Futuristic USA: The $400 Billion City In the Desert (VIDEO)

Something's gotten into billionaires lately because they are spending A LOT on building the next utopia.

The U.S. looks to be the latest country launching itself into the billionaires' utopian city club — joining the ranks of proposed "smart cities" in Saudia Arabia, South Korea and Senegal. The American version of the utopian city mega-project is being developed by a company called Telosa Development, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore.

Breaking ground in the American West, the city of Telosa (from the Ancient Greek word "telos," which in this case means "purpose" but also translates to the modern Greek word for "end") will be a first-of-its-kind futuristic American mega-city.

With plans to be built in the middle of the desert — likely between California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah — Telosa is expected to be the most advanced, sustainable and fair feat of human engineering the United States has ever seen.

Digital rendering of proposed public space for the city of Telosa. Courtesy of Telosa Development

The goal of Telosa is to create a fully sustainable American city guided by principles of social and economic equity. The system would assign things like affordable housing, education, health care and job opportunities as needed to reach an equal outcome for all 5 million people expected to be living there by 2050.

There's also a heavy focus on green transportation. Telosa would have autonomous vehicles, underground transportation systems, and green spaces, including a park five times the size of New York's Central Park. There's also set to be high-speed internet freely available, and the city would use blockchain technology, like Bitcoin, for its financial systems.

Digital rendering of a street in Telosa. Courtesy of Telosa Devleopment.

And the whole thing is set to be built for the low low price of $400 billion, with funding coming from private investors and government agencies.

The first phase of development is planned to begin in 2024, with the goal of having the first residents move in by 2030. But there are a number of concerns with this project.

Building a new city in a rural area — yes, even a desert — could impact local ecosystems and wildlife habitats. Some critics have also raised concerns about the potential displacement of local communities.

Similar concerns face Saudi Arabia's own planned smart city of Neom. In 2021, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, dropped $500 billion on Neom — think Telosa, only with robot maids, flying taxis, and a giant artificial moon.

The Saudi mega-city broke ground for construction in the desert that is home to members of the Howeitat, a Judhami tribe who have lived on the construction site for hundreds of years.

With the building of a portion of Neom called The Line, Saudi security forces have already reportedly started harassing locals into giving up their homes and lands. Those who refuse have reportedly been abducted, arrested or killed.

It's hard to know if these projects will be good or bad in the long run — heck, we don't even know if they'll work as intended. Because there's no precedent for this level of human engineering, observers will just have to wait and see if Telosa brings the technological, social and cultural innovations that reflect its creators' purpose, or if it will simply be the end of a very expensive experiment.

Would you start a new life in Telosa? Or would you rather sit back and see how it all plays out for the first batch of guinea pigs?

This article is part of Narcity Media's Technality series. Subscribe to Technality on YouTube for all things related to the future, tech and humanity.