Imagine we wanted to make an exact copy of the pyramids in Egypt, the great pyramid specifically.
Never mind building them without machines. Do you think mankind, not just the current residents of Egypt, but do you think in this world there exists the technical know how and political will to even be able to do it?
No, I don't think the ancient Egyptians used special secret tech.
I'm not an construction engineer, I don't care about the details of the construction, such as how we cut the rock. Maybe we use rock saws and polish them which wire brushes. I don't care, just using the most efficient modern methods. Why quibble about the how?
Purpose? The purpose to them was to magnify the greatness of their civilization, as embodied in their god-king the pharaoh. That's reason enough for them. Also, it kept the peasants busy outside growing season and they got some money for the work.
What narrative? I'm not pushing any secret narrative. I'm asking a question.
Kind of "ancient Egyptians had a technology we don't have". It is in every post about pyramids, directly or by implication.
Like answer is not obvious. There is no any technical problems to build a pyramid twice larger than greatest one with much better quality, precision and complexity of inner design.
But who will pay for it and for what purpose? Why it could be necessary to build a pyramid?
It's like asking if we could build Great Wall. Of course we could. But who need it?
We don't build pyramids not because we can't or don't know some secret know-how, but because they are completely useless.
The pyramids were built for the glory of that civilization. People are just a tiny fraction of themselves like honey-bees, who work for the collective. It's why fascism has an innate appeal. A pyramid was one way they could express that glory.
There are other ways in which a modern civilization can do a mammoth accomplishment for the glory of their civilization. Such things include building the tallest building in the world, or landing on the moon, or a massive art project like Mount Rushmore.
What my question is getting at, is not the secret alien tech aspect, which I don't believe, but whether it's possible man could relearn these skills without sufficient motivation. And if man could have these skills atrophy in one area, why not a second? That's where I'm developing the argument. Your somewhat on the right track then.
More like for the glory of pharaons. They have no any purpose useful for civilisation. Say, another megalitic project - Suez canal, at least useful for delivering huge amount of goods from one hemisphere to another. Pyramids, in the best case, is just an archeological curiosity and attraction for tourists.
What could be a motivation to build a copy of pyramid?
Once, one millionare built a giant fiberglass pyramids with all that precise "golden" ratios and even that "direction to the North star" not far from Moscow. You know that energies and all that esoteric stuff. Dude spent millions of dollars. Guess what. They was nothing more than attraction for idlers. Some was disassembled, largest one crushed onto neighbouring ostrich farm during one of hurricanes. Enthusiasm about all that "positive energy" from "golden ratio geometry" dried fast, and not much was spent on further maintenance. Look for it - "Alexander Golod pyramides".
That was some motivated millionare. To build a copy of Great pyramid you will need billion of dollars at minimum. So you need a billion dollar motivation. What could it be?
Nothing except creating a tomb for some elite bastard who obsessed with pharaons glory coming to my mind.
I don't think you really grasp how the pharoah represented the civilization itself. He was both a flag, a monument, a state religion, a war leader, a god king, and intecessor with the rest of the gods. He was that civilization, especially to the peasants who never saw him. Stop thinking like an Athenian or Greek. It's like imagining that because you have $120 dollars in your wallet, you know what it's like to be as rich as Bill Gates.
Could we build a copy of the great pyramid? I'm not sure, even if we could use modern technology to, theoretically, make it easier. And it's only partially due to motivation.