When reality goes beyond science fiction

For a long time, humanity has been living in dysfunctional and polluted cities that ignore nature. Now a revolution in civilization is underway.” These sentences appear in the introduction to a video clip recently posted on the Internet, praising the merits of the future city that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS for Friends) decided to build in the northwest of the country he leads. . The approved line It will be 170 km long, 200 meters wide and 500 meters high.

In this trailer, we’re told The Line will accommodate 9 million people while producing “zero carbon emissions.” The video doesn’t specify what power will be produced to power the high-speed train connecting the two ends of the city, nor the many drone carriers or the artificial intelligence system supposed to control them, but hey, let’s not argue. Not.

With epic music and computer graphics, the video inevitably brings to mind a science fiction movie. Finally, in the opening scene, before everything starts to spin. One thinks of Elysium, where the wealthy fled polluted land and took refuge in a city in orbit. We’d almost laugh if the damage wasn’t already started, even before construction. About 20,000 indigenous people will be confiscated. Well, when you know how gentle Muhammed deals with his opponents, they can consider themselves lucky that they did not behead or behead them.