MBS is such a visionary leader that he will achieve the once impossible feat of bankrupting Saudi Arabia https://t.co/1LWKAaR75D
— Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) April 4, 2024
Man, who would have guessed that 105-mile-long glass-walled megacity in Saudi Arabia might not come to fruition after all. https://t.co/8T06I5MTet
— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) April 13, 2024
Continuing the theme of ‘rich narcissists embarrassing themselves’… Per the Guardian, “End of the Line? Saudi Arabia ‘forced to scale back’ plans for desert megacity”:
It was billed as a glass-walled city of the future, an ambitious centrepiece of the economic plan backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to transition Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency.
Now, however, plans for the mirror-clad desert metropolis called the Line have been scaled down and the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles (170km) is expected to reach just a mile and a half by 2030.
Dreamed up as a linear city that would eventually be home to about 9 million people on a footprint of just 13 sq miles, the Line is part of a wider Neom project. Now at least one contractor has begun dismissing workers.
The scaling down of Prince Mohammed’s most grandiose project was reported by Bloomberg, which said it had seen documents relating to the project.
The project, which had been slated to cost $1.5tn (£1.2tn), was pitched as a reinvention of urban design. However, it has long attracted scepticism and criticism, not least after the reported execution of several members of the Howeitat tribe who had protested over plans to construct on their ancestral lands.
Then there were reports of Prince Mohammed’s changing vision for the project, budget overspends and an ever-changing roster of key staff, with some who have worked on the project describing it as “untethered from reality”.
According to Bloomberg, the scaling back of the Line comes as the overall Neom budget for 2024 has yet to be approved by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund amid declining cash reserves…
Prince Mohammed, who has long been accused of involvement in the killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, had described the city project as “tackling the challenges facing humanity in urban life today” to “shine a light on alternative ways to live”.
Not everyone, however, has been convinced by the prince’s glossy prospectus. Writing in the New York Times in 2021 at the time Neom released a video describing the prospects of living between the city’s silvered walls, the US journalist and author Robert Worth said: “To watch the crown prince’s promotional video is to be immersed in a distinctively Saudi form of arrogance, blending religious triumphalism and royal grandiosity.”…
MBS is giving out true Shah Reza Pahlavi vibes here pic.twitter.com/V0gBT8kVNZ
— Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) April 4, 2024
MBS’s ‘Mirrored Terrarium Living‘ appeared, to me, quite as overambitious as a certain American-based oligarch’s ‘Mars, beyotchs!‘ fantasies… but MBS had advantages such as ‘currently invaluable resource reserves’ and ‘ability to murder any locals who harshed his mellow’. Turns out even that may not be enough!
The original Bloomberg article is extremely paywalled, but here’s a reprint from Malaysia’s The Star:
… The crown prince, or MBS as he is known, wants foreign investors to transfer expertise and co-fund megaprojects like the one to develop Neom. That US$500bil plan envisions turning the remote north-western region into a carbon-free high tech hub filled with robots.
While Neom has rolled out marketing and investor roadshows, it’s not made serious progress raising capital yet, people familiar with the matter said.
It’s not just along the less-developed coastline that projects are facing headwinds. Near the capital, an entertainment city dubbed Qiddiya has more than US$1 trillion of committed spending – but that’s backed entirely by the PIF and a Saudi developer it owns, two people briefed on the project said.
“If we don’t have clear evidence of more funding by the end of the year, then it’s certainly worth asking where the money is going to come from for these projects,” said David Dawkins from London-based investment data firm Preqin, which analyses Saudi trends.
“They are insanely expensive.”Delays approving regulations for Neom have left question marks for investors. Many said their reluctance to commit funds to the kingdom is often down to unclear and untested laws governing contracts and investment…
But the government, burning through cash, is stepping up efforts to attract much more foreign money. It asked smaller neighbour Kuwait for over US$16bil in financing for projects including Neom as recently as this year, people familiar with the matter said.
At stake for MBS are ambitions synonymous with Vision 2030. While companies like US-based Air Products have signed on for joint ventures at Neom, Saudi Arabia is still on the hook for underwriting close to the entirety of the cost – roughly equivalent to half its current economic output. —Bloomberg
What are the chances of The Line ever being completed and occupied?https://t.co/Troa8RDLvk
— @[email protected] (@roygrubb) April 4, 2024
HumboldtBlue
I remember when some 19 or so 9/11 killers were Saudis.
Now they run golf events.
