Are we go, oh Craig is here. Okay, so we're ready to go. Okay, good
So I'm choosing this one and then let me just get through it and then let's decide
I don't really know what category to put this in so we can all decide together. Well me and you because
Technology is just not at a place where we can all decide together
This one is from The Guardian. It is from back in July, but still relevant nonetheless by Martin Shilov
To love it's called Saudi Arabia plans a hundred mile long mirrored skyscraper
Megacity so the promotional material is striking to mirrored in case skyscrapers stretching more than a hundred miles across a swath of desert and mountain terrain
Providing a future home for nine million people. Is it the ultimate in high density living or a grandiose science fiction fantasy?
In short, economists, architects and analysts are not quite sure so extravagant is Saudi Arabia's plan to create an urban utopia
That even those working on the project known as the line do not yet know if its scale and scope can ever be realized
So this is called the line that they're building in Saudi Arabia. I've seen this. It's like a several mile long city
Like yeah, and it's just ridiculous. It's like a cube or a rectangle. Yeah, the whole way line
Yeah, it's like a train city that doesn't move basically like snow pierced by standing in place
We're weird. I don't know if this is the future or what but let's continue reading
It's definitely just there's so much money in Saudi Arabia that they are just throwing it at stupid things
They're also trying to kind of get better PR from like when they bought the PGA
Yeah
Skeptics and supporters alike where this week given this is from back in July remember so this last
Months given more insight into the extraordinary ambition of the development the centerpiece of the futuristic
Neon site near the Gulf of Aqaba when the Kingdom's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman outlined central aspects of what he
Intended to be one of the most ambitious urban developments built in modern times first announced in 2017 neom has
Consistently raised eyebrows due to post-flourishes such as flying taxis and robot mates even as architects and economists have questioned its
feasibility and we own all what happens now after a hundred years of owning one of those sentience it is sentience
according to the Saudis
Artificial intelligence will be central to how people live in the 500 meter high 200 meter wide structure a car-free
Carbon neutral bubble that will boast near total sustainability and a temperate regulated microclimate
past environmental pledges by the kingdom such as about to achieve net zero carbon emissions by
2060 have prompted skepticism from environmentalists
Yeah, they really don't give a shit about carbon neutrality. No, I wouldn't think so in Saudi
Multimedia presentations have added color to what until now had been a concept that even some of the projects planners had found difficult to
Visualize the slickly produced film shows a mega city that partly resembles the Death Star with hanging gardens
Residents will all have daily needs. I think we can all agree
That's the only problem that there was with the Death Star not enough
There wasn't hanging
And I really didn't say minus the weapons
Yeah, that's definitely what you want to make comparisons to for sure
Yeah, that's something about residents will have all daily needs reachable within a five minute walk while also having access
access to other perks such as outdoor skiing facilities and high speed rail within an end-to-end
Transit of 20 minutes according to a statement though neum will operate under its own founding law
Which is still being prepared Saudi officials say they have no plans to waive the kingdom's alcohol ban
Prince Mohammed's vision for modern Lebanon is central to his plans to transform the kingdom from an oil-dependent
Economy and conservative society that he believes is ill-served to drive the country forward neum was partly conceived as a
Divergence from tradition and from the sclerosis
Sclerosis of the past four decades in which leaders double down on hard line
interpretation of Islam
Maintaining inflexible societal standards. So is it the line or is it called neum?
I think that means the line in the Arabic
The pictures of this thing are crazy. This is really just I would call this some yellow advertising
Is it yellow advertising native advertising? I can't remember. It's basically where the Saudis are paying for good things to be written about them
Don't forget Salman has had
American journalists executed because he didn't like what they were saying and they've been working hard like this guy is not good
He has way too much money. He gave two billion dollars to Jared Kushner after he was done with the Trump presidency and
What else they're not good. They're trying to whitewash all their bad stuff with this nicer. Oh, no, we're a progressive state
Well, they're also the ones that are basically like sleep slave labor with them in the Qataris and the UAE people
Yeah, but yeah, they're basically whitewashing and they they're saying it's going to be a livable easily maneuverable city
I don't know about you or if you would think this Chelsea
But I think if you limit yourself to basically only two dimensions in which you can move things forward and back not left
And right it's going to be hard to actually build a very easily to navigate city where everything's right near you
It seems like a super weird thing and not only that but you move in here and what you're never gonna leave
Is that the purpose of this in the middle of the desert? So yeah, like there's not really anything
It was like once you get in there. They're making it so they're like you have everything right there
So you never need to leave which is also a weird thing, but yeah, there's obviously more to the article
I just thought it was an interesting thing to bring to the Renji mini this week and I just have to it costs
I don't know what this is in
Canadian dollars 1.2
Tn Saudi Real which is 265 billion pounds
I have nothing that actually means anything if anybody wants to like learn critical analysis of some of these projects that Arab countries are
Working on I would highly recommend looking at the youtuber Adam something
He does a pretty good critical analysis of these types of projects and pretty good at videos don't know
What his last name is it's a little YouTube is Adam something. Okay. Yeah
And that should give you guys something to do over the next 48 hours
So there you go because you're just gonna sit there and wait for our podcast to come out
You might as well be looking at some little dogs to a window you
Do just attached to our podcast anyhow, see you guys Friday. Bye