Pauls' Revere
07-25-2018, 08:32 PM
https://gizmodo.com/lets-talk-about-bill-gates-plans-to-build-a-smart-town-1820410166
Somewhere near the White Tank Mountains in Arizona, there’s a 24,800-acre stretch of land that will soon be called Belmont. According to property records reviewed by the Arizona Republic, the mostly uninhabited area was recently purchased by investment firm Belmont Properties LLC, a company that is controlled by Cascade Investment, a holding company controlled by Bill Gates. Yes, that’s a lot of layers distancing the ownership of the soon-to-be boom town.
In a news release, Belmont Partners manager Larry Yount explained what Gates and Co. have in mind for the town that will be built from scratch:
The Belmont development exemplifies the big picture thinking that has been a unique hallmark of Arizona’s history of economic development. Belmont illustrates that Arizona remains at the leading edge of trends in American urban planning and development keying off of advances in solar power and electric distribution systems, autonomous auto testing, broadband, and data centers.
According to the Arizona Republic, the area will contain “as many as 80,000 homes, 3,800 acres of industrial, office and retail space, 3,400 acres of open space and 470 acres for public schools.”
That all sounds pretty cool. It’s kind of exciting to think of building a city that could be the model for forward-thinking infrastructure development in the US. It’s cool until you remember that as of last year, the five most valuable companies in the world were all tech companies. It’s cool until you remember that Silicon Valley may wind up automating many of us out of our jobs. It’s cool until you remember that a handful of billionaires are totally reshaping every facet of society and they have no clue what the consequences of their actions can be. It’s cool until you say out loud, “Bill Gates is building his own town!”
It’s a common refrain to compare the Information age that’s just getting started to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. We’re seeing wages stagnate, income funneled into the hands of a few, the destruction of reliable occupations, and mega-corporations gobbling up every competitor that dares threaten their dominance. All the while, the trade unions that helped bury the robber barons of the past have been weakened to a point of being virtually powerless. But one feature from that era has been slow to take hold in the new one: the company town.
Where is the Libertarian Republic Town/Country?
Will we start to Balkanize?
Somewhere near the White Tank Mountains in Arizona, there’s a 24,800-acre stretch of land that will soon be called Belmont. According to property records reviewed by the Arizona Republic, the mostly uninhabited area was recently purchased by investment firm Belmont Properties LLC, a company that is controlled by Cascade Investment, a holding company controlled by Bill Gates. Yes, that’s a lot of layers distancing the ownership of the soon-to-be boom town.
In a news release, Belmont Partners manager Larry Yount explained what Gates and Co. have in mind for the town that will be built from scratch:
The Belmont development exemplifies the big picture thinking that has been a unique hallmark of Arizona’s history of economic development. Belmont illustrates that Arizona remains at the leading edge of trends in American urban planning and development keying off of advances in solar power and electric distribution systems, autonomous auto testing, broadband, and data centers.
According to the Arizona Republic, the area will contain “as many as 80,000 homes, 3,800 acres of industrial, office and retail space, 3,400 acres of open space and 470 acres for public schools.”
That all sounds pretty cool. It’s kind of exciting to think of building a city that could be the model for forward-thinking infrastructure development in the US. It’s cool until you remember that as of last year, the five most valuable companies in the world were all tech companies. It’s cool until you remember that Silicon Valley may wind up automating many of us out of our jobs. It’s cool until you remember that a handful of billionaires are totally reshaping every facet of society and they have no clue what the consequences of their actions can be. It’s cool until you say out loud, “Bill Gates is building his own town!”
It’s a common refrain to compare the Information age that’s just getting started to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. We’re seeing wages stagnate, income funneled into the hands of a few, the destruction of reliable occupations, and mega-corporations gobbling up every competitor that dares threaten their dominance. All the while, the trade unions that helped bury the robber barons of the past have been weakened to a point of being virtually powerless. But one feature from that era has been slow to take hold in the new one: the company town.
Where is the Libertarian Republic Town/Country?
Will we start to Balkanize?