Brian Potter - Future of Construction, Ugly Modernism, & Environmental Review

布莱恩·波特 - 建筑业未来、丑陋的现代主义与环境审查

Dwarkesh Podcast

2022-10-27

2 小时 25 分钟
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单集简介 ...

It was a pleasure to welcome Brian Potter on the podcast! Brian is the author of the excellent Construction Physics blog, where he discusses why the construction industry has been slow to industrialize and innovate. He explains why: Construction isn’t getting cheaper and faster, “Ugly” modern buildings are simply the result of better architecture, China is so great at building things, Saudi Arabia’s Line is a waste of resources, Environmental review makes new construction expensive and delayed and much much more! Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes. You may also enjoy my interviews with Tyler Cowen (about talent, collapse, & pessimism of sex). Charles Mann (about the Americas before Columbus & scientific wizardry), and Austin Vernon about (Energy Superabundance, Starship Missiles, & Finding Alpha). Timestamps (0:00) - Why Saudi Arabia’s Line is Insane, Unrealistic, and Never going to Exist  (06:54) - Designer Clothes & eBay Arbitrage Adventures  (10:10) - Unique Woes of The Construction Industry   (19:28) - The Problems of Prefabrication  (26:27) - If Building Regulations didn’t exist…  (32:20) - China’s Real Estate Bubble, Unbound Technocrats, & Japan (44:45) - Automation and Revolutionary Future Technologies  (1:00:51) - 3D Printer Pessimism & The Rising Cost of Labour (1:08:02) - AI’s Impact on Construction Productivity (1:17:53) - Brian Dreams of Building a Mile High Skyscraper (1:23:43) - Deep Dive into Environmentalism and NEPA (1:42:04) - Software is Stealing Talent from Physical Engineering (1:47:13) - Gaps in the Blog Marketplace of Ideas (1:50:56) - Why is Modern Architecture So Ugly? (2:19:58) - Advice for Aspiring Architects and Young Construction Physicists Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
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单集文稿 ...

  • Okay, today have the pleasure of speaking with Brian Potter,

  • who is an engineer and the author of the excellent construction physics blog,

  • where he writes about how the construction industry works and why it has been solo to industrialize and innovate.

  • And it's one of my favorite blogs on the internet.

  • I highly, highly recommend that people check it out.

  • Brian, my first question is about the line project in Saudi Arabia.

  • What are your opinions?

  • Okay.

  • Yeah, just this will be a just in no particular order.

  • One that it's just, you know,

  • interesting that this country Saudi Arabia is and the Middle East just kind of in general is just so willing to just do these big crazy ambitious building projects.

  • And just pour just huge amounts of money and constructing this infrastructure in a way that you don't see a huge amount in like the modern world,

  • you know,

  • they do it China obviously does it huge amounts Some other minor places,

  • but in general you don't see a whole lot of countries doing just these big massive Incredibly ambitious projects.

  • So like on that level, it's like Interesting.

  • I was like, yes, glad to see that you're doing this.

  • But like the actual project is clearly insane.

  • It makes no sense.

  • I mean, just from like a physical arrangement.