A Luciferian Reflection on Fragility and the Collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore

 

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It was with great sadness that one woke on 27 March 2024 to the news of the collapse of the  Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Maryland. The collapse took the lives of at least six workers, and threatens the well being of thousands of workers and the economy of the region (here).  

The operators of the Dali cargo ship issued a mayday call that the vessel had lost power moments before the crash, but the ship still headed toward the span at “a very, very rapid speed,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said. The 985-foot-long (300-meter-long) vessel struck one of the 1.6-mile (2.6-kilometer) bridge’s supports, causing the span to break and fall into the water within seconds. Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge are presumed dead. Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said they were working in the middle of the span when it came apart. * * * The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which said all crew members, including the two pilots, were accounted for and there were no reports of injuries. The ship’s warning enabled authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span. Plus, the accident occurred at 1:30 a.m., long before the busy morning rush. The bridge carried an estimated 30,800 vehicles a day on average in 2019. . . The collapse will almost surely create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. The accident will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic. The port is a major East Coast hub for shipping. The bridge spans the Patapsco River, which massive cargo ships use to reach the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean.  The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and flying under a Singapore flag, according to data from Marine Traffic. (What we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse)

Newsweek reported that the 

The Dali "lost propulsion" as it was leaving port and had warned Maryland officials of a possible collision, according to an unclassified report by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cited by ABC News. Video footage shared online captured the bridge collapse, with the steel structure falling onto the ship below and flinging cars into the frigid waters, sparking a huge rescue operation. "The vessel notified MD Department of Transportation (MDOT) that they had lost control of the vessel and an allision  [a collision] with the bridge was possible," the CISA said. "The vessel struck the bridge causing a complete collapse." (Dali Container Ship 'Lost Control' Before Baltimore Bridge Collapse)

 

 

My purpose here is offer a very preliminary macro-level consideration of things that may be worth thinking about now.

1. Very strong things (bridges, in this case) appear to be quite fragile when stressed in just the right way. And such stress events do not appear to be particularly difficult to activate (at least in this case). But just about anything has a critical stress point. And stress points are not just fixed (e.g., transportation grids) but also dynamic in the sense that any pathway can be stressed under the right conditions (border through strategic migration waves; too much traffic on networks, etc.).

2. Pathways that appear to be robust are also fragile to the extent that they are an aggregation of choke points.  The Key bridge, for example, serves as a simple single structure the collapse of which can close off a port. But that applies to highways (the US interstate highway system is a series a choke points; but so is the electrical grid, train systems, etc.). 

3. The concept of "losing control" has acquired a broader meaning. One can lose control because mechanical systems fail; but one can lose control when computer assisted and programmed control structures fail. . . . or are hijacked. If that is the case, then any object on a pathway (water, highway, air, space, etc.) can become a weapon. Cars, for example, especially those that are capable of ceding control to others, may provide an easy way to clog an arterial pathway at a critical point in space, time, and place.

4. Pathway failure remind one that the premise of reliability, especially in times of stress, may be worth rethinking.  The operating premise might require shifting, from a  premise or goal of (thoughtless) reliability to one risk; that is that risk contingency may require the cultivation of alternatives as a core part of planning.

5. Related to the shift from a premise of reliability to one of risk, is the shift from fixity to nimbleness in responding to changing circumstance. For many, the ability to shift quickly in the face of blockages  may be difficult.  And that difficulty may produce disaster if it is multiplied in key sector or among key elements of a population. Just as it is important to undertake risk analysis so might it be necessary to map out a spectrum of alternatives.

6. One of the most interesting parts of World War Z was the use of the notion that even the most impervious threat can be undermined by understanding that its greatest strengths may also provide a glimpse at its greatest weakness (Nature "loves disguising her weaknesses as strengths." HERE). It may be time to undertake a strength is weakness analysis to better and more dispassionately understand the critical chinks in the national armor. In this case openness has been a great strength (in technology, migration, pathways, etc., but they also appear to be the means through which negative effects may be projected or just happen, as no doubt in this case).

7. The prize of all of this is the cultivation of instability. A collective that has come to expect that things have and will operate without interruption; that pathways are open, and that blockages are either serendipitous or negligible in impact, is likely much less prepared  when these principles are threatened. A less prepared public may respond badly or may be less easy to manage appropriately in the face of disruptions that are either cumulative or painful. And disruption that blocks pathways may also block any effective ability to project or deliver order, respond, mitigation, comfort, or security.  

8. The Luciferian semiotics of the Key Bridge, then, become more easiy visible. Objects that appear strong become their opposite. An inversion of solidity affects the solidity of the premises on which social order and expectation is defined and meaning constructed. The most pernicious effect, though, on meaning, order, stability and the like, may be a function of losing control. It is to the loss of control and its consequences that one might need to develop appropriate countermeasures, including the management of the meaning of things, events, and the like. That sounds like a project for collectives; and indeed it is.  But it is also a project that may be as important to the autonomous individual. This is possible, but only if one recognizes, identifies, thinks and acts.