Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Line

I wonder what Mohammed bin Salman is smoking. The Line seems claustrophobic and fragile.

Claustrophobic may be just me, but I'm probably not alone.

"Fragile" comes in several ways.

The ground shifts. What did your rail line just do?

If you make skyscrapers too tall you run into elevator capacity problems. You can avoid that in The Line by replicating everything every few miles, so you don't have to travel from one end to the other to get home. Except 1) people aren't quite like that; if this week's hot performer is appearing in the theater in Mile 82 you'll attract fans from all over and 2) it seems to lend itself to partitioning, with tribal zones appearing just as they do in Baltimore.

If a disaffected or striking group wanted to choke off transit, it would seem very hard to guard against--because they could strike almost anywhere, and there's no obvious way to flank blockages.

You can probably think of several others. I doubt this would be run as efficiently as the scheme Niven and Pournelle envisioned, though the conflicts outsiders seem like a reasonable prediction.

Another way to look at it is "What's in it for me?" "Why should I move there?"

  • if you're a single out of school--flexibility
  • married with small children--does it have schools, places to play?
  • a gardener--where can I plant?
  • someone with mobility problems--close to transport and to aides
  • married with older kids who need more challenges, like first jobs--oh wait this is Saudi Arabia

That's an American way of looking at it. A more natural question, under the circumstances, might be "Where do my wives and my children and my cousins and my grandparents and so on fit in?" Physical distance matters--for that matter, just being on a different floor from another group at work can cut down communications. Will people be satisfied with adjacent apartments, or does one need large suites?

UPDATE: See comments

7 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I just did a post on "Skeptical," y'know? I will link back immediately. Thanks.

Mike Guenther said...

This could be a sub plot of Agenda 21 or the "Great Reset." Moving people into urban living conditions, taking away their ability to travel and/or live where/when they want; such things are an Oligarch's or Authoritarian's wet dream.

Eat your bug paste meal and get with the program citizen. Or should I say "comrade?"

Grim said...

There's another practical problem that isn't obvious from theoretical contemplation. This happens to be the very plot of land over which I just mentioned them having a dispute with the Howetat tribe. Who are the Howetat, you ask? They're the tribe Lawrence of Arabia enlisted to take the city of Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire. This city is to be built on the Gulf of Aqaba. In other words this is their land, and the last I heard the House of Saud hasn't come to a settlement with them that they're willing to accept. This plan will greatly impact their traditional way of life, of which they are quite proud and defensive. (The Saudis describe this traditional way of life as 'smuggling and thievery,' which is not entirely unfair even if it misses the romantic and picaresque qualities.)

Still, they have had some practical successes. They convinced Egypt to hand over some islands for a causeway between NEOM and Sharm el-Sheikh, one that will connect the Egyptian resort with this ultra-modern city of the future while leaving the gulf still capable of handling shipping (and yachts, of course). It's a project I have hopes for, even if you're right to be skeptical about it; it would be good for the whole region, and is also a natural coming-together point for a Saudi Arabia that looks more towards Israel as a partner than a foe. Sharm el-Sheikh is already a very popular destination for Israelis, and the Israeli high-tech industry would be a necessary partner for Saudi's intended transition to a similar economy.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

My guess about wandering into another tribe's territory was accidental, but apparently valid.

Donna B. said...

Without consideration of any political or tribal concerns, this sounds like an inescapable nightmare to me.

james said...

I didn't know that, Grim, though it's not surprising.
Thank you for the link and encouragement, AVI.
Musing a bit more: I assume this is more like a chain of many buildings than a single long unit (for fire safety, among other reasons). "Industrial" bits (staffed by foreigners, presumably) might jut out from the wall--once again, for safety's sake. It's easier to vent something like a dry cleaner if most of it is outside the residential bubble, and big outside sewage treatment plants will block the "beautiful view"--probably that's where you'd put the servant quarter of a unit.

Jonathan said...

Uphill skiing! A totally planned center of innovation!

MBS reminds me a bit of the young president of El Salvador who promotes Bitcoin and surfing. On the one hand, half-baked schemes. On the other hand, better than the likely alternative.