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Comment by lordnacho | Hacker News Reader

A friend of mine works on the NEOM project, and it really is like winning the lottery. Remote work with an occasional field trip to look at the place. But Google level salary to tell them how to save some data.

The scale of the feeding trough is unimaginable. I saw an advert for NEOM on Piccadilly Circus, the whole entire e-wall, and the place isn't even built yet, so I'm not sure if they're using it to recruit. It's not just what you think of as traditional civil engineering which would require you to be in the desert. The thing is supposed to be a smart city, whatever that means, but every buzzword seems to be required. Machine learning, green energy, internet of things, they seem to want everything.

I did read an article saying the Saudi guy in charge was a bully, so maybe it's not at positive, but worth a look if you can be a sub contractor.

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> A friend of mine works on the NEOM project, and it really is like winning the lottery. Remote work with an occasional field trip to look at the place. But Google level salary to tell them how to save some data.

I was in Saudi Arabia earlier this year and I met quite a few Western engineers and consultants who didn't get as lucky as your friend and had been living in the desert near Neom for > 6 months. IIRC their visas didn't even allow them to leave the region surrounding Neom (which is pretty much just empty desert).

> the place isn't even built yet

It's not built at all yet or has it simply not been completed yet? I keep hearing different things about the status of the project.

I don't know for sure, but from what I understand it's not livable yet. Changes quickly though, perhaps I'm wrong.

"It's like winning the lottery"

"Guy in charge is a bully"

I certainly don't want to defend the saudis, but let's face it, everyone views the Saudis as semi-gullible fools to be parted with their money, it wouldn't surprise me if they are a bit gruff.

Look, Saudi Arabia should be the ... Saudi Arabia of solar energy, they have a huge amount of capital from oil, and Saudi Arabia is at the juncture of 1) the richest continent 2) the largest continent, 3) the second-largest continent, they have ports with the Mediterranean and Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

I spent two years working in Dubai, from 2019 to 2021. I hardly view them as anything but intelligent and ruthless. The upper - upper-middle class studied in the western world, they know more than you think. Plus they have a shitload of money. Don't underestimate the Saudis just because they stick to some weird customs.

You are probably correct, but I've also heard that the Saudis have one huge challenge diversifying out of oil: they are so damn lazy after decades and decades of oil money revenues.

They tried setting up all the satellite colleges in Saudi Arabia, and they couldn't get students to actually try. The US higher ed is full of party students getting rubberstamp diplomas, but there are also a segment (usually harder sciences and premed/prelaw/etc) that work REALLY hard. As I understand it, all of the saudi schools are just rubberstampers, they can't get the hard sciences students.

MBS probably needs to have a really nasty streak, because there is such massive corruption in the Saudi ruling structure.

But again, I don't want to seem like I'm defending them. I cannot wait for alternative energy and BEVs to drop the floor out from under them. They SHOULD have a soft landing with all that sovereign investment money, but... those slush funds can disappear fast... And once America DGAF about the middle east from a security standpoint, they'll just be a bunch of lazy billionaires.

Once the oil is meaningless, America's military shield is gone. Shiite Iran can invade Saudi Arabia, and Iran actually has fighting forces. Saudi Arabia does not.

Nitpick:

> 1) the richest continent

North America is the richest continent, as I say this as a European.

Well, China has passed the US in GDP, and India/SE asia probably outclass Canada and Mexico. So really China is the richest and largest.

Europe I guess is historically the richest (except again China before the British invasion).

Richest also means per capita. Tons of people with a bit of money are not as rich as fewer people with lots of money.

People can’t seem to get enough of science fiction, but every time something is presented that would move the needle in that direction, the detractors line up in droves. With attitudes like this, it really will be the 25th century before humanity does do anything of significance (if we even live that long).

Maybe people are hoping more for 'Star trek' than 'Judge dredd'.

I sure hope not. We know that the future of Star Trek only becomes possible after our current society totally collapses, culminating in World War III. TBF, razing everything to the ground and rebuilding society with modern tech in mind is probably a lot faster and more efficient, but I still wouldn't want to live in the "transition" phase.

Just because the Star Trek universe had WWIII doesn’t mean we have to. I would like to live in Star Trek via the path of least suffering, but whatever path, it is the future I wish for generations to come regardless the struggle I personally have to endure.

To wish the current system upon children and children’s children is selfish and cruel beyond imagination.

If people wanted, we could all wake up tomorrow and begin building that better future. It is literally a state of mind at this point — the technology and intelligence necessary is within our current evolutionary form.

That's easy to say if the bombs are not falling on your head. And I'm also not so sure that the current system can save itself from within. Evolution has navigated us into a dead by favouring immediate benefits over long term ones, now that our influence on the planet transcends our own lifetime. Getting out of that will require something pretty radical.

It’s easy to think of things as a dead end but the optimization landscape is huge, so there is usually some options open. Take say retirement incomes, love it or hate it Social Security was supposed to provide a minimal benefit for elderly workers who already had the option for private savings.

But soon enough we added Medicare, 401k, IRA, etc as independent systems for similar reasons. While I doubt anyone would have ever created the current system from scratch, it’s just one of seemingly endless possibilities.

I served in war time in Iraq and live a very different life than most. A hot world war would not change my quality of life by much; it may even improve it (less rules in the wild).

I understand the weight of what I say. The trillions of thriving future lives spread throughout our solar system and galaxy are easily worth our suffering.

I agree that the current system has little hope of saving anyone from anything, save a small minority from discomfort for the short term future at the cost of oblivion for everything else in the long term.

Megacities and a brutal legal system are not inexorably paired.

Saudi Arabia and a brutal legal system, however.

You know what is significant? Building social housing for your entire population.

I've traveled a bit in my life and at the end of the day for the average untalented non rich person there's nowhere better than Northwestern Europe.

This really wouldn't move the needle in that direction, it's a complete waste of resources. The only thing we'll learn from this thing is what a bad idea it is.

Which science fiction are you referring to? Neom is the manic fantasy of an extraordinarily depraved trillionaire.

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