6 ms·

Yet another impractical vaporware passion project with no use-case/demand. One is left with a feeling, however, that they are missing out on a free money party

Yet another impractical vaporware passion project with no use-case/demand. One is left with a feeling, however, that they are missing out on a free money party if this is an example of the level of thinking that is being encouraged. Maybe we should be spitballing ideas to Saudi royalty too.

googlryas 4y ago
At the very least, it would be a huge jobs program for Saudis.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  I actually wonder what is the ratio between Saudis and expats like ones from Africa and so on.
- superchroma 4y ago
  In my impression, such endeavors (when they actually happen) seem to be a confluence of western engineers and architects and near slave labor sourced from a variety of very poor countries, complete with stories of indenture, passport witholding, etc. I hope that's not the case in Saudi Arabia but I wouldn't put money on it.
  - mistrial9 4y ago
    construction work has a gravitational pull towards the bottom; safety and flexibility for workers is only a cost center
  - csomar 4y ago
    The situation did improve comparing to the last few decades; but nowhere as good as western or semi-developed nations. It’s still better than what these guys have back home; however.
reactspa 4y ago
A rich prince and his money are soon parted.
- housedrafta 4y ago
  My $5+ gas begs to differ.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    The prince made their money off $1.00 gas. $5 gas will make the cobalt and lithium nickel and cobalt miners rich.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - the_third_wave 4y ago
      > The prince made their money The prince is clearly a man and as such there is no need for the use of the plural "their". The prince made his money conveys more information and does not violate rules of grammar and as such is readable to anyone who understands English, this in contrast to the hypercorrect use of "their" which turns an already irregular language into an even more convoluted puzzle.
      - jjj123 4y ago
        The original wording was plenty readable, I didn’t even notice the singular they until your comment.
      - kube-system 4y ago
        I’m using “the prince” in an metaphorical sense referring to the oil industry as a whole. I’m not talking about literally one prince.
      - hypertele-Xii 4y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we
Oarch 4y ago
You're right about that. I personally know 2 people about to leave the UK to work on Neom (one of 3 new cities they're building) and you wouldn't poach them without a mind blowing offer.
- adhesive_wombat 4y ago
  I got a lot of adverts for Oxagon when I posted a CV online. I probably could make bank going there to help shovel cash into a pit in the desert but...eh. I also feel like the managers of such a project will be complete nutters.
  - reactspa 4y ago
    I googled Oxagon and got this: > A city in NEOM, OXAGON will be a new paradigm where people, industries and technology come together in harmony with nature.
    - adhesive_wombat 4y ago
      It's basically that they want to build city made of Gigafactories in the desert (what they produce is apparently not yet defined). Also it's octagonal for some reason and half of it floats. There are lots of flashy renders and a slick video but that's about the measure of it.
skippyboxedhero 4y ago
> Yet another impractical vaporware passion project with no use-case/demand. The use case is services professionals extracting cash from extremely credulous members of the KSA royal family (this is part of the new city project, another insane waste of resources). Softbank raised $50bn in a ten minute meeting with MBS. They then turned around, set the whole thing on fire...this has been going on for almost half a century (the very first financial crisis caused by the Saudis was the boom in EM debt in the 70s, this bankrupted Citi and wasn't resolved fully until the early 90s...they on the same tier as German bankers when it comes to losing massive amounts of money very quickly). It is a crazy situation.
- adhesive_wombat 4y ago
  To be fair (to be fairrrrrr), extracting huge wodges of a cash from the KSA royal family for "services" and putting it pretty much anywhere else is probably not the worst thing you could do.
  - skippyboxedhero 4y ago
    It leads to a massive overproduction of people with no skills. If you take Softbank, some of the stories out of there are insane. People in senior leadership positions doing things that are very weird (one of them was forced out of Softbank, his first move...raising a $5bn+ VC fund from ME investors). As I said too, it actually has a real impact on the economy. When 2008 happened, everyone pointed to the investment banks..."how could you do this to us?"...no-one asked why investment banks had clients who specifically required investments that were so toxic...I will tell you: Japanese saving institutions, German/French banks, some non-Japanese East Asian saving institutions, and Middle East SWFs (they have been behind almost every financial crisis in the last ten years: MBS, Eurocrisis, Turkey, EM debt, tech...every single time, going back decades). People ask why financial markets produce things that are pointless...this is why, because the distribution of assets globally is not guided by the market in any way.
    - tablespoon 4y ago
      > People ask why financial markets produce things that are pointless...this is why, because the distribution of assets globally is not guided by the market in any way. What do you mean? Wasn't "the distribution of assets globally" in this way guided by the market? The market wanted oil, so it sent vast quantities of money to the Saudis, who are the most effective producers. I think this is more an illustration of how the market, left to its own logic, often does pointless or dysfunctional things.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
moomin 4y ago
It might look expensive, but you’ve got to bear in mind that positive publicity is fairly hard to come by for the investors.

googlryas 4y ago

At the very least, it would be a huge jobs program for Saudis.

