Discovery News: An eccentric Australian mining magnate who is building a replica of the ill-fated Titanic has unveiled his latest scheme -- a park of giant robotic dinosaurs.
Clive Palmer, who last month in New York launched an ambitious plan to build and sail the "Titanic II", said he had ordered more than 100 life-size dinosaur robots from China to populate his north Australian resort.
10 comments:
I find this obscenely wasteful. This billionaire's plans to re-create the Titanic and build one hundred robotic dinosaurs are just ways to spend money frivolously. I think the most offensive part of this article, was the last statement in which the billionaire was directly quoted saying, "I want to spend all my money before I die". It find it incredible that someone would rather spend their money only for their own purpose while they were alive instead of donating it to charity, or in the least, giving it away as inheritance. Granted, we work in fairly wasteful and expensive industry, though not all of it is "art", theatre can create social messages and be intelligent entertainment. There is little to be gained intellectually from rebuilding a ship that we already know plenty of, and to create one hundred dinosaurs that blink and wave their tails to put on your own property to look at.
I have to disagree with Kelly. I think if someone makes money they can spend it however the hell they want. With families like the owners of Walmart often called out because they don't donate enough money I think is obscene. People can do whatever they want with their money. Frankly people are benefiting from these dinosaurs. It is creating jobs in China and spreading the wealth around. Clearly Mr. Palmer worked hard to become a billionaire and I feel by spending money he is directly benefiting others.
Hah! This is a bit ridiculous. I'm actually a bit torn about how I feel about this. On one hand, this guy is clearly enjoying life and embarking on some pretty ambitious projects. However, I see what Kelly is saying. The money that this man spent on the Titanic and on the robot dinosaurs probably could have been spent better elsewhere. If this man wants so badly to spend all of his money before he dies, then why not donate large portions of it to charity? I also don't really get why he is so intent on spending all of his money before he dies; it seems like having this attitude inevitably leads to wasteful spending. Then again, to this man, I'm sure these projects aren't wasteful at all. In fact, they seem to be quite fulfilling for him. And if he has the money, there really isn't anyone to stop him from living life exactly the way he wants to.
I agree with Jess saying this is a bit ridiculous. I think he is very ambitious dreamer who was greatly impressed by famous movies that he probably watched in his youth. I agree how great Titanic and Jurassic Park movies were, but I think this is a bit wasteful. I mean if you are a billionaire, I don't really care what he or she does with his or her own money. However, there are tons of more worthy or valuable things you can do other than buying off hundreds of robotic dinosaurs. I am just curious what would those exhibition function as other than taking up large space. Also, if I were him who wants to spend all money before he dies, I would, for example, rather build those with some co-workers instead of bringing from china with all parts built already. I just think that way is so useless and valueless. Although I can not do anything about what he wants to do and he is already doing, I just want him to know how there are more valuable and memorable things that he can do.
This guy clearly likes to spend his money on things that people have already tried with disastrous results. The titanic?? Jurassic Park?? Anyway, I think this guy is just having some harmless fun with his money, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I think this is so much fun! This sounds like a kid who grew up to be very successful is is now getting to live out his childhood fantasy of living in the time of dinosaurs. This is pretty crazy, but I mean why not. If you have the means to do something that will make you happy just go for it. Who cares if its never been done before or your neighbors think your crazy. Live now while you can. I am really interested to see how humans would interact with these giant robots. I would think it would be just amazing or absolutely terrifying. I could be super entertaining to just set up a bunch of cameras and see what everyones reactions are.
I am loving the debate that seems to be forming on this blog post. Each commenter seems to have a very specific opinion on this topic and I think that, after reading the article, it is interesting to get to see how people react. I tend to agree with Kelly, "I want to spend my money before I die" is kind of ridiculous, but then again, Alex is right in saying, if this person earned the money, its theirs to spend... Money is a sticky subject. There is always going to be a cause, a person, or a place in need of money. How can we fix that?
I constantly wonder what it would be like to live in a time without currency and the only way to get what you wanted was to trade.
I agree with Kelly that this is wasteful. This man has all of this money, and this is the best way he could think of to spend his money? Clearly he's ignorant to what is going on in the world. Yes, he paying people to make these dinosaurs. So what? They move a little. This has been done before (NYC Toy's R Us), just not with this many dinosaurs. I think he is reliving childhood dreams, but the thing is, the world is changing. We cannot stay in the past anymore. We are not interested in the question: "How can we make this look good?" Now, we are interested in the question: "What does this mean to you?" I think he is living too much in the past and blinding himself as to what is happening in the present. There are things everywhere that will break your heart because you aren't doing anything to stop such atrocities. If this man has all of this money, why can he not spend it on art that will help change at least one thing in the world? We are not looking for another amusement park available to people who are willing to pay money. We are looking for a change that will probably never happen.
So this is ridiculous and I just think people are crazy. I just have a indifferent feeling when I think about things like this. On one hand I am feel like if you actually are personally giving and feel responsible for to give to charity. I guess in situation like this I just get irriated by the fact all us "poor folk" instantly shake our fist at rich guy for not giving HIS money away to something WE think is worthy. When WE spend how much on Chiptole, Netflix, or ..... so what is our personal responsibility. Are we supposed to depend on the RICH people to fund charity or is it up to us.
Ok so off topic. I want to go to the dinosaur park. Kind of crazy ok maybe a lot crazy!! But still want to go.
Personally I don't care how billionaires spend their money, as long as I'm getting some of it. We should be getting this work, not China. I couldn't find any articles that mentioned a price tag for this menacing menagerie, but for whatever he's spending I would have insisted on a little more than blinking eyes and heaving chests. For the kind of money he must be spending I would want a flock of velociraptors tearing into a baby Stegasaur every night at precisely 6:45, just before dinner. Not that Chinese manufacturing couldn't produce that, of course they could, but they aren't. This picture of Jeff the T-Rex (http://disinfo.com/2013/04/australian-billionaire-orders-117-animatronic-dinosaurs-for-jurassic-park-style-resort/#sthash.2P6jxK4X.dpbs) is impressive only in scale. Bad paint job, bad muscular topography. I say give the U.S. a chance Clive! We'll even take Aussie dollars or you can pay us in Foster's (ok well that may only apply to me).
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