Chet Murthy
@HumboldtBlue: It’s enraging, isn’t it? We support those fuckers, who killed thousands of our people. Thousands.
SpaceUnit
The future is clean energy and allowing these savages to roast alive in their worthless sand.
Debbie(Aussie)
@SpaceUnit: I’m hoping for something more along the lines of the royals bankrupting the country with the women taking over and imprisoning the extraordinary large royal families in ‘the line’.
bjacques
I saw more impressive stuff in OMNI magazine. We’re surrounded by “visionaries” who all read the same 1970s science fiction. NEOM reminds me of Larry Niven’s “Ringworld” in which, in a rare episode of self-realization, he noted that building it bankrupted that particular solar system.
SpaceUnit
@Debbie(Aussie):
That would be awesome.
Seems like a long shot though, at least in our current times.
ETA: And honestly, were the whole region to be bankrupted it would just just lead to more Islamic radicalization and potential for global terrorism.
Betty Cracker
No amount of wealth or power is ever enough for these sociopathic monsters. Their grandiosity scales to match available resources until the whole thing tips over.
The pattern is consistent across societies and political systems. Confiscatory tax rates on mega-wealth might not cure the underlying malady, but they’d limit the collateral damage.
Jay
So, it’s Cybertruck, Queen of the Desert, with out the fabulous drag queens???????
Tony Jay
This is the thing, isn’t it? It’s been obvious for quite a while that the Saudi Government has taken a more or less clear-eyed look at a potential carbon-free future and decided that they need to use their vast wealth NOW to capture a sustainable revenue source that will keep them fabulously rich and influential through the 21st century.
So they’ve gone after Sport. Everyone (for a certain value of a very large number) loves watching sport, and if they’re rich enough they like to go and watch it live. Golf, boxing, motor racing, Football – if their plans work out they’ll own the biggest teams, run the biggest competitions, control the decision making and scheduling infrastructure for the lot of it. Prize fights, races, cup finals – they’ll all take place in the Gulf region or at the very least you’ll have to pay them a subscription fee to see them.
Alongside all that, huge resort/sports cities for the rich (and those with enough saved up leisure cash to treat themselves) where they can rub shoulders with their sporting heroes – all of whom it’s hoped will live there to enjoy the luxury lifestyle and tax-free perks. Everything built by and maintained by a slave-economy of disposable foreign workers desperate to have some kind of income and a dwelling unit to call their own.
It’s not a crazy idea, and it might still work, because they do need another resource once the oil stops flowing, but it’s still up in the air and it’s running into the danger zone caused by the decisions being made by a bunch of megalomaniacal spoilt princes with geo-political priorities that clash horribly with the drive to make The Gulf the home of sport and leisure.
And that’s before they try to buy up the movie business – because that’s coming too.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
glass walled city was the plot of “The Simpsons” movie
HumboldtBlue
@Tony Jay:
It’ll make for some game show fun!
Chet Murthy
@Tony Jay: You’re probably right about their motivations. But I don’t think it’ll work. The Saudis are incapable of doing any actual *work*. I mean *any* *work*. A little story:
When I worked for [name of Gynormous Enterprise I/T company redacted], a friend was running a sales effort to get a bunch of kit (machines, software, etc) into KSA and a couple of the other oil kingdoms. This involved a *lot* of onsite work, and ….. *nobody* in the region who worked for our company, would agree to do it. I mean, not the Egyptians, not the Jordanians, not *nobody*. Not Indians from India. Basically, all they had was the onsite Saudi folks, who were dead ignorant, lazy, completely incompetent. My friend spun up an effort to basically do dress rehearsals of all the onsite work, back in the US, to get it down to where they knew every single step *cold*, they’d done it so many times. So that they could then have Saudi folks do it under remove supervision.
It worked, but basically, what it taught me is that the Saudis are incapable of actually doing anything that involves actual work. They’ll try to outsource it all. And you might be wondering: “why didn’t anybody from any of the neighboring countries wanna go? I mean, Egypt and Jordan are Muslim-majority countries, riiiight?” Turns out, the Saudis treat *everybody* like shit, just complete shit. So nobody was willing to sign up for that, and I mean *nobody*.
They won’t be able to pull this shit off.
Baud
No one could see this failure coming. They should see if Jared will invest in it.
prostratedragon
Hmmm …
Rcercata No.2, Ligeti
Princess
Maybe authoritarianism— be it at the corporate or national level — is not the best way to develop innovative ideas that can turn into functioning projects. Maybe old fashioned liberalism, competition, boards, and corporate (in the broad sense) accountability has something to offer still.
