[skywal_l]

I wonder if terraforming is possible, not because of technological limitations but just because of the limitation of humanity's ability to execute such large scale projects.

Given an unlimited amount of raw materials and energy, terraforming a planet like mars would probably take decades (centuries?).

Private funded projects usually have a TTL of a couple of months to at best 4/5 years and are driven by short to medium term profits. Public funded projects are on a longer timeframe. Taking a recent example, according to Wikipedia, "serious planning" for James Webb started in early 90s. So that's ~30 years.

But do we have example, in modern times, of project lasting more than a century? I have Notre-Dame in mind, any other? The construction of Notre-Dame was driven by religious fervor. I wonder if we could muster the same amount of will based only on a profit motive.

[matkoniecz]

Sagrada Família is under active construction since 1882, 139 years ago (with some pauses due to civil war etc).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia (it is much better inside than outside)

[eCa]

As awesome as it is[1], I don’t think it is ’based only on a profit motive’ as the gp implied they were looking for.

[1] Both the building and the project.