1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,840 Chelsea, I know you're expecting to do this Fringy Mini, but I actually found a recent news story 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:11,120 that is an update on one of the Fringy Minis that you did that I think we should get talking about. 3 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:17,120 Okay, are you talking about your wife? I can talk about it. Okay. Mostly because you haven't seen 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:25,120 the news story, I assume. Okay, good. This comes from The Guardian, written on April 10, 2024, 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:31,040 by Peter Beaumont, article title, End of the Line, Saudi Arabia forced to scale back plans for 6 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:36,960 Desert Megacity. Crown Prince's pet project, you know the line that we've talked about in the past, 7 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:44,000 was sold as a 105-mile-long city of the future. Finances may have led to a rethink. Oh no. It was 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,040 billed as a glassed walled city of the future, an ambitious centerpiece of the economic plans, 9 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:53,920 backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to transition Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency. 10 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:58,480 Now however, plans for the Miracleid Desert Metropolis called The Line have been scaled down 11 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:04,720 in the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles or 170 kilometers, is expected to reach 12 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,600 just a mile and a half by 2030. That's disappointing. I almost feel like there's Amazon 13 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:15,360 warehouses bigger than that. But they have limitless funds. Dreamed up as a linear city that would 14 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:21,040 eventually be home to about 9 million people on a footprint of just 13 square miles, The Line is 15 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:26,000 part of a wider neon project. Now at least one contractor has begun dismissing workers. The 16 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:31,200 scaling down of Prince Mohammed's Most Grandios project was reported by Bloomberg, which said 17 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:36,560 it had seen documents relating to the project. The project, which had been slated to cost $1.5 18 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:42,480 trillion US, was pitched as a re... Sorry, it says 1.5 trillion, I assumed US, but then it says 19 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:48,480 1.2 trillion pounds. So I'm not sure which 1.5 trillion they're talking about. Maybe Saudi Bucks. 20 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:55,120 Maybe Saudi Bucks. Obviously, maybe, perhaps. This was pitched as a reinvention of urban design, 21 00:01:55,120 --> 00:02:00,320 however it has long attracted skepticism and criticism, not least after the reported execution 22 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:05,520 of several members of the Hawaii Tatt Tribe who had protested over plans to construct on their 23 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,760 ancestral lands. Also, we didn't learn about that in the previous episode, I don't think. 24 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,960 We did not know. Then there were reports of Prince Mohammed's changing vision for the project, 25 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:20,480 budget overspends in an ever-changing roster of key staff with some who have worked on the project 26 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,520 describing it as untethered from reality. Yikes. According to Bloomberg, the scaling back of the 27 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:30,880 line comes as the overall neon budget for 2024 has yet to be approved by Saudi Arabia's sovereign 28 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:36,000 wealth fund amid declining cash reserves. Promotional presentations had suggested something 29 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,680 out of the science fiction novel running inland into Tabuk, a province from the mouth of the Gulf 30 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:47,040 of Aqaba where it enters the Red Sea. A few hundred meters wide, the linear city had been 31 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,480 sold as the future of accessible urban planning with amenities for residents within close walking 32 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:57,040 distance to accommodations and districts connected by one of the world's fastest trains. 33 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:01,920 Promotional material described the line in almost mystical terms, a cognitive city, 34 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:08,080 and a civilization revolution where amenities would be provided by AI. Prince Mohammed, who has 35 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,400 long been accused of a violent and killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi 36 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:17,760 in Istanbul in 2018, had described the city project as tackling the challenges facing humanity 37 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:22,720 and urban life today, to shine a light on alternative ways to live. Not everyone, however, 38 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,920 has been convinced by the Prince's glossy prospectus. Writing the New York Times in 2021 at the time, 39 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,480 Neon released a video describing the prospect of living between the city's silvered walls. 40 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,440 The U.S. journalist and author Robert Worth said, quote, 41 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,320 to watch the Crown Prince's promotional video is to be immersed in a distinctly Saudi form of 42 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:46,240 arrogance, blending religious triumphalism and royal grandiosity, end quote, and hubris to 43 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:51,760 apparently. That's the end of the article. So it looks like the line is not going to be anywhere 44 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:57,760 near as fancy as they talked about. And also there was some definitely issues with the inhabitants 45 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,840 of the land that the line was supposed to go over with it looking like they might not even build on 46 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,520 that land. I wasn't expecting so much talk about people being murdered, that's for sure. Chelsea, 47 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,840 it's an article on Saudi Arabia. What did you expect? I know, then I was going to say, but then 48 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:17,920 again, maybe it was to be expected and it was just me being naive. There wasn't that much talk about 49 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,800 murders. It is hilarious. So I actually find because usually news articles paint Saudi in very 50 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,720 good light because they have a ton of money and they have invested in basically all the media 51 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,480 groups. The fact that when they talk about Prince Muhammad, they talk about the murder that he 52 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:36,080 definitely at least told someone to do back in 2018. That usually gets put under the rug. So good 53 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:43,760 for the Guardian on that. Wow. That was a refreshing take on the first Fringy Mini I did on the line. 54 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:49,360 And anyhow, it looks like we might have more updates as this project goes further and further 55 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,240 into developmental shit. I guess we'll see as time goes on. Hopefully we'll have another update at 56 00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:00,000 some point. I'm also a little terrified of what Saudi Arabian AI is like. No kidding. Not that 57 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:06,240 ours is any better, but hey, it's based on Judeo-Christian values. So it's good for our army, 58 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:13,520 apparently. Wow. I'm a little bit taken aback by that. But in any event, I think, hey, we'll see 59 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:19,680 you in 48 hours, whatever technology deems to be 48 hours from now. So whatever your phone says, 60 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:30,640 that's 48 hours. We'll see you then. It keeps track of it pretty sure. Goodbye.