Future Beat newsletter
Hello there. First up, a quick welcome from myself as our usual editor Kelsey Warner is on maternity leave for the next few months. Wishing her family a great future.
The unveiling of designs of Saudi Arabia's The Line project?at Neom?has opened eyes around the world, and not just those in the architectural sector. It certainly has the wow factor judging by the renderings and it will be fascinating to see how the development progresses - from both a technical construction aspect and how it promises to change the way we live. See 'The Big Story' below.
Elsewhere, we have?an interview with?the deputy chief executive and chief operations officer at Dubai Future Foundation, Abdulaziz AlJaziri,?who discusses the road ahead for Dubai as it embraces the metaverse and web 3.0 technologies. He explains the importance of setting up regulations and the foundation's role in shaping the future.
Have a fine week.
Ian Oxborrow, Business Audience Growth Editor
The Big Story
In brief?| The Line is a record-setting 120km-long skyscraper to be built as part of Saudi Arabia's Neom project. It is proposed to be built in stages by creating 790-metre-long structures of varying heights of up to 490 metres that will connect in a line. Structures will be linked by walkways and a high-speed train will run underneath. It is expected to cost up to a trillion dollars and house about five million people when complete.
Quoted?| “The idea of layering city functions vertically, giving people possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions to access them, is a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism."
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Why it matters?| We've had decades of reaching for the sky, and we've even seen living concepts underground, but building horizontally at this scale is something else entirely. And, aside from the architectural complexity and splendour of such a project, there is the potential environmental benefits. It will look to preserve nature, and be powered by clean energy with no streets (and therefore no cars or emissions). Solar, wind and hydrogen will be the energy sources. Will building sideways instead of upwards catch on? Or will this turn out to be a truly unique design?
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Future in Focus
Spaceman?| The UAE is heading back to space.?Sultan Al Neyadi has been chosenfor a six-month mission to the International Space Station next year, having spent the past four years in training. The 41-year-old from Al Ain served in the Armed Forces as a network security engineer, and will lift off next spring on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre.
Pace of change?| Is the sequence of new things becoming tighter,?asks columnist Patrick Noack. He believes we are living in times when so much comes our way all the time - but is that simply because of the plentiful means of communication we have now (even when excluding letters delivered by pigeon)?
Driverless taxis?| Dubai's autonomous transport strategy?has taken a step forwardwith two Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles equipped with sensors and cameras set to be used to create a high-resolution map of the physical environment - initially in Jumeirah. This will then pave the way for the first driverless taxis.
Predicting the future | Signal or noise??News-magnet Elon Musk tweeted this week that he?might take some time away from the spotlight. Only days later he was voicing, among other things, how "a new philosophy for the future was needed" and how humanity should be expanded to become a multiplanet and then interstellar species.
This is noise.?Clearly Mr Musk cannot help himself when it comes to tweeting. And having pulled out of the?deal to buy Twitter?and a date in court set to come, there is little chance of the world's richest man staying out of the public eye. Especially given his plans for the future of civilisation.
In Case You Missed It
A children’s hospital in Dubai sequenced the?genetic material?of some of its young patients to diagnose their illnesses and accelerate treatment plans.
Dubai has?formed a higher committee for future technology?and digital economy. The goal is is “to promote Dubai's supremacy in the digital economy globally”, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, said.
The?Dubai Metaverse Assembly?will be held at the Museum of the Future in September - its first metaverse industry event. The assembly will draw more than 300 experts, policymakers and officials, as well as 40 organisations involved in the metaverse.