With the high and rising temperatures and pollution levels, as gifts from our friends Globalization and Modern Technology, Singapore should construct a large glass bowl to cover and protect our beautiful garden city. The idea is simple: the glass dome would have to be big enough to enclose the island and the surrounding sea area (within our boundaries, of course. We wouldn't want to be selfish to our neighbours now, would we?)
The entire structure should be made of a special, selectively permeable material that would allow us to filter out smog, excesses of carbon dioxide, and what harmful gasses we know of - but allow in a fresh flow of oxygen - which would then enable us to maintain a healthy mixture of gases within our "atmosphere". This would ensure that all people in Singapore (home for all!) shall have good breathing air to transpire and thus, live long and happy lives. We can also use transition lens technology - which taints the glass when exposed to strong sunlight - and have an island-wide air-conditioning so that Singapore's inhabitants will never have to suffer under the blazing heat of the sun again. This will, in effect, significantly reduce the chances of over-exposure to ultra-violet light and hence lower the possibility of getting skin cancer. However, a good amount of sunlight must still be allowed to pass through lest we Singaporeans lose our favourite source of vitamin D and the country ceases to be known as "Green"/"Sunny Singapore". The beach-y areas of Singapore should also have a greater amount of sunlight to keep the ang mohs blond and smiling. Moreover, the air-conditioning might give dwellers more fashion choice since wearing sweaters and jackets outdoors will no longer be a faux pas then.
As for transportation, Singpore can build special entrances for ships to pass through, and erect (or shift) our airport to an outside island and provide shipping to and fro mainland Singapore and Pulau Airport. Trade and imports that come via sea can still enter and find harbour at our ports. The glass hemisphere can also act as a barrier to swimming immigrants. This way, the demography of people in Singapore can be easily tracked and regulated as well.
The benefits do not stop there. The predicted cleaner and healthier physical environment would attract a larger population of health-conscious foreign talent into our economy. Plus, we would have less to worry about Singapore being abused as a "springboard", because the fresh air in Singapore would be a good incentive for immigrants to stay. This means that Singapore would have a bigger and more permanent talent pool and work force to ease our aging population and poor dynamic efficiency woes. The construction of the glass bowl alone is also expected to create an estimate of fifty thousand jobs as well, especially in the specialized and research fields. (Think Knowledge-Based Economy.) By then, Singapore can also consider capitalizing on our would-be fresh air and become a detox-hub, attracting tourists to come cleanse their systems by basking in our filtered air. If not for that, the dome would become an iconic feature unique to Singapore which would most definitely bring in travellers (hungry for novelty) by the plane-loads. Overall, this glass dome will give Singapore a huge economic boost with little or almost no significant physical obstacle.
In the long run, this move may also improve citizen loyalty because residents become so used to having sterile air to breathe that the relatively dirtier outside-air becomes poison to inhale. This way, Singapore will not have to worry about any possible "brain drain". Being contained would also allow Singapore to control the surrounding water-level, so there would be no worry of being submerged by the rising sea-levels caused by Global Warming. Additionally, the glass bowl should be shatter-, bullet- and bomb-proved so that we don't have to fear it being destroyed by some unspecified jealous nation. With that, the glass can be designed to have a reddish tinge so our sunsets and sunrises will look a whole lot prettier.
I so should get myself a patent for this. Watch out, World!
11 comments:
Reminds me of the Simpsons movie...
HOW DARE YOU TRIVIALIZE MY BRILLINCE AND GENUIS BY EQUATING IT TO THE SIMPONS? SHAME. ON. YOUUUUUUU.
Heh, but I really think it's an awesome idea. I even bothered to think through the costs and benefits, and obviously it's doubleplusgood to have this glass bowl!
Now you've got me thinking about it too...
If you built the bowl, whoever is in the middle of it is the unluckiest person alive, because you've basically built a super magnifying glass lol. What do you think can be done about it? I can think of a way, but I won't tell you :P
Uh, transition lens technology plus air-conditioning? Hello?!
However, if the magnifying glass effect thing would still pose such a huge problem I'd suggest we line the middle bit with mirror. Or install a glass prism there to disperse the light and make rainbows!!
Isn't this fun?
LoL. I concur. I concur haha
Hrm.
So you want a glass bowl that is semi-permeable, yet bullet-proof, shock-proof, and shatter-proof. Let's not worry about the insane maintenance costs or the fact that rain would no longer fall (unless that, too, is made artificially). Never mind that the top of the dome will be beyond structurally unsound too.
