Egypt's Aswan Damn | Hacker News Reader

Egypt's Aswan Damn

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66 pointspaulorlando19 comments

While I don't don't doubt the value of the book overall, I appreciate the blogger's skepticism. When the story seems too perfect to be true, it most likely isn't.

I find the same thing often in Malcolm Gladwell -- the thesis or a close variant of it is true, but the anecdotes are too pat and perfect.

>When the story seems too perfect to be true, it most likely isn't [true].

I was expecting to read

>When the story seems too perfect to be true, it most likely isn't [too perfect].

I only comment in case someone else makes my mistake.

Yes, that "too perfect" description is what made me look into the Aswan Dam situation after reading Systemantics. But I happened to have time to do just that. Most of what we read/see/hear we don't have time to assess deeply (and even if we did, we might only scratch the surface of deeper knowledge). An enduring problem.

While the author makes good points about that aspect of the book, it is nonetheless a book worth the read in today's world. I have seen this many times throughout the career and I call it the "The thing i built does WHAT??" syndrome.

I vaguely remembered that this was the first of a number of notorious World Bank dam projects, so went googling; it turns out to be geopolitically even stranger: https://adst.org/2016/06/dont-give-dam-feud-financing-aswan-...

Systemantics, the book the article is based on, sounds like a good addition to a system designer's library.

Any reviews from people who've read it?

See my comment for a very short one.

Thanks. I like what you named the syndrome.

It’s an extremely good book. Not only useful to a system designer, but anyone who ever interacts with bureaucracies, or who works in organizations with more than ten people.

Thank you.

I concur - "Systemantics" (now "The Systems Bible") is an excellent book. I had a boss turn me onto it in the 1980s, and to this day I still quote from it, and re-read it about once a decade just to keep the lessons fresh.

It is a great book.

Its wikipedia page does make it look rather good:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics

I've read it, and own a copy. It's very good. There are bits you can argue with, and some of the examples used (like the one cited here) are a little too just-so, but it is absolutely a book that will make you think. And it's funny too, which is nice.

(If you want to pick it up, be aware that in its most current printing the title changed from Systemantics to The Systems Bible: https://www.amazon.com/Systems-Bible-Beginners-Guide-Large/d...)

It is a really good book (apart from the exception I had with the Aswan Dam section). Concise and funny. Something you want on your reference shelf when studying systems.

Ok fag packet out.

Aswan dam production: 10000gwh [1]

Area of Egyptian farmland 3000000 ha [2]

Energy input for fertilising ha of wheat: 3000kwh [3] (it could be 47% of this?, but then theres 3 harvests a year...)

=9000 gwh

So the figure seems plausible?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam

[2] http://www.fao.org/docrep/v9978e/v9978e0e.htm

[3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279037757_Energy_re...

Aswan Dam also lead to the prevalence of schistosomiasis, or bilharzia. Kind of a big unintended consequence.

Interestingly, Wikipedia cites an EPA study as saying that it did not in fact increase the incidence of bilharzia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam#Health

There is also the whole question of salinization. I highly recommend Cadillac Desert

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