Chet Murthy
@Princess: Timothy Snyder has been on this point for a while: that authoritarianism leads to oligarchy, and oligarchy to incompetence (since people are promoted for loyalty, not competence). He’s got a whole video series about it (Google “Timothy Snyder sadopopulism” to get one of the videos, from which the others should be easily navigable).
Baud
@Princess:
Commie.
Baud
@Chet Murthy:
Good term.
Tony Jay
@HumboldtBlue:
I mean, I’d probably use a VPN to watch it…
Chet Murthy
@Baud: That episode alone is worth the price of admission! He explains so succinctly why and how the G(r)OP is so incompetent at governing, and why and how that doesn’t affect their electoral chances at all. At. All. B/c they aren’t offering competence; they’re offering to hurt scapegoats. So the entire idea is they teach their Base to blame all their troubles on scapegoats, and then offer to hurt those scapegoats. As a substitute for actually competently governing.
It’s a brilliant exposition, which I think has the added advantage of being true.
Tony Jay
@Chet Murthy:
Almost certainly not, the ‘Build A New World’ anyway.
The ‘Buy Up Everything And Charge To Watch It’ bit, maybe. And even if it doesn’t totally work out, they’ll make a lot of corrupt sporting execs very rich and sexually jaded in the meantime.
Baud
@Chet Murthy:
Thanks for the rec. Although your description of it sounds like stuff BJ has been saying for years.
NotMax
Backgrounder on the largest megaprojects in KSA.
Also too, the on again, off again, maybe on again megatower.
Baud
Speaking of late-stage capitalism, I’ve never complained that much about ads because I often don’t use things enough to subscribe to them and so ads are how I pay, but I’ve noticed both Pandora and Spotify have really increased their ads lately. It’s gotten worse than radio.
NotMax
@Baud
Appreciate many of the offerings on the free to subscribe FilmRise British TV subchannel and grudgingly put up with interruptions for ads. Except when they show the same ad over and over as many as six times in a row during a break.
ColoradoGuy
Global Climate Change is going to make the Kingdom uninhabitable, unless somebody comes up with a backpack-sized personal air conditioner. The only way to survive outdoors (without protective gear) will be in underground cities.
Baud
Might have been safe seats. But good news
AM in NC
@Debbie(Aussie): Amen.
Geminid
Some Arizona news: Larry Sabato’s rating site Crystal Ball has shifted Arizona’s Senate race between Ruben Gallego and Scary Kari Lake from the “Tossup” column to “Lean Democrat.” Director Karl Kondyk credited reactions to last week’s abortion ruling for the change.
Kondyk also said their rating for Arizona’s 6th CD had shifted from “Lean Republican” to “Tossup.” In 2022, freshman Rep. Juan Ciscomani carried the district by less than 7,000 votes out of ~350,000 votes cast.
The 6th CD covers areas north, east and southeast of Tucson. Joe Biden would have won it in 2020 had it been in its present configuration.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Scary Kari urged supporters to prepare for the upcoming election by “strapping on a Glock” at a recent rally. Pivoting to the center for the general! ;-)
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Yes, she’ll strap on a Glock to go with her “Spiritual Armor.” A belt-and-suspenders approach.
Geminid
@Geminid: Last year when Ruben Gallego announced for Senate, I thought he had the elements of a strong candidate. He seems to have put them together and I am impressed.
Timill
@bjacques: I just wondered if they were going to put a springboard on top…
mrmoshpotato
I really need to resist the urge to check the site first thing in the morning.
What a bonkers idea from people with entirely too much money.
arrieve
@Tony Jay: I was in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Yanbu) for a couple of days on my Christmas cruise (OTR pictures will be coming) and there are signs everywhere for MBS’s Vision 2030, his plan to diversify the economy and move the country forward (allowing women to drive and encouraging tourism are two parts of this.) And there is so much money being spent it’s mind-boggling–construction of new high-rises everywhere. A new Formula 1 racetrack. Streets full of jewelry stores displaying gold necklaces that must weigh ten pounds. And you can’t help but notice, apart from the ostentatious wealth, that everything else is kind of falling down. It’s clear they never subscribed to trickle-down economic theories.
