Friday, February 08, 2008

This is why I'd consider moving to Dubai . . .

(Thanks to Cliff Pickover's Reality Carnival.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good lord. It's like something out of a '60's or '70's science fiction novel. Only one problem. It's in the Middle East....

Mac said...

Only one problem. It's in the Middle East....

There's always a catch.

Zubin Pastakia said...

You might find this article by Mike Davis relevant (don't miss the imagery in the first section of the narration):

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/5807/mike_davis_on_a_paradise_built_on_oil

"Sheikh Mo, who fancies himself a prophet of modernization, likes to impress visitors with clever proverbs and heavy aphorisms. A favorite: "Anyone who does not attempt to change the future will stay a captive of the past."

Yet the future that he is building in Dubai -- to the applause of billionaires and transnational corporations everywhere -- looks like nothing so much as a nightmare of the past: Walt Disney meets Albert Speer on the shores of Araby."

Zubin Pastakia said...

For some reason the entire link did not appear in the post above. So just try Googling, "Does the road to the future end at Dubai" + "Mike Davis".

Anonymous said...

Dubai: oil capitalism gone insane.

Child slavery, indentured servants, slave workers, foreign whores, etc. What a wonderful place to live, if you have no conscience. A psychopath's paradise.

Peter Watts said...

Right. Like anyone whose income is within four orders of magnitude of ours would ever get past the front gate...

Anonymous said...

Child slavery, indentured servants, slave workers, foreign whores, etc. What a wonderful place to live, if you have no conscience. A psychopath's paradise.

I understand Dick Cheney owns some retirement property there....

(Not completely kidding. I seem to recall reading something about Cheney/Haliburton's connection with Dubai somewhere?...)

Mac said...

Dubai: oil capitalism gone insane.

Makes you wonder what this place is gonna look like when the oil is gone.

David Biedny said...

Halliburton essentially moved their primary headquarters there last year, hence the Cheney connection.

Anonymous said...

Mac,
Thats exactly what I thought. I looked at that city and invisioned deserted crumbling buildings, after the oil is gone. Of course, by then it will probably be underwater.

Stan

Mac said...

I looked at that city and invisioned deserted crumbling buildings, after the oil is gone. Of course, by then it will probably be underwater.

What a setting for a science fiction novel! (Hmmm...)