Modern technology has given us nearly instantaneous access to information, but we don't seem to have figured out how to act on it quickly.
The contrast between classical and modern accomplishments makes me think that the faster we know things, the slower we execute.
What if the ancient Athenians had had cell phones and computers? Let's listen in on a cell phone conversation between Parthenon sculptor Phidias and his wife early one morning:
"Hi, Hon, I'm at the Acropolis and getting organized. We are about to lift Apollo into the pediment."
"That's all well and good, Husband, but can you bring some red wine back? And Mother needs a new amphora to replace the one that your nasty cousin, Sosphenes, broke when he visited us."
"I'll bring an amphora full of red wine — how about that? Alcibides has a three-for-two special at his Wines-R-Us store over at the agora."
"Mother likes the old style — and none of those naked ladies on the amphora. And, Phidias, dry, for Apollo's sake."
"Have to go, Hon. They are about to drop poor Apollo, and I have a call waiting from someone named Mel Brooks."
OK, so Phidias didn't have a cell phone, a computer, a CAD program, or, we hope, a nagging wife, and yet, with great vision, sculpting skills, and persistence, he created what may be the greatest building sculptures in the world. Phidias and architects Iktinos and Kallikrates built the Parthenon from 447 B.C. to 432 B.C. — a scant 15 years. By way of comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza took about 20 years to build, ending around 2560 B.C. The Egyptians accomplished that with slaves, oxen, and probably lots of beer.
In the 20th century, construction of the Empire State Building started on March 17, 1930, and finished on March 1, 1931, just shy of a year — and there was a depression on. They used steam shovels, and communication depended on how loudly they could shout from steel beam to steel beam.
Now, it will be 10 years or longer before the flag goes up on the Freedom Tower at the site of the World Trade Center, toppled by terrorists in 2001.