Have you heard of NEOM, Saudi's futuristic desert development on the Red Sea, featuring The Line, Oxagon and Trojena? You haven't? Well, take it from a humble mission priest in rural Texas that NEOM's a massively ambitious exercise in creating a super futuristic living and working space for the 21st century and beyond.
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The Line, two parallel skyscrapers 200 meters apart and 170 km long across the desert. Clad in mirrored glass and with a footprint of just 34 square kilometers, the Line will supposedly house 9 million people with an end to end transit of 20 minutes, thanks to super hi speed rail. Residents will walk everywhere because everything they need will be, apparently, within 5 minutes of their housing pod. Far out. Imagine that silver beast cutting across the sand.
Oxagon is a, "Next-gen automated & integrated port & supply chain. A fostering ecosystem for research & innovation. Catalyst for advanced transformational industries. Global gateway for world trade," and it's, "Powered by 100% clean energy," with an, "Unmatched regulatory business environment. Exceptional livability," and a, "State-of-the-art investor care center."
TROJENA will be an iconic, world-class destination, blending natural and developed landscapes – and offering unique human-centric experiences for residents and visitors alike. The destination will house six distinctive development districts centered around tailored experiences that blend real with virtual architectural and engineering innovations. All to create a destination like no other on earth.
Readers, all seven of you, what do we make of this? Is the NEOM vision scyfy cool or scyfy dystopic? Would you want to live in the fast rail, mirrored, AI controlled desert fastness of The Line as you subcontract to the bizarrely green Oxagen port while holidaying on the waters and slopes of paradisal Trojena?
Perhaps I'm cynical, but just imagine your friendly AI cuts off your social credit on the cusp of your Trojena vacation, all because you said something wrong on the internet. Oops, now you're a non-person, like a Calgary trucker. Bang goes your 20 minute end-to-end hi speed transit.
Then again, maybe it's a good thing people are dreaming big and futuristic, flying cars all 'round. But think, this is planned for Saudi Arabia. Will women be allowed to drive them? Sorry! Stupid, we can't define "woman" so non-issue. As you were.
Your Buddy,
LSP
19 comments:
There is a lot of big talk and some glossy brochures but cities are made of the people who inhabit them. Will the Saudis take back some of the savage desert people who live in Scandanavia and Britain to live in their chrome and steel paradise?
Brings to mind "I, Robot." No, I would not want to live there
You all be safe and God bless.
The Line reminds me of the obelisk from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I recall a novel about that sort of thing, "Oath of Fealty", Larry Niven. What could possibly...let us count the ways.
And you will eat bugs, fart rainbows, and like it.
20 minutes end to end. No stops in between then?
Que Patrick McGoohan in "The Prisoner".
This reminds me concept-wise of something 'some dood' had on the internet almost a decade ago. His ideal wasn't nearly so large, it was going to be an idyllic community in an Idaho compound of like-minded individuals living in small l libertarianism and the III life. There are some similarities between his thing and this thing... it really looked good on the website, sounded good too. Almost like it was what the target audience wanted to hear... a good place, a safe place away from places like NYC etc. Prospects would have to buy a lot from the guy and would build out their lot/apartment/whatever however they wanted, no HOA here! The Idaho place was going to have some liberty-minded industries like gun-making and so forth that were about to launch Real Soon. And like this place, it didn't exist quite yet. No need to mention the fellow's name but nothing ever materialized except him suing some well-known bloggers (unsuccessfully) when they started asking questions about just where is any of this stuff people have been sending money in for?
Maybe this place will go somewhere or get built... sounds awfully ambitious though and just asking, just where does one find enough "clean energy" to run a place that size? I could see some solar running the lights maybe, but the A/C? Har har so to speak. I guess finding all the educated/trained/non-troublemaking people to live there and make the economy work is another kettle of fish. And being in SA, no beer on Friday at quittin' time, right?
Tom from East Tennessee
That's a very good question, LL. Just who is going to live in The Line? Maybe the apocalyptic 9 million left after the reset? You can imagine Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab's dismay when the AI turns on them. Think the movie Deus Ex Machine on a grand scale.
I'm with you, Linda.
Good call, Infidel, it does have that look to it.
I think I've read that, Ritchie and I like Niven's stuff, perhaps especially the first Ringworld. Come to think of it, Ringworld's kind of appropriate here.
Imagine a future where the AI's broken, hi speed rail's offline and the mirror cladding's cracked, missing, scoured by sand. Inbred descendants of Bill Gates, Bezos, Soros and the Saudi royal family fight ferocious turf wars in the vertical jungle micro climate of The Line. Outside, savage desert tribes make daily attempts to breach the walls only to be driven off by still functioning autocannon. Still functioning for now...
There's a novel waiting to be written, imo.
Precisely, RHT, and good point, no stops? Maybe that's just the fast train.
Tom, there's an awful lot to be conjured with on this one. Who will live there, how will it be powered and funded, will it be sharia? And on, we have to wonder.
I'm not necessarily against, but perhaps your Idaho story serves as a parable. I sure wouldn't want to be the person who ripped off all those libertarian/freedom people. Nossir, not for a second.
Speaking of which, there's lots of talk about setting up "off grid" communities, not least religious, see the Benedict Option, and I like the sound of that, but I haven't seen much come of it, at least not lately. For what it's worth, I'll wager the fighting monkey on catastrophe being the catalyst.
Cheers.
I prefer living green, as in a minute by minute dose of grass and trees. That place is a long way from anywhere. People who want to live there, go ahead on.
Just remember how much hyperbolic crap the sand-dwellers have come out with over the years. They continue to refuse to recognise that without the aid of the West, they can produce nothing more than woven carpets and geometric designs. Let's what happens with the over-reaching designs.
Concur with BadFrog, and the reality will last as long as the money does... most of which will flow to the Saud family (as usual).
I'm with you, Sgt., I'd rather live green too.
Imagine all those incredibly rich people living in their green concrete hell.
Good call, Bad Frog. And let's face it, are Saudi rugs the best rugs? I don't think so.
NFO, I get the feeling they're not in it for charity. And look how MBD's betraying our Beloved Leader! Dam. Might have to get kinetic over that one.
All smoke and mirrors. Just like China's high density empty cities, it will enrich a whole lot of construction companies, architects and royals, but people will find they don't want to live in box cities. Plus, it all falls into ruin as soon as any critical support system fails.
When I was very young, Brazil created Brasilia, a city to be the center of government, away from the major cities of Rio and Sao Paulo. Grand concept, famous designer architects etc.
The apartment complexes were colorful, several stories tall and designed around amenities ans shops, only they forgot to consider extensive balconies so the occupants could enjoy the "outdoors" in their homes. Also, there was nothing much to do after work day ended.
The end result is that few moved in, no one liked the apartments and in the end, even the government tended to convene for meetings, then everyone flew back to their real homes in Sao Paulo or Rio.
Any design that runs in the faintest contrary to human nature, fails, no matter how utopian the vision. Then one has to consider the outlook and skills of the native peoples, when "inshallah" is the operative concept (if god wills), you don't get attention to detail, maintenance and long term success in most endeavors.
I just don't see any of it truly succeeding other than perhaps the port facility if run by westerners.
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