Is she right about Dubai?

[GemState]

@Shimbiris

There were a lot of Africans in the UAE when I was there last month, ton of Ethiopians especially.

 

[NidarNidar]

Renewable and nuclear energy are both viable options. Norway, for example, meets 90-95% of its annual power needs through hydropower. While Norway has a smaller population, not every country has the geographical advantage to rely on hydropower.

During my visit to the Netherlands, I saw some of the world's largest wind farms. However, wind energy only contributes about 15-20% of the country's total energy needs.

Meanwhile, China is making significant strides in nuclear energy innovation with its thorium-based reactors. These compact reactors are designed to be safe for the public and produce no harmful waste. If this technology becomes a reality, it could revolutionize energy production allowing cities to be powered by small underground reactors strategically placed throughout urban areas, on ships, and beyond.

Fossil fuel will still be king, we haven't even reached peak demand yet.

 

[Idilinaa]

Nothing about what I said was pessimistic because I don't ascribe value judgments based on the realistic readings. Innovations will occur if Allah wills, but as things stand today, that is not going to change with whatever these guys have cooked up. The only ambitious leap on this is fusion. They can only run those experiments for seconds, and they're intensive, not net energy drivers. I'm optimistic.
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Maybe pessimistic is not quite the word, rather overly rigid and dismissive of technological progress.

The global transitioning is already happening. Africa's energy demand is rising, but that does not mean oil is the only solution.

Plus many African countries lack refining capacity, importing refined oil is expensive. Most new power plants being built in Africa are renewable, not oil-based.

While fusion is not yet a viable solution, it is not the only innovation happening in energy. Battery technology is advancing, energy efficiency is improving, and storage solutions are evolving. The cost of solar and wind energy has dropped dramatically, making them more competitive.

Energy transitions are not "wishful thinking" scenarios they are driven by necessity and technological progress.

 

[Idilinaa]

I don't know howe they could force their native pouplation to work. The people have gotten used to decades of living this way. A high skilled labor pool requires a competitive society . Look at east asia . There's nothing you could do to motivate a large chunk of the native pouplation to work 40+ hours a week.

You are absolutely right. Changing the work culture of Gulf natives is nearly impossible at this point. Even when Gulf countries try to push natives into the workforce, they demand high salaries and minimal hours.

The only thing i can think of that they will try to do to save themselves, is become more over-reliant of Automation and AI.

But this is only a partial solution because even if AI replaces cashiers, you still need humans for construction, maintenance, logistics, and service industries.

Even in AI-driven economies like Japan, South Korea, and Germany, human labor is still essential. Gulf countries have weak education systems and do not produce enough engineers, programmers, or scientists.

Replacing millions of workers with robots is expensive and impractical.

 

[The alchemist]

Maybe pessimistic is not quite the word, rather overly rigid and dismissive of technological progress.

The global transitioning is already happening. Africa's energy demand is rising, but that does not mean oil is the only solution.

Plus many African countries lack refining capacity, importing refined oil is expensive. Most new power plants being built in Africa are renewable, not oil-based.

While fusion is not yet a viable solution, it is not the only innovation happening in energy. Battery technology is advancing, energy efficiency is improving, and storage solutions are evolving. The cost of solar and wind energy has dropped dramatically, making them more competitive.

Energy transitions are not "wishful thinking" scenarios they are driven by necessity and technological progress.

You can be very immature at times.

This is not the first time a woman did personalized attacks on this very topic. A Somali one at that.

Take care, walaal.

 

[Idilinaa]

You can be very immature at times.

This is not the first time a woman did personalized attacks on this very topic. A Somali one at that.

Take care, walaal.

Disagreements are not personal attacks. I didn't call you any names.

You don't have to be overly attached to a certain point of view to the point that you feel you are being personally attacked if someone disagrees with you. It's healthy to disaagree with eachother, we might learn something in the process

 

[Rayaale]

@Shimbiris @NidarNidar @Hurder @NordicSomali @Taintedlove

The Gulf Economies (UAE, Kuwait, Qatar , Saudi etc) are doomed in the long run.

Oil is running out and at the same time fossil fuel is becoming less in demand.

The attempts diversify is not even working, they try to move away from it by building tourism, finance, and tech sectors but all rely on foreign labor and expertise.

Most of their "new industries" are still funded by oil money, meaning they are not self-sustaining.

They lack local human capital, most citizens are not involved in economic productivity.

You cannot "diversify" an economy that is 80% dependent on foreign workers. Local Gulf citizens lack the work ethic, technical skills, and industrial base to sustain these economies without oil.

Their extreme dependence on foreign labour & capital is their achilees heel. The Gulf economies rely almost entirely on migrant labor from construction to service industries.

For example 90% of Dubai’s workforce is foreign, what this means is that if the expats leave, the economy collapses.

Investors are already pulling out due to political instability, corruption, and declining oil revenues. Once oil revenues drop, these economies will no longer be attractive to investors or expats.

They also are losing influence and are weak innovators. Gulf nations have little technological innovation, they mostly import expertise from the West and Asia. China and India are developing their own energy independence, meaning they will not rely on Gulf oil forever. Western countries are diversifying their energy sources, weakening the Gulf’s geopolitical leverage.

They drive massive government spending into unrealistic mega projects , that don't create real economic growth. End up in-debt. Kuwait and Bahrain for example are struggling with rising debt.
Dubai and other Gulf cities are built on real estate bubbles, not sustainable industries.

Unlike countries like Japan, Singapore, or Norway, they did not build strong local industries.

I am also pretty sure they bit their own tail by entangling themselves into regional geo-politicial conflicts and threats, by playing manipulators and infighting. So it will all just converge into them once they don't have the wealth and influence defend against it.

Also Internal dissatisfaction will rise, since the native citizens are used to easy wealth but are now being forced to work harder. The elite ruling families will not survive and economic hardship will spread, they will all fall like domino.

Looks like UAE is the only gulf country which can survive, they have diversified their economy and were one of the first countries to open up

 

[NordicSomali]

I don't know howe they could force their native pouplation to work. The people have gotten used to decades of living this way. A high skilled labor pool requires a competitive society . Look at east asia . There's nothing you could do to motivate a large chunk of the native pouplation to work 40+ hours a week.

Necessity is the mother of invention, they will be bound to to work hard when the oil revenues start falling, but that’s a long time. The gulfs are not dumb, UAE alone has about $2 trillion invested in financial assets. If they curb their spending they will live good for decades, maybe a century.