# [[Futurist ruins are radiating contingency]] *April 5, 2025* ##### NEOM seems destined to become Future Detritus We already knew that NEOM is [[Futurism is a nostalgic style, not a progressive movement|a play of futurist nostalgia]], but (thanks to [Patrick Tanguay](https://sentiers.media/)) I recently learned it is also becoming a financial disaster.[^1] To bring us beyond the obvious "told you so", I want to imagine what will happen to the billions spend in the sand of Saudi Arabia. A No-Go-Zone may be established before the actual state of the project becomes too embarrassing (even though it is hard to hide failures of monumental scale from the eyes in the sky). But let’s assume we gain access to NEOM when the news have long forgotten about it. What will it feel like to walk through the structures remaining when all the visions ran dry? Some years ago I was on a rave at "SED-Hotel", an abandoned complex in Leipzig formerly used to house guests of the GDR. You entered the building by a hole that was smashed into bricks intended to stop the curious. Crawling through revealed a rundown indoor garden, walled by concrete scared with tags. Large ornaments hovered above. Once tributes to East Germany‘s communist party, they now served as backdrop to VJ projections powered by gasoline generators. The place was broken but alive in this very moment of repurposing. Maybe lost places feel haunted because they make us expect and remember at once. We can sense opportunity, both lost and emergent. Material proof for the fact that things can go either way, at any time. I believe these ruins of past ambitions can serve a crucial purpose: they function as outposts for contingency in a culture increasingly ruled by technological determinism. Leftovers of futures are invaluable aids for understanding the present. We should interact with them often and also with deliberation. Let’s start by naming what remains when futures decay. In [a great piece by Mitch Therieau](https://reallifemag.com/what-next/) on the fragmentation of cultural trends I read a line that stuck with me: > "[A] quiet consensus emerges: there will be no Next Thing. Only detritus — old books, pressed flowers, dirty clothes — piling up in the here and now."[^2] Traces of obsolete futures, piling up in the here and now, may not be pretty to look at. But Future Detritus resists the bleaching and polishing at the hype machine’s frontline. I think **Future Detritus** is a great term for the remnants of futures. It is a concept worth deeper investigation, as any roadside ruin (and NEOM in particular) is worth a visit. It could be an opportunity to [[Expected Agency shapes Future Thinking|find some temporal agency]]. For it is in the ruins of the past where alternative futures were lost but can be recovered. [^1]: https://archive.is/2025.03.22-121303/https://www.wsj.com/finance/saudi-arabia-neom-sindalah-15b9f25a [^2]: *"Across all these -cores and -waves that have spread like the mushrooms goblincore adherents admire so much, a quiet consensus emerges: there will be no Next Thing. Only detritus — old books, pressed flowers, dirty clothes — piling up in the here and now. Where futurists in all sectors recently saw a yawning future that would either be radically different from, or exactly identical to the immediate past, adherents to the latest -cores and -waves now simply see a scattering of individuals vibing, vegetating. For them, perhaps, speculation’s spell is losing its power. Future vertigo gives way to future fatigue."* https://reallifemag.com/what-next/