to "individual country showcase" a couple of years ago, which makes the whole thing a lot le…

I find this perplexing because the Olympic Games is notorious for draining an urban centers resources for years and the result being a bunch of infrastructure that the majority of the time just slowly decays due to the local community not having the same volume of population to fully utilize the utility. The handling of the 2016 games was an especially bad case.

It's overall a nationalistic country level flex at the expense of the local area. It's part of why only big countries host it, the side affects will only affect one city and you have other places to sustain the nationwide economy despite the hit.

Re: It's time to build: a New World's Fair

#70
This will probably get some flack and I am not a hardcore burner by any means, I went for a few days in 2010...

But Burning Man to me seems like a bit of a World's Fair. I met some people who brought a massive insect-inspired art car from Australia..

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