Saudi Arabia’s wildly ambitious plan to build 500m tall, mirrored, 170km long parallel skyscrapers, forming a 1.5M population desert city has been curtailed to 2.4km long.

The news was broken by the financial news publication Bloomberg, which said that Saudi Arabia’s government had “scaled back its medium-term ambitions” for Neom, of which The Line is the most significant sub-project.

The Saudi government had hoped to have 1.5M residents living in The Line by 2030, but this has been scaled back to fewer than 300,000, according to the report. It is unclear how it intends to house a higher concentration of people considering the proposed length (and therefore area) has been massively slashed.

  • Flying Squid
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    6 months ago
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    So by “recent, you meant 2022 and by “success, you mean running 17 minutes.

    How long do you think you can power a city with those 17 minutes of fusion?

    Because my guess is around 17 minutes.

    • disguy_ovahea
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      It’s a substantial leap in proof of concept. The previous record was 17s. They’re opening up all research that led to the success, with many scientists claiming potential for controlled applications within 20 years.

      Even improved harnessing and storage of 158M°F could allow the reactor to work in modulation. It’s a big deal in the science community.

      • Flying Squid
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        6 months ago
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        “Many scientists” like the ones who have been claiming that my entire life since the 1980s?

        Can you show me any of their peer-reviewed journal articles that say so?

        And considering your definitions of “recent” and “success” turned out to be a little on the untrue side, I’m not inclined to believe your “big deal” claim either.

          • Flying Squid
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            6 months ago
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            You do know the difference between a peer-reviewed journal article and a regurgitated press release on a site called ‘Nuclear Newsire,’ right?

              • Flying Squid
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                6 months ago
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                Both of your links are just reviews of nuclear fusion progress. The first one, China specifically, the second one, multiple projects. Neither of them make any sort of claim that I can see about practical nuclear fusion being 20 years away.

                You seem to have a major honesty problem.

                • disguy_ovahea
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                  There’s no need for personal attacks. If you read them, both articles have updated sustained fusion reaction times based on China’s successful experiment. The only nation currently investing heavily into further research is China, but they have released all research for the scientific community. If I were to speculate, it would be because this technology would save a communist nation billions, while costing a capitalist nation just the same.

                  • Flying Squid
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                    6 months ago
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                    It is not a personal attack. Virtually everything you have said has been dishonest.

                    You said it was recent. It was 2 years ago.

                    You said it was a success. It was 17 minutes.

                    You said scientists claim that practical fusion is 20 years away. Your evidence did not make that claim.

                    You can speculate all you like, but your actual claims have been false. Repeatedly.