Ekaros 4y ago
I actually wonder what is the ratio between Saudis and expats like ones from Africa and so on.
superchroma 4y ago
In my impression, such endeavors (when they actually happen) seem to be a confluence of western engineers and architects and near slave labor sourced from a variety of very poor countries, complete with stories of indenture, passport witholding, etc. I hope that's not the case in Saudi Arabia but I wouldn't put money on it.
- mistrial9 4y ago
  construction work has a gravitational pull towards the bottom; safety and flexibility for workers is only a cost center
- csomar 4y ago
  The situation did improve comparing to the last few decades; but nowhere as good as western or semi-developed nations. It’s still better than what these guys have back home; however.

reactspa 4y ago

A rich prince and his money are soon parted.

housedrafta 4y ago
My $5+ gas begs to differ.
- kube-system 4y ago
  The prince made their money off $1.00 gas. $5 gas will make the cobalt and lithium nickel and cobalt miners rich.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    > The prince made their money The prince is clearly a man and as such there is no need for the use of the plural "their". The prince made his money conveys more information and does not violate rules of grammar and as such is readable to anyone who understands English, this in contrast to the hypercorrect use of "their" which turns an already irregular language into an even more convoluted puzzle.
    - jjj123 4y ago
      The original wording was plenty readable, I didn’t even notice the singular they until your comment.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      I’m using “the prince” in an metaphorical sense referring to the oil industry as a whole. I’m not talking about literally one prince.
    - hypertele-Xii 4y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we

Oarch 4y ago

You're right about that. I personally know 2 people about to leave the UK to work on Neom (one of 3 new cities they're building) and you wouldn't poach them without a mind blowing offer.

adhesive_wombat 4y ago
I got a lot of adverts for Oxagon when I posted a CV online. I probably could make bank going there to help shovel cash into a pit in the desert but...eh. I also feel like the managers of such a project will be complete nutters.
- reactspa 4y ago
  I googled Oxagon and got this: > A city in NEOM, OXAGON will be a new paradigm where people, industries and technology come together in harmony with nature.
  - adhesive_wombat 4y ago
    It's basically that they want to build city made of Gigafactories in the desert (what they produce is apparently not yet defined). Also it's octagonal for some reason and half of it floats. There are lots of flashy renders and a slick video but that's about the measure of it.

skippyboxedhero 4y ago

> Yet another impractical vaporware passion project with no use-case/demand. The use case is services professionals extracting cash from extremely credulous members of the KSA royal family (this is part of the new city project, another insane waste of resources). Softbank raised $50bn in a ten minute meeting with MBS. They then turned around, set the whole thing on fire...this has been going on for almost half a century (the very first financial crisis caused by the Saudis was the boom in EM debt in the 70s, this bankrupted Citi and wasn't resolved fully until the early 90s...they on the same tier as German bankers when it comes to losing massive amounts of money very quickly). It is a crazy situation.

adhesive_wombat 4y ago
To be fair (to be fairrrrrr), extracting huge wodges of a cash from the KSA royal family for "services" and putting it pretty much anywhere else is probably not the worst thing you could do.
- skippyboxedhero 4y ago
  It leads to a massive overproduction of people with no skills. If you take Softbank, some of the stories out of there are insane. People in senior leadership positions doing things that are very weird (one of them was forced out of Softbank, his first move...raising a $5bn+ VC fund from ME investors). As I said too, it actually has a real impact on the economy. When 2008 happened, everyone pointed to the investment banks..."how could you do this to us?"...no-one asked why investment banks had clients who specifically required investments that were so toxic...I will tell you: Japanese saving institutions, German/French banks, some non-Japanese East Asian saving institutions, and Middle East SWFs (they have been behind almost every financial crisis in the last ten years: MBS, Eurocrisis, Turkey, EM debt, tech...every single time, going back decades). People ask why financial markets produce things that are pointless...this is why, because the distribution of assets globally is not guided by the market in any way.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > People ask why financial markets produce things that are pointless...this is why, because the distribution of assets globally is not guided by the market in any way. What do you mean? Wasn't "the distribution of assets globally" in this way guided by the market? The market wanted oil, so it sent vast quantities of money to the Saudis, who are the most effective producers. I think this is more an illustration of how the market, left to its own logic, often does pointless or dysfunctional things.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

moomin 4y ago

It might look expensive, but you’ve got to bear in mind that positive publicity is fairly hard to come by for the investors.