Tuesday, February 11All That Matters

Building a Cathedral without Science or Mathematics: The Engineering Method Explained

11 Comments

  • So amazing. My first time watching this gentleman. Great work.

    I love it when we can see that although the technology of today is outstanding, humans have been so very clever for millennia. It is not aliens, it is just things we forgot we once knew.

  • Super interesting and filled with fun facts.

    I still question whether of not the medieval builders had “no knowledge of science of math” because how did they come up with these ‘rules’ that they followed? Are the rules themselves not a form of science and math? I don’t know if I agree with his thesis but it was an interesting watch none the less!

  • His book has literally changed my entire understanding of what humanity knows or does not know. For those who are scientifically minded, it’s a perfect introduction for how the rest of the world works.

  • I’m very curious to see a scientific explanation as to why this rule of thumb works.

    I also find the institutions of masters and guilds really interesting in terms of how centuries of generational knowledge and skill were developed and improved. Regrettably during liberal and industrial revolutions all of that knowledge (especially in areas like blacksmithing) was lost.

  • Man, this reminds me of a PhD candidate I used to work with back in undergrad. He was getting frustrated with me because I wasn’t up to snuff of what he was looking for as far a research topic went (we were building customizable robot chassis to see the effects of wheelbase/axletrack geometry). He’d told me about some book he’d read where he was trying to convert my thinking, something along the lines of “An Engineer builds to test, a Scientist tests to build.” If anyone know what book that was from, I’d appreciate delving into the source now, a decade later. (Note I might have even gotten the quote in reverse!)

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