{"id":124737,"date":"2022-07-16T16:45:38","date_gmt":"2022-07-16T20:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=124737"},"modified":"2022-07-16T17:03:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T21:03:33","slug":"this-is-why-biden-and-israel-are-such-big-fans-of-mbs-saudis-new-smart-city-megaproject-neom-see-bladerunner-rendering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=124737","title":{"rendered":": This is why Biden and Israel are such big fans of MBS—Saudi’s new smart city megaproject NEOM. (See Bladerunner Rendering)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rendering from an internal \u201cstyle catalog\u201d for the planned high-tech region of Neom that was seen by Bloomberg Businessweek. Photographer: Iman Al-Dabbagh<\/p><\/div>\n

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Businessweek<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MBS\u2019s $500 Billion Desert Dream Just Keeps Getting Weirder<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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Neom, the Saudi crown prince\u2019s urban megaproject, is supposed to have a ski resort, swim lanes for commuters, and \u201csmart\u201d everything. It\u2019s going great\u2014for the consultants.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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By Vivian Nereim<\/p>\n

One day last September, a curious email arrived in Chris Hables Gray\u2019s inbox. An author and self-described anarchist, feminist, and revolutionary, Gray fits right into Santa Cruz, Calif., where he lives. He\u2019s written extensively about genetic engineering and the inevitable rise of cyborgs, attending protests in between for causes such as Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/header>\n

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While Gray had taken some consulting gigs over the years, he\u2019d never received an offer like this one. The first shock was the money: significantly more than he\u2019d earned from all but one of his books. The second was the task: researching the aesthetics of seminal works of science fiction such as\u00a0Blade Runner<\/em>. The biggest surprise, however, was the ultimate client: Mohammed bin Salman, the 36-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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