> No machine today can do what they did all that time ago
They definitely can, just no one wants to pay for it. We can build massive buildings, huge bridges, bore through mountains, dam hundreds of millions of liters of water. We can stack some heavy rocks on top of each other.
> We can build massive buildings, huge bridges, bore through mountains, dam hundreds of millions of liters of water. We can stack some heavy rocks on top of each other.
We usually use machines powered by petroleum to do that. I've not seen human labor used for this work in my lifetime.
Because, why would you we when we have those machines..
What a weird argument. Just look at how we used to be build cathedrals until recently and how many labourers died. Heck, take a look at the construction of the World Cup Stadiums in Qatar...
> We usually use machines powered by petroleum to do that.
First, GP claimed it couldn't be done even with machines.
Second... how's that relevant?
> I've not seen human labor used for this work in my lifetime.
First, what work, building pyramids? Because people have definitely built shit by hand in your lifetime, I can assure you.
Second, why would we do things the slower, more expensive, and more dangerous way, if we don't have to? You don't get your nonsense delivered to your readers by runners, riders, or messenger pigeons, that doesn't mean they didn't exist.
But if you want an example of human hard work in the modern era, look no further than Dashrath Manjhi. Dude hammered and chiseled his way through an entire ridge over more than 20 years.
I can’t recall the exact article right now, but I was under the impression that we can’t. Maybe it was an old one.
On top of that, it’s my understanding that Giza pyramids were built with special cosmic alignment also.
Again, I am only throwing “outlandish” ideas in the bucket. It’s a worthwhile discussion to have in my opinion. There are plenty of stories out there about certain places in the world being “consecrated”, so why not the pyramids?
Pyramids are a pile of big rocks. They're pretty well fitted big rocks, but engineering and construction wise they've got nothing on a Burj Khalifa, or a Millau Viaduct (below which the Great Pyramid would fit handily), or a Three Gorges Dam.
The Palace of the Parliament of Romania has a larger outer volume than the Great Pyramid, and is ~40% lighter, and is an actual building (so large it's mostly unused), and was built in just 13 years, by Romania, in the 80s.
Hell, while the Memphis Pyramid and the Luxor Las Vegas are smaller than the Great Pyramid, they're mostly usable volume, not mostly rock.
It's not that we can't build a pyramid, it's that if you have a few hundred mils lying around there are more useful and / or cooler things to build.
Further theories (also believed by the YTer under discussion) have the commonly quoted 2 million blocks is incorrect - most of the space inside is most likely taken up by rock rubble fill, like we do today to not overuse concrete. Evidence of this exists in the nearby mastabas which use the same construction technique - solid well fitted outer and inner structure walls, filled with rubble in the gaps.
Pyramids aren't even unique; plenty of civilizations [2] figured it out.
The Giza Pyramids are aligned to the cardinal directions [1] which is something that is done(ish) fairly often nowendays. Muslims often have their houses point towards Mecca [3] which requires you to build a house at a specific cardinal direction after determining it.
You're going to have to provide the special cosmic alignment, Wikipedia mentions Orion [4] as a theory and certainly we can build buildings today 3 in a diagonal line. We can definitely measure the location of the stars in Orion's constellation now better than before. But also keep in mind there are a gazillion stars in the galaxy, any 3 buildings are going to match up with some subset of them.
They definitely can, just no one wants to pay for it. We can build massive buildings, huge bridges, bore through mountains, dam hundreds of millions of liters of water. We can stack some heavy rocks on top of each other.