Re: Predatory Gaming Practices

On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 10:53:05 -0500, Mandrake <prmandrake0@gmail.com>
wrote:

Dimensional Traveler wrote:

 
With the Saudi royal family they really won't _care_.  If you are going
to spend 1.5 Trillion dollars to build a city in the middle of the
desert what's a million or two on a phone game?

>
Salt Lake City is in the middle of the desert.  Wait, is that right?  It
says here, 'Salt Lake City, Utah has a semi-arid climate.'  Maybe you're
right, but those Utahns they're like another species how much water they
save each year by comparison.  My ex-girlriend's ex-boyfriend was in
water reclamation.

I think you need to Google "The Line". It's /far/ stupider than
calling it just a "city in the desert". Cities in a desert are -as
Salt Lake City (or Riyadh, or Baghdad, or Las Vegas) prove- are a
thing that, while perhaps not built in the most viable climate, can
work. Some people even like it there!

"The Line", which what DT was referring to, is a 1.5 trillion dollar
vanity project run by the Saudis that is completely nonsensical in
design and concept. Not just built in a desert region (usually near
some source of water), "The Line" is intended to be built 150 miles
through some of the most inhospitable desert in the world. It will be
a narrow 200 meter wide, 500 meter tall, 170 kilometer long
mega-structure encased in mirrored glass walls. Cameras will monitor
you 24/7 to feed the "AI" that will respond to your needs. 510km+
trains will whisk you from one end to the city in 20 minutes. It's
ridiculous claptrap in conceit, and is functionally impossible, not to
mention would make for an unlivable hellhole.

Oh, and it will also displace the local tribes, just because you can't
be a Saudi project /without/ some human rights abuses.

Only people with far too little sense and far too much money would
think such a scheme would work. I've no problem with them getting
gouged by mobile gaming companies.

My point is, it may not be foolhardy to colonize the desert.

It might just be less foolhardy to cut back on rampant water waste and
stop broiling the earth.