> I'm sure they built a lot of stuff that fell down

Survivorship bias is the favourite catchphrase for HN these last few years.

I think you overestimate the importance of academic theory over practicality.

"Moar rocks" is a perfectly reasonable way ro fortify a structure. Because 1000 years from now engineers will be wondering how any of our stuff survived ("moar cement and steel rods!")

So yeah, I have a healthy respect for practicality.