It’s a Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever

Should we be surprised when rich guys have more money than sense?

John B. Dutton
E³ — Entertain Enlighten Empower
5 min readApr 26, 2024

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Simulated image of Saudi desert construction project called The Line.
A Line in the sand. Promotional image from neom.com

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Extremely wealthy people often have extremely terrible ideas. Is that a surprise? I guess it’s possible that, on average, they have the same amount of terrible ideas — relative to good ones — as the non-wealthy. So it’s possible that we only hear about their terrible ideas.

But there’s a special subset of terrible ideas that only the wealthy can have: the multi-billion-dollar kind that is not only grandiose and unrealistic but that’s intended to place the originator of the idea on an intellectual pedestal above other humans who, apparently, aren’t smart enough to be rich.

Exceeding boundaries sounds about right

One such example is a unique Saudi Arabian development project called The Line, one of four regions in the Neom community which its backers in Riyadh hope will become “the land of the future, where the greatest minds and best talents are empowered to embody pioneering ideas and exceed boundaries in a world inspired by imagination.

The official Neom website claimed that The Line would have no roads, cars, or emissions. It certainly seems like that…

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John B. Dutton
E³ — Entertain Enlighten Empower

Writer, author, and creative brand strategy consultant. British, Canadian, based in Montreal. Dad. Guinness drinker. Liverpool fan.