I get the feeling from your post (and username) that you may be Emirati, and I certainly understand your wish to defend your home, but I think there's a certain amount of whitewashing going on here.
> "There are shallow people who abuse human rights in Dubai"
Based on what I understand, this is an extreme and gross understatement. The entirety of the construction industry was based on borderline, if not outright slavery of foreign nationals. This is not the case of "yeah, there were a few bad apples in the bunch", this was widespread and almost universal. (Again, if you'd like to contest this perception, please feel free). The Dubai skyline as we see it today was impossible to create at that cost, in that timeline, without labor abuses that would make most developing nations look like Eden.
I find it hard to believe that a hacker-friendly and creative-friendly space can exist amidst so much moral corruption and especially in such a closed society.
I am unsure if you've had the opportunity to visit some of the more tech-centric and creative-centric cities of the world - but you will notice that creative types (hackers included) tend to be a weird bunch. Around me right now are people with strange haircuts, strange sexual preferences, strange (and to some, offensive) clothes, strange habits... etc. Hell, even in a socially liberal place like the US many of these people are decidedly non-mainstream and are merely tolerated, not celebrated. Nonetheless, here they are protected and free. They also thrive on liberal, bohemian substance - not the glitzy, luxurious sophistique that Dubai is shooting for.
Dubai does not sound at all like a place where hackers and artists would want to call home. In fact, half the creative types I know would be at risk of imprisonment in that country. IMHO it is impossible to nurture a creative space in a closed, socially hyper-conservative country. Social conservatism is historically the antithesis of artistry - and this includes the middle east. The most scientifically and artistically prolific eras of the middle east all came during reigns of particularly secular (or at least, non-fundamentalist) governments.
> "There are shallow people who abuse human rights in Dubai"
Based on what I understand, this is an extreme and gross understatement. The entirety of the construction industry was based on borderline, if not outright slavery of foreign nationals. This is not the case of "yeah, there were a few bad apples in the bunch", this was widespread and almost universal. (Again, if you'd like to contest this perception, please feel free). The Dubai skyline as we see it today was impossible to create at that cost, in that timeline, without labor abuses that would make most developing nations look like Eden.
I find it hard to believe that a hacker-friendly and creative-friendly space can exist amidst so much moral corruption and especially in such a closed society.
I am unsure if you've had the opportunity to visit some of the more tech-centric and creative-centric cities of the world - but you will notice that creative types (hackers included) tend to be a weird bunch. Around me right now are people with strange haircuts, strange sexual preferences, strange (and to some, offensive) clothes, strange habits... etc. Hell, even in a socially liberal place like the US many of these people are decidedly non-mainstream and are merely tolerated, not celebrated. Nonetheless, here they are protected and free. They also thrive on liberal, bohemian substance - not the glitzy, luxurious sophistique that Dubai is shooting for.
Dubai does not sound at all like a place where hackers and artists would want to call home. In fact, half the creative types I know would be at risk of imprisonment in that country. IMHO it is impossible to nurture a creative space in a closed, socially hyper-conservative country. Social conservatism is historically the antithesis of artistry - and this includes the middle east. The most scientifically and artistically prolific eras of the middle east all came during reigns of particularly secular (or at least, non-fundamentalist) governments.