[sixstringtheory]

The fact of the matter is that some things have lasted a long time. Isn't it worth asking _why_ they lasted so long–and conversely, why other things do not? All the survivorship bias in the world doesn't negate the fact that some things are made to higher quality than others.

[pasabagi]

Well, the Romans had a custom of charging less rent for many-story buildings, because they were widely recognized to be susceptible to collapse. I don't think they're really high-quality architects.

I had a look at some Roman houses in Ostia Antica, and the really striking thing is how little the techniques of architecture have changed. They could do some impressive architecture from time to time, but on the whole, they built stuff about the same as your average cowboy builder would today, minus a bunch of legal requirements (fire proofing, etc).