[HN Gopher] Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
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       Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
        
       Author : mhb
       Score  : 21 points
       Date   : 2025-12-08 19:28 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ft.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ft.com)
        
       | dannersy wrote:
       | Good. Maybe we can end tech sycophancy by sending all the tech
       | elite boot lickers there. They can circularly pat themselves on
       | the back about how amazing they are and pass around crypto.
        
         | pixl97 wrote:
         | Ah yes, because that worked out well for rights in the 1800s
         | for the US.
         | 
         | No, kill the cancer now before it spreads further.
        
       | zug_zug wrote:
       | I mean I love the concept. However something makes me suspect
       | none of these will be the completely-walkable, full of art, no-
       | pollution, no plastic, utopia city I'm thinking of.
       | 
       | But no harm in them trying their idea...
        
         | moomoo11 wrote:
         | Traditional cities could charge a toll for anyone from those
         | for profit cities to enter. For example to get to SFO there
         | would be a $30 toll.
         | 
         | Any private roads that connect to public infrastructure would
         | have to pay a recurring fee.
        
         | dghlsakjg wrote:
         | > But no harm in them trying their idea...
         | 
         | I assure you that there is plenty of potential harm in trying
         | to make extra-legal mass scale social programs.
         | 
         | The most obvious one to me (based on every large social
         | institution's past history), is how these places will handle
         | sex crimes. There will be a poorly managed or entirely
         | preventable sex crime scandal at one of these places. I would
         | be willing to bet on it.
         | 
         | There are plenty of other things that I foresee failing, but
         | this just looks like seasteading 2.0 to me. There is a reason
         | that libertarians on a cruise ship failed, and given the
         | involvement of some of the same characters, I would also be
         | willing to bet that these concepts will fail in the same way.
        
       | akomtu wrote:
       | The return of technocracy from 1930s?
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement
       | 
       | "Technocracy advocates contended that price system-based forms of
       | government and economy are structurally incapable of effective
       | action, and promoted a society headed by technical experts, which
       | they argued would be more rational and productive."
        
         | dlahoda wrote:
         | I aggregate day to day news, many things from 193X appear these
         | days again.
        
       | mrsubletbot wrote:
       | Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong?
        
       | Biologist123 wrote:
       | There's an alternative theory that cities need to be bit chaotic:
       | 
       | "The Uses of Disorder analyzes human development at the personal
       | and collective level in wealthy cities, presenting the thesis
       | that such cities are excessively ordered and thereby enable
       | residents to avoid personal growth or change. Instead of relying
       | on prescriptive plans and rigid self-conceptions, Sennett argues,
       | people should remain open to difference and disorder while city
       | life ought to be more disorderly and decentralized."
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uses_of_Disorder
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-08 23:02 UTC)