Technology

If it was just Russia saying it, I'd dismiss it as well as they do have a pretty spotty history of delivering in post Soviet days. China has been a lot better at sticking to the targets they set, and things do move around and get cancelled. That's just how it goes when you're doing something that's never been done before. I'd say it's mostly noteworthy that they are thinking of this at all, but I wouldn't hold my breath on the specific date.

I'm excited to see projects like this being considered as well. My view is that as a civilization, we took a huge detour with the whole internet thing. People used to dream big back in the 70s, we were planning to start making large space stations, moon colonies, etc. And we have the technology necessary to start doing all that stuff, but instead we chose to start focusing on bullshit like chat apps, social media platforms, and so on. So many brilliant people have wasted their lives figuring out how to make more intrusive ads or how to track users across different sites. All of this stuff provides no actual value to society and doesn't advance civilization forward. Internet sort of became like a roach motel for us.

So, seeing countries actually building ambitious real world projects is incredibly exciting to me. Maybe this sort of stuff will rekindle the spark of genuine exploration and pushing the boundaries of humanity forward.