ETA: I hadn’t seen the video that @NotMax: posted. Thanks–a very good look at what’s going on there.
hueyplong
@arrieve: Or you could say that they in fact do subscribe to “trickle down” theories. It’s never been anything more than a throwaway line to support the Gimme All The Toys philosophy.
schrodingers_cat
@HumboldtBlue: I think it was 15. But your point still stands. They were chosen because they were Saudi as that got them little scrutiny during their visa application process. NSA and CIA didn’t share the information with FBI because of they were Saudi nationals goes one theory.
Kay
@Baud:
She was already a county commissioner, which is a sought-after job with a big budget and real power so well positioned for a run, but I’m still glad they elected a former refugee by such a huge margin with all the anti immigrant sentiment media and Republicans are ginning up.
Kay
You understand why Michigan Democrats have a trifiecta when you look at Michigan Republicans. Also yesterday:
vigilhorn
Can pyramids be far behind?
Baud
@Kay:
Shouldn’t Ohio have a Dem trifecta under the same theory?
Kay
@Baud:
Yes.
TBone
Both Rump and Squeaker Johnson are doing smoke and mirrors. Rump with the bond and Johnson with foreign aid. I’m not falling for any of the stupid excuses.
Weissman and Rubin tell us why:
https://moneyforlunch.com/absurd-experts-say-trump-still-playing-games-with-fraud-bond-and-it-could-blow-up-in-his-face/
ETA better link
Baud
@Kay:
:-(
rikyrah
@HumboldtBlue:
Uh huh 🤔 🤔
Betty Cracker
I’ve been entertained since sunrise by a master of air and water in the form of a huge osprey. I saw it dive at great speed, plummet well below the surface and emerge with a good-sized fish, powering up on wet wings to deliver sushi at its nest. Very impressive!
Kay
It’s just nuts that Donald Trump keeps falling asleep at his criminal trial and yet there’s no media discussion on whether he’s well enough to serve as President.
No one falls asleep at their own trial! There’s something wrong with him.
These are the peoplewho turned Hillary Clinton getting sick at a memorial service into a 2 week story. Just ridiculously slanted, pro Trump coverage.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s hard not to get numb to it, it’s been so persistent for so long.
Chris
@Chet Murthy:
Saudi Arabia is an unholy mashup of monarchism, socialism, and the antebellum American slave state model. On the one hand, the welfare state is extremely generous; it even has UBI! On the other hand, the welfare state is only for citizens, and the people who do the actual work of creating the wealth aren’t citizens; they’re an imported workforce with no rights or voice of their own.
The horrific thing is that it’s lasted as long as it has, but they may be finally bumping into its limits.
Baud
@Chris:
Many countries have non-citizen workers that don’t get the benefits of citizenship. Saudi and other ME countries just tend to take it to an extreme.
Chris
@Chet Murthy:
What’s really terrifying to me is that once you get a critical mass of the population to buy into this, the process appears to be self-reinforcing and damn near impossible for the affected society to break out of on your own. All the examples of such societies being destroyed and replaced with better ones happened with external pressure – the South cleaned up its act, to the extent that it ever did, because the North forced it to, Germany cleaned up its act because the Allies conquered it and remade it by force, South Africa cleaned up its act because the West forced it out into the cold and it was staring at the very real threat of imminent overthrow anyway. Left to themselves, societies like this seem to be able to use the “he hates the same people I do, hand me the ballot” form of tribalism basically forever.
Chris
@Baud:
Pretty much. Every rich country has some version of the same scam, which I’ve ranted on at length in our threads about illegal immigration. But yeah, it still feels like there’s some difference between having an economy where some things work that way, and (the Gulf kingdoms’ model) an economy where everything works that way.
TBone
@TBone: the time for delay has LONG since passed. Seize the gatdamn assets on both fronts. Enforcement is the key to justice. Let Pooty cry and howl about it, let them all melt all the way down, they are nothing but crocodile tears of victimization and grievance. Let’s call them on it.
Melancholy Jaques
@Tony Jay:
I remember when a Japanese company bought Rockefeller Center and “everyone” said the same thing about Japan.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
Democrats should at least be competitive in Ohio. It’s not just the gerrymandering.
schrodingers_cat
@Melancholy Jaques: Its racial anxiety that the Orange Beast has tapped into.
Kay
@Melancholy Jaques:
Agree. The state has just turned hard Right – it’s that simple. The red counties went from 40-45% D to 25% D and that changed the whole field for Dems. I think Marcy Kaptur (my rep) would like to retire but she knows if she does her seat will go an R. She’s 77.
SiubhanDuinne
@prostratedragon:
Oh wow.
