Saudi worries

Saudi Arabia has a long Red Sea coastline that they want to put to good economic use. People like to vacation at seaside resorts. So that's why luxury resorts are an important part of the Vision 2030 Project known as Neom. 

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What if the war in Gaza escalates to the whole Middle East? Potential tourists will stay away altogether if there's a chance those resorts may become high-profile targets. 

What if security threats scare shipping lines into restricting delivery of materials and equipment to this hugely expensive building project? Billions of dollars' worth of construction investment can't pay off if construction can't be finished.

The enormous cost and effort behind the project make government officials nervous. Tensions, conflict, and outright war threaten the Vision; some citizens are sympathetic to the Palestinian side while the government tries to make friendly with both the U.S. and Israel. 

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in a stable future and cannot afford current hostilities to engulf the Middle East. Maybe we'll see them try to bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians.

from MSN

Crown Prince

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, heir apparent to the throne and often referred to as "MbS", is on a mission to change his country. 

Last June he replaced his cousin as heir to the throne of his father. He formed alliances and punished those who might stand against him to consolidate power. His move against certain wealthy men last November (yesterday's post) was a move against perceived opponents.

image: quora.com

"Vision 2030" is what he wants for Saudi Arabia's future, a plan to modernize the kingdom.

He says that his nation is "addicted to oil." Now that the globally traded price of oil has plunged in recent years, they're in a position where they have to diversify, to aggressively pursue more streams of income. 

But the economy is far from the only thing he wants to modernize. The Crown Prince says that the key to his vision is moderating Islam, tomorrow's post.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Saudi city 1

Saudi Arabia's crown prince is nothing if not a big thinker. He is putting the royal treasury (powered by their huge national oil business) to work developing an economically more diversified and modern future. Part of Vision2030 is a brand new city called "The Line."

The city's design will appeal to environmental activists and climate change believers because all the power is to be provided by green energy. No cars will be permitted on this pedestrian level, but rapid public transportation will be available below ground. 

Two walls, about the height of the Empire State Building, will enclose the whole 100-mile linear city. Between the walls (about 200 meters across) will be a natural environment maintained at ideal conditions by artificial intelligence--which in fact controls the whole city.

Neom

 Follow up to this post

In this post about The Line, I remarked that the Saudi prince was prepared to spend "billions and billions" on the city. Clarification: he plans to spend US$1.5 trillion, an enormous amount of money, on the Neom development (of which The Line is the biggest part).

Goals for the city have been scaled back. Instead of one-and-a-half million residents in the city by 2030, they now expect 300,000 or less. The long-range city length of 170 kilometers (105 miles) is still in place, but by 2030 they only expect to complete 2.4 kilometers (1-1/2 miles) of it. The sides of The Line will still be the height of the Empire State Building.

Another part of Neom will be the Trojena resort, which is "set to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029." Yes, the winter games . . in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. You may wonder, can they really do that? Something like that on a smaller scale does exist. My son has skied in Dubai.

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Neom is a grandiose vision. 

from Bloomberg

Hopeful AI 1

So many experts in technology sound alarm bells about the danger of artificial intelligence (AI) to the future of humanity. Without a doubt, there are dangerous possibilities.

Other opinions, though, are out there. Naturally, CEO's of companies leading the way in AI are optimistic and enthusiastic. That would include Sam Altman and Larry Ellison. 

Altman's OpenAI has a vision for a beneficial role of AI in our future. They see AI elevating all humanity, functioning for our benefit. An AI user and an AI developer say, "This technology can usher in an age of flourishing the likes of which we have never seen."

 

But they also tell us to prepare for some disorientation as well, because "AI will change what it is to be human." They are certain that AI will exceed human intelligence by 2030 . . a mere five years away. So that means: we won't have intelligence supremacy anymore.

What should we do to prepare? More of what we are best at doing. We have value way beyond mere intelligence (see tomorrow's post).

 from The Free Press

(My image is Grok-generated)

(cont'd tomorrow)