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@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    How recent are you talking and by what measure of success? Because I’m not finding anything when I search and, as far as I know, the world is still a long way away from fusion as a practical energy source.

    • Lath@kbin.earth
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      7 months ago

      Try South Korea instead. I think they’re the ones who achieved a 48s run recently.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        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@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          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.

          • SoylentBlake
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            7 months ago

            My guy, that’s not substantial, that’s exponential.

            And to the naynays sure, it’s not a completed project, nor is it easy to replicate the process found in the center of stars - without the rest of the star there to help. Who gives af if it takes 70yrs, humanity will become a before and after story once we crack fusion.

            I’ll start getting sus when Elon Musk says he founded it

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            “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.