Watching the first video now, I'm not exactly a Glenn Beck fan, I've seen him go off the deep end in a few vids, but so far what I've been seeing isn't that, it's overly ambitious and probably unlikely to succeed, but there are some basic principles that are sound.
Apprenticeships are, at the most basic level, a good idea, however Beck is a tad overconfident of the willingness of some of the youth to put in the work hours to advance up the ladder due to the common perception of a glass ceiling and/or the loss of having a life outside of work because of putting in so many hours that by the time you get to retirement, you're old and lonely with nothing but material gain to show for it...although to be fair, for some people that alone IS something to show for it and worth it. So, different shapes.
Now he's moved on to the idea of self-sufficiency, now I'm fully behind this, a city should be self sufficient in both power and food supplies, it's common sense, and it provides local employment and lowers the cost of living. Well, in theory it does, but it's more likely that without any form of regulation some money maker will push up the bills.
And, oh dear, the cry for 'simpler times', well, to be honest I think that that is something that people of Becks age, and indeed younger and older, all wish for, that in this modern hurley burley world, that life would go back to 'how it was when I was a kid'. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, you take a kid out into the wilderness for a weekend and he/she'll either adapt to it and have fun, or ring child services and accuse you of neglect.
The idea of entering this city/theme park through Ellis Island appeals to the patriotic as well as the tourist, so it's a fairly sound business move, a tad jingoistic, but that's what some people want, and that's fair enough.
Media center...ok, starting to potentially roll into sanctioned media territory.
An Alamo recreation...I wonder if Muslim faiths would be permitted to use that space... :hmmm: :haha:
The R&D based around the San Fran expo architecture...that's fair enough, I'd love to see a remake of the Crystal Palace in London, but I don't think it'd be practical. I do ponder the practicality of this too in modern R&D, but it's do-able. Although again, there is the problem of making an 'experience'...an 'experience' based upon whose ideas?
The residential area seems to be a bit far away from the market place, I expect some form of mass transportation would be connected between the two. I like the idea of removing 'class' although this whole city is starting to make me think of something, more on that when I reach the end of these vids.
Oh, I see, the roads will be underground, thus leaving the front of the houses for a green area...not a bad idea, would need to be well ventilated, but it would have a nice effect not to have to look out on traffic all the time. Again though, I ponder about his grip on modern family and children, but it's a noble idea, although there is still a need for privacy in ones backyards.
The idea of a sun collector, not bad, although it does have a Tower of Babel ring to it the way he explains it, however his idea of a manuscript library, whilst good, is open to potential bias. Better still that a copy of everything that has been preserved in the US national archive be placed there for a more balanced overview.
First point, no wind-power...why not? Admittedly it's not a particularly powerful form of electrical power, but I think it could work alongside the 'sun collector' if that is chosen to work as a solar power collector. Beck hasn't mentioned how he's going to generate all the power he wants to be self sustainable and export with yet though.
Oh dear, did I just hear 'deprogramming'?
He does make a point about 'schools being a thing of the past as we've designed them', certainly with upcoming technology the whole school system is potentially due for an overhaul, however it has to be done carefully to preserve the mixture of learning and social experience that is given.
Theme park and theatre is a nice idea, and will provide potential revenue. Also, the idea of telling both sides of the story in the 'Cowboys and Indians' is good, and will help expand peoples understanding. Although I fear for a more Disney version of Native American beliefs than reality, but the idea of finding truth from both sides, amidst the lies, sounds reasonable...
And so we reach the end...well, on the surface it seems like a nice, if somewhat optimistic plan at bringing together people, although I have to smile at the fact that Glenn Beck, who is often portrayed as right-wing, has put forward a city that is a socialists nirvana (Kim Jong-il and Stalin would love the idea of deprogramming people), however I expect that the teachings of the city and the libraries within would be...somewhat influenced by personal beliefs.
Beck also fails to mention what is going to power this city, to make it energy sufficient and be able to export energy and food, this and the whole misty eyed expression of 'getting back to the basics of what makes America great' leads me to suspect that Beck has laid out a more ideological plan than a technological one. However, he pays people a lot of money to do that within his framework, so I dare say that some boffin will do something to cater to the design plan. Most likely nuclear based, since I doubt that a oil facility would fit in with the design ethos, the last thing you want to see at a theme park is a cloud of thick smoke. Admittedly you'd have the same problem with an NPP as most of them require releasing steam, but you could probably condense it down and perhaps release it outside the city, although the safety regulations in doing that....well....like I said, Beck pays people money to think of things like that, and I'm not one of them.
There's one thing that I do have a little weakness for, and it's architectural designs, I couldn't do one to save my life, but I do enjoy looking at designs of modern cities, such as the South Korean one that has a rather
unfortunate shape, or modern architectural and scientific solutions to upcoming problems such as, and I do bang on about them a lot, vertical farms. It reminds me that we are living in exciting times, providing we don't screw it all up.
However, where Becks dreams will fail, is at roughly the same point most big dreams fail...money, cold hard cash, and despite the popularity of the Beck media empire, I doubt his ability to make his dreams become reality.
However, if Beck and his designers can take one thing away from this, one bit of good news...even at its worst, it's still a better design than Milton Keynes. :yep:
[disclaimer - Many people will say 'Why the hell did you take that video seriously', and indeed I am one of them, however from time to time I do like to examine things closely rather than roll with popular sentiment, and as I have already mentioned, I do have a weakness for city design and architecture...call it the part of me that play Simcity 2000 far too much. :haha:]
