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Roman Concrete Heals Itself | Why Modern Engineers Won't Replicate It

Roman Concrete Heals Itself | Why Modern Engineers Won't Replicate It

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Roman concrete has survived for nearly two thousand years.Harbors still resist seawater. Foundations still hold. Crystalline structures continue forming inside the material long after it was poured—strengthening it instead of degrading it.This essay examines why Roman concrete lasted, what made it different from modern concrete, and why the knowledge behind it wasn’t truly lost. The ingredients are known. The chemistry is understood.What disappeared was the system that made building for centuries economically and politically rational.Rather than treating Roman concrete as a mysterious ancient formula, this video explores how incentives, time horizons, and industrial priorities quietly reshaped how we build—and why durability became optional.This is a narration-driven exploration of lost systems, quiet technological divergence, and the kinds of knowledge that fade not through catastrophe, but neglect.
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