Betsy
@Tony Jay: Gross.
This is why I play half-ass croquet with tipsy acquaintances on bumpy, slightly weedy lawns.
For most of us, our best athletic technique consists of “Hold my G&T.”
Big advantage: can never be monetized.
Next biggest advantage: May result in slight aerobic exercise.
Kay
@Melancholy Jaques:
It’s very similiar to what happened in Missouri. That state used to be somewhat competitive for Dems. No more.
I can live with it because Democrats picked up Colorado and Virginia (solidly) and now Arizona and Georgia are swing states over the same period where Ohio went dark Red, but Florida not being competitive is a real body blow for Dems. Florida is a huge and very diverse state and it’s trending Republican. Democrats shouldn’t let it just slip away. I personally would pour money and energy into Florida. It’s worth a real effort to bring it back into swing state status. National D’s should pull out of Ohio and put anything they might have spent there into Florida (once Sherrod is re-elected – they need him).
Betsy
@Betty Cracker: This paragraph. It extended my life by a full five minutes.
How do you write like this. Like it’s nothing. You’re like a cross between Eudora Welty and Carl Hiassen and I’m not sure who else. Hunter Thompson? Molly Ivins?
Some widely read periodical of record should pay you thousands per column, I declare.
Kay
@Melancholy Jaques:
I would also fire whoever advises Democrats on Florida Latinos and start fresh. They’re getting some bad advice on that group of voters in Florida – it turns redder every cycle. It’s more than “Cubans are Republican” etc. They’re losing ground with Latino Democratic voters in urban areas.
Geminid
@Tony Jay: Did you see what happened when the Saudis tried to host the Turkish football championship? It was right before New Years. The Saudis persuaded Turkiye’s football organization to play the match in Riyadh. It was to be Fenerbahce vs. Galatasary.
But when they got to Riyadh, the Fenerbahce and Galatasary players announced they would wear warm-up shirts with Kemal Ataturk’s portrait on them. After all, 2023 was the 100th Anniversary of the Republic that Ataturk founded.
Saudi football officials confronted the teams in their locker rooms and told them, “No you won’t!” They brought cops with them.
The Turks said in that case they wouldn’t play, so the match was called off and the two teams flew home. They got to the Istanbul airport around midnight and were greeted by thousands of cheering fans waving Turkish flags and Kemal Ataturk posters. The fans knew their guys had done the right thing and besides, screw those f#@kng Saudis!
Marcopolo
just want folks to consider the financial spending “Titanic” that is currently happening closer to home: AI. From what I’ve read Sam Altman says he’ll need 7 Trillion (yes, trillion) bucks to fully fund his company, Open AI. And that’s just his company.
Apparently the amount currently being spent on chips and building data centers is through the roof and there are lots of downstream effects, including much higher energy usage than had been forecast as recently as a couple years ago. Oh, and some insane valuations of companies via the stock market.
We’ll see how it all plays out but there will need to be a massive return on investment to make all this spending make sense. And if it doesn’t, we’ll probably see a crash & burn reminiscent of the Hindenburg.
Tony Jay
@Melancholy Jaques:
Well yeah, but that was a bit different, wasn’t it? I don’t think that was the Japanese state itself buying up chunks of real estate, entire sports teams, streaming rights, etc through sovereign wealth funds.
Other than Nakatomi Plaza, but that was a whole different story.
Betty Cracker
@Betsy: That’s so kind — thank you! :)
Tony Jay
@Geminid:
Ha! That deserves applause. I bet that the current Turkish Government absolutely loved that display of secular sentiment, too.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Truth!
Tony Jay
@Betsy:
Nothing is beyond the reach of the Sovereign Wealth Funds. They will come for you and your sport and you will be streamed to
billionsmillionssome people in Kazakhstan who like that kinda thing.Marcopolo
@Kay: Demographics is destiny. MO & OH (and IA for that matter) are chock full of aging low education white folks. It’s the most fertile ground possible for the current iteration of the Rep party as all politics in the US from the elected dog catcher on up becomes nationalized.
I agree FL is different (so is TX btw) and it’s been depressing to see the decline of the Dem party there. As far as I can tell, a lot of the R success has been appealing to the small c cultural conservative nature of the Latino/Hispanic population (and the macho crap on the male side). Gotta remember that once these folks have lived in the US for a while a lot of them “shed” much of their immigrant identity & just think of themselves as regular Americans.
Doesn’t help that FL D’s seem to be in a constant state of disarray. I really do hope there is some homegrown talent that will emerge & turn things around.
