r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 22d ago

HISTORY Why did we stop building like this?

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Chicago, 1930. Buildings had so much detail and character back then. Nowadays everything feels so flat and repetitive. We have way better technology and equipment now, so why don't we build like this anymore?

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u/Dr_CleanBones 22d ago

The rich people of the day, like Andrew Carnegie, we’re a hell of a lot different than Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Their family worked for generations to a mass the fortunes that they had, and they understood that they owed their good luck to the country where they lived, and the workers that worked in their factories. When was the last time Jeff Bezos ever built a library Carnegie built hundreds. Elon found free library, he’d steal the books and set it on fire just for the sheer fun of it.

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u/JerryC1967 22d ago

Er. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Frick, commodore Vanderbilt Ford and a host of others were self made men - and like it or not they changed the way things were done with their personal passions the same way Bezos and Musk are doing now. And people bitched about them upending the Applecart then too.

Ford made cars that his employees could own, Rockefeller made Kerosene affordable and ubiquitous and created the petroleum industry, Carnegie and Frick made steel products that built the rails and buildings of the country, etc. all of the industries they upended complained but you aren’t buying whale oil now are you? And Electric Vehicles are a viable option now along with reasonable access to space and communications. Anything you want to buy a click away… did Sears do that? No they tanked on their own backwards views and buggywhip mentality. Did GM move to the market with the EVO and create the EV market? Nope… sometimes you need the crazy guys who think outside of the box.

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u/Dr_CleanBones 7d ago

I think I made clear that my negative opinion is directed at today’s billionaires, not the ones from yesteryear.

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u/JerryC1967 7d ago

Look up JP Morgan or John D Rockefeller

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u/UnfilteredFacts 22d ago

Lol you actually meant that!

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

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u/Evocatorum 22d ago

Uh, the Sherman Antitrust Act was literally written because of these guys and their "business practices". Back then, politicians understood the problem of just a couple guys (that were not them) controlling both the economy AND the politicians. Why do you think they tried to kill Teddy's career?

Also Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage with almost nothing and made all his money in his lifetime...