Today's Subconscious Fat makes me angry. The fact that ancient Romans had a better formula for making concrete. They made better concrete than modern humans ever had. Many aqueducts, bathhouses, seawalls, and famous structures like the Pantheon and Colosseum remain today after thousands of years because of how the ancient Romans used and created concrete.
Meanwhile, modern concrete only lasts a few decades. What's up with that?
Mr. Skeptical slowly nods his head, surprisingly appearing to agree with me. "Yes, that does seem odd, doesn't it?"
"It's very odd. We have put a man on the moon and invented the iPhone, but we can't make better concrete than humans did 2000 years ago?"
Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet
I feel humanity's pain at not having better concrete. It's a big deal. I live just a few miles from Surfside, where on June 24, 2021, around 1:22 AM, the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building collapsed, taking 98 lives.
"So, you're saying that if that building had used ancient Roman concrete, then maybe that building wouldn't have collapsed?"
"Yes, I am saying that instead of putting all the blame on an inspector who may have been paid off. Maybe we should put some of the blame on past engineers who didn't look further into Roman construction. Past engineers and architects made assumptions about the Romans. This was just one disaster. What about all the recent deaths from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria?"
"I've heard there were over 50,000 people killed there."
"Yes, over 50,000. I believe that number would've been lower if those buildings were built using Roman concrete."
Then there is the climate problem. Cement manufacturing contributes at least 8 percent of the world's CO2 emissions. That's worse than flying airplanes. According to the International Energy Agency, a 2020 report says aviation only contributes 2.8 percent of global emissions. So instead of spending so much time and energy trying to make airplanes fly with batteries, maybe we should relearn a 2000-year-old technology that was lost and would more significantly impact climate change.
Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet
"This pisses me off. Doesn't it make you mad?"
Mr. Skeptical smiles. "I enjoy finding someone to blame. This is a great injustice to humanity. I have few ideas of who you could blame."
"Really, who?" I'm surprised he's finding someone to blame that's not me.
"Don't you have a girlfriend who works at an architect firm?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Tell her you want to address everyone at the firm. Then go there and bitch them all out."
This is worse than blaming me. He's testing me to see if I'd do something so stupid. I'm tempted to lie and tell him I'll think about it. But… "I'm not going to do something so dumb. Besides, architects aren't the ones to blame. A chemical engineer uses raw materials to create products and find solutions, including building materials. So, chemical engineers would be the target group to blame."
"Well, architects would still have some fault for not asking why Roman structures last so long."
"I'd say all of humanity is to blame for that. But I'd bet human ego was involved in this, or at the very least, a lack of imagination."
"How would the human ego be involved?"
"Very simple. Past engineers looked at Roman structures and saw tiny white lumps. They called these lime clasts and assumed they were errors or mistakes, for they aren't found in modern concrete. Past engineers assumed these white lumps were due to sloppy mixing of the cement."
"When you use the word 'assumed' with such sarcasm, I know something is up."
"Yes, something is up. Generations of engineers have lacked imagination. They've been stuck in extreme left-brain thinking."
Mr. Skeptical is nodding along, agreeing with me. He adds, "I picture an eightieth-century British professor talking to engineering students, showing photos of Roman concrete. He's smoking from a cigar pipe. One student raises his hand and asks, "Professor, what are those small white lumps in the picture?" The professor would take another drag of his pipe and, with an air of snobbish authority say, "Oh, pay no attention to those. It was from sloppy mixing of the concrete."
"Yes, and then one or more students would think, but wait a second, should we assume that? Do we really know it was sloppy mixing? Haven't these structures been up for thousands of years? But because it was only a student thinking it, nothing would ever get done. And to this day, we and the climate are paying a huge price for it."
"So, what benefit did the lime clasts have for the Roman concrete?"
"To answer that, let's dive deeper to eye-level."
Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level
The person who led this discovery is chemist Admir Masic from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I saw a video of him, and he looks and sounds like a Rugby player, not a chemist. Masic said,
"For me, it was really difficult to believe that ancient Roman (engineers) would not do a good job because they really made careful effort when choosing and processing materials."
I'm glad the rugby-looking chemist said this, but why has it taken so long? Shouldn't some other chemists have figured that out 200 years ago?
Mr. Skeptical folds his arms. "Okay, stop complaining and explain how the Romans did it."
"The lime clasts gave Roman concrete the ability to heal over time. The lime clasts formed because the concrete was heated and mixed. When water enters Roman cement, it makes it stronger, healing it. This was finally proven via lab studies."
"So I imagine a construction company will use the research to build better concrete."
"Yes, that is already happening. Masic happens to be a co-founder of a company called DMAT that will soon be coming out with Roman-inspired concrete."
"Somehow, I'm not surprised."
"No one should be. I've always said love and money make the world go around. But it's heartbreaking to think about the Surfside building that collapsed, killing 98 people. Investigators of the collapse say a big cause of the disaster was the long-term degradation of support structures due to water penetration and corrosion. Roman concrete may have taken up more space than modern buildings, but if that building had the advantages of Roman concrete, it perhaps wouldn't have fallen."
"Yes. It seems someone should be blamed." Mr. Skeptical's eyes narrow in on me. His eyes are shouting accusingly. "You're of German descent. Aren't Germans known for their fabulous engineering?"
Ugghhh I already know where he's going with this. "Stop trying to blame me."
"You don't have an uncle or ancestor who was an engineer?"
"No. None that I know of." I answered him curtly and abruptly, hopefully getting him off my back.
"Maybe you should go and speak at an engineering firm and curse them out."
I don't want to acknowledge Mr. Skeptical's asinine idea, so I'll ignore him. However, if I meet an engineer or a chemist at a bar, I'll bring up the recent Roman concrete discovery and ask him or her to buy me a drink.
Practical Suggestions and Conclusions
Don't ever assume anything. Just because some professor or authority figure says something, don't always believe it’s set in stone. Too many authority figures are later proven to be wrong. Or at least relatively inaccurate. There are many ways to skin the cat; if the proof is there, investigate it. Evidence of Roman architecture has existed for thousands of years, lasting longer than modern buildings. So, we should have looked more closely and focused on that fact.
Always allow yourself to think your own independent thoughts, and don't be afraid to ask or dive into controversial questions.
In other words, be aware.