Everybody and his uncle sent me this world-beating humdinger. Thanks to all you-all!
Behold: the architectural wonder of the world called The Line, a feature of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, a utopian, super-gigantic, techno-grandiose, mega-city — a 75 miles-long combo landscraper / skyscraper 1600 feet high, with a mirrored exterior. The line is actually two buildings running parallel its entire 75-mile length, sandwiching a “zero-gravity” metropolis between them, stuffed with trees and other furnishings related to “nature.” The publicity literature does not explain how trees will grow in zero gravity, considering that the entire life-function of trees is based on how water behaves under earth’s gravity. But no matter, the videos show people flying through the thing, and that’s what matters in a world techno-culture under the sway of super-hero movies. Also included are “swim lanes for commuters” (WTF?) and a ski resort. Estimated cost is $1-trillion, which one would have to consider naively low.
Here’s a gander at the interior. Green-O-Rama! Of such stuff are eco-utopian dreams made! Do the leaves drop with the seasons? Better order fifty-thousand leaf blowers. Anyone who lives in the US sub-tropics — Florida, Texas, etc — knows that evergreen trees and palms drop a lot of “tree-shit” too, year-round, which the maintenance crew constantly has to clean up. How many thousands of janitors will be required for the 75-mile length of this project More below:
Here’s a nice touch: a soccer stadium 1000-feet up in the air (roughly a hundred stories). Cute. I’d like to see the engineering specs for that. NEOM is the brain-child of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. We’ll stand by to see what happens. My guess: the whole thing will be reduced to a half-dozen condo towers on the Red Sea coast… and… with Western Civ collapsing and global tourism flickering out… NEOM and The Line will never even get started.
How do you generate the zero-gravity? The “ janitors” can be robots powered by AI.