Peru's ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of culture

Post by ashoeafoot » Mon, Apr 21, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #74

GauntletWizard wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been saying for a while that "Religion is a social technology". Thou Shalt Not Kill is not as universal a moral as you'd like to believe, and the other commandments are also good life advice. Even "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" serves an important purpose in keeping everyone on the same page. Nearly every culture has a tradition of parables; Tales that reveal important truths by metaphor. Whether they…

Atheists are no more murderous the Christians. Religion is not necessary for that. Or even helpful.

We ran the experiment the ussr and china where thoroughly atheistified and decultured. And the results are in. Both societies are thoroughly amoral and horrifying. There are murderous religions, but christianity got tamed pretty well.And i say that and i hate the jesuszombies with a passion.

Post by Retric » Tue, Apr 22, 2025, 12:37 AM UTC

lupusreal wrote: post #79

Retric wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When they transported 100% of the output of a spring there’s no need to update the infrared as a city grows there was no way to go past 100%. Dams have the same kind of limits and are regularly designed for 150+ year lifetimes. The Hoover Dam is just about to turn 90 and it’s likely to last another 100 years. Quite a lot of the built environment is designed for 100+ year lifespans. When it isn’t there’s often very go…

Building a bridge that spans a wide road or river is extremely expensive without using iron or steel. If you do, that limits the lifespan because they corrode. We never forgot how to build stone bridges, we stopped doing it most of the time because nobody wants to pay for it.

Iron bridges can easily last 100+ years with maintenance, faster replacement is generally cheaper which is why you see exposed metal on so many highway bridges.

Traffic on traditional stone bridge designs would quickly destroy them.

Re: Peru's ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of culture

Re: Peru's ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of culture