• NutWrench@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    1 month ago

    Has any of this actually been built? Everybody’s got “plans.”

    Elon Musk “plans” to build colonies on Mars.

    • Dessalines@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yes, this is a map of what was completed in 2018. China isn’t the US, they don’t give billions of dollars of public funds to grifters like Elon Musk, they actually build things.

      As an example, China used more concrete for building projects from the years 2011-2013, than the US used in the entire 20th century.

      • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        China has built entire ghost cities, bridges, subways and malls using Tofu Dreg construction. So yes, that is technically correct. China does indeed “build things.”

        The point of critical infrastructure is that it’s supposed to endure, not have to be torn down again in a couple of years because it’s unsafe to occupy or use.

        • Dessalines@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          Actually planning for the future if something the US can’t even fathom doing. Remember this fearmongering article from the daily mail about a “ghost” subway station in Chongqing?

          Here it is now:

          Western countries look at China building a city where no people are, and project waste, when in reality its just the PRC properly planning and building cities, anticipating housing and infrastructure, before they need them.

          Meanwhile the US doesn’t do anything beforehand and cities become a sprawling suburb, car-centered wasteland. They let private capital seeking short-term profits build their cities, and turn the country into a wal-mart parking lot.

          • Disaster@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            My general opinion on China over the past few years have evolved to “OK they aren’t perfect, but at least they seem to be trying, instead of actively making everything worse.”