TBone
@Marcopolo: a deep dive into that subject
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-great-looting-of-the-internet/
Geminid
@Marcopolo: I read that the increased need to power data centers has spurred proposals for more natural gas generating plants, even as the EPA is considering strengthening rules intended to limit fossil fuel use. The Washinton Post had an article about this last Wedneday titled, “EPA weighs tougher limits on new gas plants as 2024 election nears.”
Reporter Maxine Joselow:
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Sounds like you’re having a very nice, peaceful morning.
Geminid
@Tony Jay: Aside from it being a minor diplomatic/trade kerfuffle, I bet President Erdogan was ok with it. He used to be a baller himself,* and although he comes out of an Islamist political tradition he is a Turkish nationalist through and though. When they held the Centennial celebration in Ankara last October, he laid the first wreath at Ataturk’s mausoleum and I doubt he was conflicted about it.
Fortunately, Turkish/Saudi relations have improved in recent years and both governments could shrug this incident off. And now the Turkish football federation knows it had better hold this year’s championship inside Turkiye.
* R.T. Erdogan’s father was a Coast Guardsman, and the family lived on the Black Sea. Young Recip was a top football player in the local league, tall and rangy, but when a semi-pro team offered him a berth the father put his foot down. “No son,” said Mr. Erdogan. “You’re going to college.”
JustRuss
@Baud: Prime recently started running ads before the show starts. Just for a minute or so, but you know it will get worse. Pandora subscription is pretty cheap, I use it enough that it’s worth it to avoid the ads.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: I love ospreys, and have since a young and tender age, when I was made aware of their existence by a rich and eccentric family friend, whose life mission was bringing ospreys back to Michigan after their near-extinction experience with DDT in the 70s. Good times!
StringOnAStick
@Chet Murthy: I know people who worked in KSA and their opinions match your experience, to a T.
StringOnAStick
@Betty Cracker: I had a bald eagle land in the top of a pine while I was sitting in my comfy chair having my tea and looking out the window this morning!
Kent
I’m not a city planner, but this linear LINE city has got to be the stupidest idea ever.
Basically they are creating a city in which everyone must travel the same exact road to get from any point A to any point B anywhere in the city. And travel distances will be longer than in any other normal concentric city. Which means:
Endless traffic jams because everyone in the city who needs to get anywhere will take the same road
Any crash, accident, emergency, etc. will shut the city down until cleared
Every errand, shipment, delivery, commute, will take longer than necessary.
What am I missing?
Geminid
@Kent: Maybe the idea is to have subway lines in the basement to transport people and freight, with stops at elevators to service the floors above. There would probably be a high speed rail terminal at the Red Sea end that would connect to Riyadh.
Timill
@Kent: Maybe it all runs on travelators? After all, the roads must roll…
emjayay
For a bit more opinionated and funnier look at Neom and the linear city (and a lot else) check out Adam Something’s YouTube channel. Also his middle European accent is somehow totally charming.
Having trouble with a link here, but the one on this is from one year ago, titled “NEOM Is the Parody of the Future”. A later one is about the giant cube thing. And lots of shooting down Elon’s stupid ideas are there too.
emjayay
@Kent: There are no roads or cars in the stupid linear city. Just magical high speed rail that’s twice as fast as anything in existence and other magical subways all in one line. Fortunately nothing ever happens to stop any subways or high speed trains so alternative routes are unnecessary….right? But the concept is stupid in a hundred other ways anyway.
I’m particularly entranced by the trees floating all over the place with no roots in the computer generated renderings.
Again, check out Adam Something on YouTube.
Geminid
@emjayay: Aside from the various technical questions about Neom, there is another big one: where will the tenants come from? The terminus on the Red Sea is planned out to hold numerous big factories, research parks, commercial centers etc., but even with incentives it would likely take at least a decade to fill a tenth of it.
Neom is also supposed be a big entertainment destination, like Las Vegas but hotter. That might be made to work some. But there are way nicer locations in the Mediterranean countries, where you can go swimming without being eaten by a shark. It’s a prestige project though, and it has to be built inside the Kingdom, on the Red Sea.
Uncle Cosmo
@Marcopolo: You might enjoy the following hour-long video take courtesy of astrophysicist Angela Collier: AI Does Not Exist But It Will Ruin Things Anyway. Then again you might not. But I did! :^D
Mo MacArbie
Can I be the only one who went from the title straight to Captain Beefheart?