Good science for building a smart city or some grand elitist globalist plan to enslave everyone

Here's an article about Bill Gates investing $80 million to design a "smart" city:

Bill Gates invests $80 million to build Arizona smart city

The community in Belmont will be designed around high-speed networks, autonomous vehicles, high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and autonomous logistics hubs.

It's unclear how much former Microsoft CEO Gates, who owns Belmont's parent company Cascade Investment, will be involved in the effort.
Belmont Partners, the Arizona-based real investment group that's leading the project, said it will be similar in size to nearby Tempe, Arizona, which has a population of 182,000.

"Envisioning future infrastructure from scratch is far easier and more cost efficient than retrofitting an existing urban fabric," Grady Gammage, a spokesman for the venture said in the statement.

I would move to a ultra planned city in a second if the cost was cheaper and the quality of life were better.

My question for the ATS community is about values and right wing ideology. Obviously Bill Gates is some globalist elitist communist Satan worship. But if they develop a ultra planned city that is extremely cost efficient and provides a much higher quality of life than created by previous chaos based city planning, do you move to such place?

Can we have ultra planned city of the future without being communists and anti-America?

How bout billionaire oligarchs redevelop land already in use in complete shanty towns elsewhere ?

Like Detroit instead of spreading out even further to make grand delusions.

a reply to: dfnj2015

I think all the homeless people will pour in if they offer lots of freebies. Then, I wonder if Gates will kick them out or just give them all computers.

Probably will be built for their employees-like the song "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Man will own you.

a reply to: neo96

Poverty is a big problem. But mass producing ultra efficient planned cities would eventually help fight poverty.

The people with power and privilege have to be convinced the cultural contribution creating by having the millions of suburban masses is worth the price needed to be pay. Everyone loves culture. Culture makes life interesting and fun. Make sure the cities are planned to people living in them are capable of having meaningful work contributing to the culture of society.

originally posted by: Justso
a reply to: dfnj2015

I think all the homeless people will pour in if they offer lots of freebies. Then, I wonder if Gates will kick them out or just give them all computers.

Probably will be built for their employees-like the song "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford. The Man will own you.

Well, that's what the killer robot drones are for to make sure the homeless people do not accumulate in large numbers.

a reply to: dfnj2015

No it wouldn't.

'smart' tech put's people out of work.

Take self driving cars alone. Good bye cab drivers.

Good bye limo drivers.

Good bye Truck drivers.

Good bye train engineers.

That's just one smart application.

technology has increased poverty.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: neo96

Poverty is a big problem. But mass producing ultra efficient planned cities would eventually help fight poverty.

The people with power and privilege have to be convinced the cultural contribution creating by having the millions of suburban masses is worth the price needed to be pay. Everyone loves culture. Culture makes life interesting and fun. Make sure the cities are planned to people living in them are capable of having meaningful work contributing to the culture of society.

Dude, there is never an end to "The War On Poverty In The US" because they will continue to import more poverty!

Poverty is a business and a voting block. Any and all government agencies and political organizations that rely on poverty will do anything in their power to maintain and increase poverty!

a reply to: dfnj2015

The game Watch Dogs shows how vulnerable our system will be if it relies too much on digital technology. Not only can Big Brother will keep us under control via surveillance systems but also hackers can hijack the system and put a "smart city" at their mercy.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Killer Robot Drones? That's not even funny. They'll probably withdraw from Arizona and the USA to form their own country-then take over the US with their ultra super technology. Sounds like a B-scifi movie.

If you think man has ever really be "free" at any time since humans formed beyond tribes, you're just deluding yourself.

Just sayin'.

And what is "freedom" anyway? And how would a semblance of modernity coexist with that lofty, high flown abstraction?

a reply to: Justso

No. The homeless here avoid the summer here.

I know Uber will develop driverless cars for this development. I also know that means there are plenty of jobs that support that. The landscape changes.

originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: dfnj2015

No it wouldn't.

'smart' tech put's people out of work.

Take self driving cars alone. Good bye cab drivers.

Good bye limo drivers.

Good bye Truck drivers.

Good bye train engineers.

That's just one smart application.

technology has increased poverty.

It's early, but your post is in the running for dumbest/misinformed of the day.

Technology has greatly diminished poverty and improved the quality of life world over.

Worldwide Standard of Living Since 1800

They would dictate your every move.
a reply to: dfnj2015

For those that can afford it.
a reply to: BeefNoMeat

if you get rid of all the "stupid" people all cities would be smart cities. but humans seem to believe that all life is special even the criminals and maniacs so we have cities like Detroit.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Here's a mad thought.

Look again at that image of Gates. Standing there looking up as in a messianic pose.
Along with this donation it also mentions donating to Alzheimer's research.
The doors have been opened by capitalist, Donald Trump.

While many if not most capitalists may not be prepared to take their fortunes directly into the political realm,
Gates may be. This could really be a move to win support for an 2020 run. Who would he pick to be his running mate.
Certainly not any of the ''old guard'' heavy hitters of the Democrats. Maybe some young ones or maybe catch the curl of the wave at that time and run independently.

originally posted by: gimcrackery
For those that can afford it.
a reply to: BeefNoMeat

Afford what? Poverty?

a reply to: dfnj2015

If developed correctly and to a high standard of design, then yes, absolutely I would be happy to live in a built from scratch smart city!... though $80 million is barely enough to even get started.

Our company has been talking with a group that is proposing 8 smart micro cities between Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, each aiming for a population maximum of 300,000 people. They are looking at an initial investment of $250 Billion. The idea is that efficient high speed rail would make the Sydney-Melbourne journey in about 2 hours, so each smart city is no more than an hour train ride to a major city.

It's a way of managing urban sprawl and commuting times, as Sydney's outer suburbs can be more than two hours drive in bad traffic... I would happily live a 30 minute train ride from Sydney for cheaper/better accommodation, and a modern, efficient connected city.

The design brief was strict, and the early design concepts were pretty amazing!

Some key design goals are (among dozens):
The city has to passively generate more power than it uses
Ubiquitous connectivity
The 15 minute city (no two points are more than 15 minutes apart by some combination of transport)
Clean industry
Embedded waste management
On demand power and transport
As passive as possible (preference to reduced complexity)
Simple Elegant solutions
Maintenance of the natural environment across the city (something like 40% greenery)

The technologies already decided on... Piezoelectricity roads, paths and floors in houses/apartments that generate power just from walking or driving on them. Massive use of solar energy. LiFi so every light-bulb in the city generates a wifi signal (where there's light there's wifi). Developed in BIM with integrated building management. Pollution collection system that gathers particles from the air and recycles them... the way it was described is that the wind leaving the city is cleaner than when it enters.

... as well as a bunch of other cool stuff... the design concept document was over 250 pages long.

These future cities that are coming within the next decade or so will fundamentally change social structures. They won't be communist or anti-America.. they will be a type of socialised and globally connected urban development that we have never experienced before.

Think how much the "smart phone" has changed the world in just a decade... these cities will bring orders of magnitude more change to our social and political systems.

Direct democracy may even become a thing.

These changes are coming, whether we like it or not... and likely we will all benefit greatly from these innovations, though government will need to change as many of their functions won't be necessary in these automated cities... or risk the inevitable pressure release of a population if too micro managed... interesting times to see the world adjust to exponential innovation.

Hopefully it'll be better then Watch_Dogs 2.