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2250 AD: A Nautical Odyssey

Posted by Hemos on from the thinking-about-the-future dept.

desoumal writes " In the blog 2250 AD: A Nautical Odyssey published in WorldChanging, which covers a recent challenge presented to the student teams from 80 Indian colleges that entered in NASA '04 (National Association of Students of Architecture's annual design event), held in Mumbai, India, by Hiray College Of Architecture, Rohit Gupta writes about the highlights of the event - a city based on a giant question mark, a city inside a giant genetically-modified tree trunk, cities that grow like viruses, cities that look and function like holes made by earthworms... my personal favorite amongst them being a city with a photovoltaic dome 'designed so that it literally followed the path of the sun round the year, to maximize the solar energy, down to individual housing units'. Damn cool. "

12 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Ouch! by CommanderData · · Score: 5, Funny

    My brain hurts from reading that incredible run-on sentence summary. Remember boys and girls, the period is your friend. Read on for even more punctuation pointers!

    It is ironic that one of the proposed structures (see the picture in TFA) is a giant city-structure in the shape of a question mark!

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    1. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      It is ironic that one of the proposed structures (see the picture in TFA) is a giant city-structure in the shape of a question mark!

      Even more ironic is that the entire Earth is structured in the shape of a period.

    2. Re:Ouch! by tomee · · Score: 5, Funny

      I, at this point, having read (and reread) the sentence that you, in your post, which I am replying to, mentioned, agree.

  2. Oh good god by savagedome · · Score: 4, Funny

    One of them, Vishal, told me why they had constructed a city in the shape of a giant question mark, floating on the water, just off the coast of Marine Drive, Bombay. "It represents the invisible actual, and metaphorically, the unknown perfect design that will stand there in 2250 AD. Obviously, this is not that working design but only a notion of it. Only the question remains.."

    WTF? Somebody care to translate. Please?

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    1. Re:Oh good god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "We've not made an actual design yet, so we've put a giant question mark there for now."

    2. Re:Oh good god by joib · · Score: 4, Funny

      It means "So long, and thanks for all the tax money", to paraphrase D. Adams.

    3. Re:Oh good god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It represents the invisible actual, and metaphorically, the unknown perfect design that will stand there in 2250 AD. Obviously, this is not that working design but only a notion of it. Only the question remains

      Basically he's saying, "I have no idea. And I have no idea what i'm saying. But just pretend that i do have an idea. This ridiculous image symbolizes that idea. And this psuedo-intellectual speech symbolizes that i know what i'm saying."

  3. Here's what I'd do by sizzzzlerz · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd build a city that floats on clouds. It would be called, oh, lets say Stratus. We'd enslave those who remained on the earth to mine the minerals we would need to survive (always a good idea).

    Oh, and the women would wear these top thingies that looked like the bandoliers on Mexican bandits.

  4. A few years after 2021... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    We'll be able to transport our brains into robot bodies. But the robots will only be five feet tall, because that's as big as they come.


    Derek 'Stormy' Waters : Okay, okay. So, say I put my brain in a robot body and there's a war. Robots versus humans. What side am I on?

    Debbie DuPree : Humans! You have a human brain.

    Sparks : But... the humans discriminate against you. You can't even vote!

    Marco : We'd better not have to live on a reservation. That would really chap my caboose.

    Captain Murphy : Yeah, but... nobody knows you're a robot. You look the same.

    Debbie DuPree : Uh, uh. Dogs know. That's how the humans hunt you.

    Derek 'Stormy' Waters : They're gonna' hunt me? For sport?

    Marco : That's why we have to CRUSH mankind! So you might as well get on board for the big win, Stormy.
  5. "inside of a tree trunk...." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Shiver me timbers, they stole me bloomin' idea! Now I has t' come up with some other way t' hide me secret lair from scurvy lubbers who feels like snoopin' around.....

  6. finding solutions: KISS by caldfyr · · Score: 1, Funny

    "In nxt 250 yrs cncpts of sustnblty'd mk us thnk'f dffrnt apprches for svng energy. Wstge of papr and ink'd be rducd thru chnging th way v wrte. Th wrds v use rgulry'd b wrttn in shrtst possible way" Or, we could continue to move towards soft copies and remove ink and paper completely. I have to wonder what influenced that entry. I suppose there is a chance that the submitter's world region is simply less progressive...

  7. city "planning" by theMerovingian · · Score: 3, Funny


    cities that grow like viruses

    You mean like Houston?

    --
    "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti