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Comment by primitivesuave | Hacker News Reader

I don’t see why this was downvoted as it is certainly an interesting discussion- will this crisis prompt the wealthiest nation in the world to enact a suitable response to a viral pandemic?

My opinion is a strong no. After hurricanes and floods, we simply rebuild houses where they once stood and forget they ever happened. Our modern hurricane response is nothing to be proud of.

Before WW1, Britain was the wealthiest nation in the world. They controlled the seas of the entire world and despite having one of the smaller populations, could bend huge populations to their will (e.g. India). It took only 4 years for an enormous transfer of wealth to take place from the British Empire, which had itself been sucking up the wealth of the world for centuries, to the United States. The financial hub of the world moved from London to New York. I could certainly see it moving again, and right now the most likely candidate is Beijing.

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Evacuation orders are given almost a week ahead of hurricanes now. Updated building codes after Andrew have made wind almost a non-issue for houses built in the last 20 years. Expanded flood zones have forced more houses to be built above the 100 year flood line. Local utility lines have mostly been moved underground to avoid wind and falling trees. The last time we received hurricane force winds we didn’t even lose cable.

Clearly we have learned nothing from hurricanes.

Thank you for the information, my opinions were largely formed by contemporary news articles - had I been more informed I would not be so negative about hurricane response.

One of the big building code changes was actually very simple.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_(engineering)#Hurricane_...

But ties changed the entire survivability of a building in high winds.

Americans have a strong scepticism of prognosticators.

Just look at children stories like chicken little and the boy who cried wolf.

That’s great when prognosticators are wrong: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/157/3791/914.2

Unlike America, China didn’t ignore Paul Erlich and his ilk. They responded by implementing the one child policy.

Originally intended to preserve their resources, they kept it because it aided in industrialization.

And so China is now a major polluter, is stripping away its resources at a massive scale, and about to hit a massive demographic cliff.

And in the process violated human rights on a massive scale.

Huh? I lived through hurricane Andrew. Building codes were updated. People were significantly more ready for the string of hurricanes that came through 1999-2005. Miami is still gonna be underwater due to climate change but the response to hurricanes was dramatic. People know how to deal with hurricanes in South Florida.

I've lived in California my whole life. The state has been continually been beefing up it's building codes since 1906 to resist earthquakes. I'm pretty sure when this is over California is going to make some big changes.

It’s really striking how many metal roofs have been installed in Florida. Everywhere else they’re seen as an unobtainable luxury.

Even the non-metal roofs have changed. The shape used to be 2-plane, like a book opened face-down, with a spine running from one end to the other. This made two walls of the house pentagonal. Those pentagonal walls typically had the upper portion just sitting there, barely attached. Now the building codes require internal diagonal bracing for that portion, if it even exists. Insurance companies charge more if it exists, so most roofs are more pyramid-like, composed of 4 planes, with the edge of the roof being the same height from the ground all around the house.

So, hip roofs are preferred over gable roofs?

Yes. Because some people built poor-quality gable roofs, we all pay more for insurance if we have them. Never mind that the pentagonal walls could be made of steel or poured concrete. Insurance companies just don't want that type of roof.

Agree with you on this, like I mentioned above I was uninformed - happened before I was born :) Thank you for the information.

The British Empire was the pivot of world power through to 1947. Yup, then it dissolved and Britain was bankrupt, but the transfer of wealth didn't go from London to New York, the continental power of the United States made all the wealth anyone needed. Bismark said it “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”

This is a great point and love the quote.

> "right now the most likely candidate is Beijing."

Beijing is not even the financial hub of China. That would be Shanghai.

Interesting to learn this, thanks for the information.

To a (very) rough approximation counterparts are: Beijing: Washington, DC, Shanghai: NYC, Shenzen: a mix of Detroit/California. China has lots of ports, seven of the top 10 worlds largest container ports are Chinese.

The wealth shifted because the British Empire lost it's navy and thus it's force projection which made it lose it's way to control it's colonies and it handing it's colonies to the US in lend lease. That was combined with a guarantee of global seas protection from the US navy. CCP has zero force projection even over their local area of the world and are wholly dependent on imports from the rest of the world for its economy. The US could shut down the economy of China and send it in to millions of people dying famine by just putting some blockades up between the middle east and China and China would cease to be a country.

> They controlled the seas of the entire world

In their heads. But meanwhile, the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish had more than their fair share as well. This whole re-writing of history is what enables 'MAGA' and other idiotic revisionist trends, please don't contribute to them. It only gives more credence to the kind of exceptionalism and nationalism on display.

It depends what era you're talking about, but the period leading up to WWI the UK was pretty dominant. Neither the Spanish or Portuguese challenged them during that period.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Britannica

It's romantic to speak in such absolutes.

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