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The innovative documentarian John Wilson offers a hilarious but poignant case for rethinking how we build the future.
You don’t need to be a business owner to appreciate the critical importance of concrete in our world. The second most used material on the planet after water, concrete is a literal building block of humanity, but it’s also setting us up for failure. While it can seem like a permanent solution, the material typically lasts for only 40 years, after which its tendency to crack and crumble leads to costly fixes.
The new documentary The History of Concrete, which premiered Thursday night at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, doesn’t actually dig too deep into concrete’s past. Instead, it amounts to a cost-benefit analysis of various technologies, including concrete, as well as many other facets of the modern world.
Directed by John Wilson, the documentary is essentially a feature film version of Wilson’s Emmy-nominated and darkly humorous HBO documentary series How to With John Wilson, which revealed poignant truths about humanity by exploring mundane tasks.
One of the first lessons from the documentary is how commercial success can have unexpected consequences in today’s AI-powered world. After three seasons of his innovative HBO show, which relied heavily on voiceover narration, Wilson discovered videos online using AI-generated versions of his voice to sell gutter systems.
With his HBO money running dry, Wilson found himself with few new opportunities outside of producing content for the adult diaper brand Depends and the fast-food chain Arby’s, neither of which appealed to him.
While none of that has anything to do with concrete, Wilson still manages to use the history of the material to offer a bleak vision for the future, even if concrete’s impermanence does yield an uplifting truth. “The real reward is being able to start all over again,” Wilson says in the film.
Here are three other business lessons from the documentary.
The future of concrete looks bland.
Last year, Starbucks leveraged robotics and concrete to build the world’s first 3D-printed Starbucks in Brownsville, Texas. While the construction eliminated the need for some human labor and proved that a more economical method for construction exists, the drab appearance of the cafe is also something of an eyesore. “Most buildings will look this way if the concrete industry has its way,” Wilson says.
Concrete is unsustainable.
Humans extract 50 billion tons of sand and gravel every year to produce concrete, glass, computer chips, and porcelain. Not only does this lead to massive carbon emissions and environmental destruction, but a sand shortage could be on the horizon.
One shocking statistic Wilson shares in the film is that, between 2011 and 2014, China used more concrete than the U.S. did during the entire 20th century. As one concrete expert says in the film, “We’d be up a creek without concrete.”
Concrete creates safety hazards.
One of the most frightening revelations from the film comes from a former Head of New York City’s Department of Transportation, who explains that the Brooklyn Queens Expressway’s unique three-tiered cantilever is being held together by a collection of small fixes, none of which will last.
He also shares that he’s witnessed as much as 600 pounds of concrete fall from a structure at one time. A similar incident on the BQE could be disastrous for motorists, he says.
If there’s one specific tip for business owners whose properties include concrete floors or walkways, it may be to invest in replacing them entirely rather than saving money by just patching them up. You’re just going to find more cracks in the future, so why not finish the job now?
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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