This bowl must obviously be transparent, so conventional building materials like steel or wood (gosh, if only you could build a dome of that size out of wood) cannot be used in building the bulk of this dome thing.
I did some digging in Wiki (It's late. I gotta sleep, and Wiki's the easy way out), and I found a glass which fits your liking. Turns out it costs about US$20,000 per sq. meter of glass at the moment. Now I'm not sure how thick it would be, but since we're building a HUGE dome, we're going to need much-thicker-than-normal glass to account for structural integrity (and to make it bomb-proof and stuff as well), so it's going to cost even more per sq. meter. I'd say about US$50k, or maybe US$60k. Your call.
Singapore island covers about 700 square kilometers. I'm too lazy to find out how much outer surface area the equivalent glass dome will total, but it must be pretty darned big, say, 10000 square kilometers? (And that's already being generous)
10000 square kilometers converts to about 10 billion square meters, which in turn converts to about US$50 trillion worth of super bulletproof glass (I use lower bound lah ah).
Never mind the cost of building the dome. Never mind the costs from sub-sub-subcontracting the job to sub-sub-subcontractors that go bust halfway through. On top of that, let's assume that maybe with technological advances (And that's not even assured) and measures to cut costs like mad, you could bring that sum down by 99%. That still amounts to US$500 billion FOR THE GLASS ALONE. Despite being a thriving economy, our entire country's GDP totals US$171.95 billion. (I'm getting everything from wiki haha).
It's going to be a VERY long time before we build any glass ceiling over our heads.
Hm. But nothing - I say, nothing - beats watching a beautiful red sunset.
Btw... You DO know why they call it the greenhouse effect, right? A greenhouse is definitely not made out of green bricks.
If I sound like I'm bashing your idea to death, I'm sorry. I love debating this Simpsons dome too much.
(HAHAHAHA)
what the hell?!
nor.
Axnxg: You probably didn't have to go through all the trouble to estimate the costs of such a project - it is pretty obvious how impossible this is to build, even with expsenses aside. The entire proposal had long disregarded the feasibility of pursuing this idea, so the moment you attack the proposal from that aspect, it will fall. Period.
However, it is this lack of feasibility that gives me the room to make things up as I please, only to make them sound logical and concrete. I actually thought about the weather part of it, too, (ie: the rain) and wanted to mention that Singapore could chemically induce weather or even climate changes - which would also give us the oppurtunity to experience the four seasons here if we wanted to; But I simply forgot. It's not as if I didn't have enough to talk about already.
Oh, and the air-conditioning was supposed to overcome the greenhouse effect. BEAT THAT.
Nor: Exactly.
Hey, you didn't include that fine print...
Wait a minute...
You said "you even bothered to think through the costs and benefits, and obviously it's doubleplusgood to have this glass bowl". Shouldn't that cover the MATERIAL costs too?
Never mind.
Okay.
We'll have four seasons. Alas, we can enjoy what folks in New Zealand have always experienced.
Now as for creating rain, that's not really a health hazard as cloud seeding agents don't really poison people, so... Good one. I support your rain component.
But air-conditioning is something that requires fan units. I can imagine our sparkling dome pockmarked by countless units.
Let's think out of the dome now.
With the resultant billowing of CO2 gas and other various pollutants stemming from our exorbitant energy requirements, the Greenhouse effect will worsen. Since raised temperatures start bushfires and melts reflective ice caps, the Greenhouse effect CATALYZES itself. Africa and the US, among other countries, will burn to a crisp, causing more pollutants to flood the atmosphere. Greenhouse effect worsens.
The world will burn, but our dome will be safe and sound.
When that happens, bye bye Pulau Airport. Farewell, tourists. Farewell, food-producing countries.
Wait a minute. That means no more rice on the table. No more potatoes! No more french fries! No more McDonalds!! T_T
This dome will kill us all!!!!! The costs definitely outweigh the benefits!
Wheeee! You finally got to the heart of it all.
you'd so have gotten an A for originality if you came up with this for PW. which would be countered by a zero for feasability.
oh wells, you win some and you lose some, no?
Meh. Give creativity a break some time, will you? It's not as if my proposal hasn't already lost so much lustre from everybody else's cynicism.
I believe that deep down inside your little black heart you want Singapore to be fully air-conditioned too.
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