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Capisci, it’s not a libertarian dream, it’s a cosa nostra dream, everybody amici degli amici, and who sgarra will be helped by the picciotti. You have only to pay a bit regalino.
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Frankly, this is way worse than the Chinese social credit system. The Chinese system is government run, so there is at least hypothetically some token public accountability and control there (through elections and elected representatives, even though Chinese elections are not really democratic). Also, the Chinese system is designed to benefit the society as a whole (in the twisted Chinese government understanding of benefiting which includes repression of dissent, but still).
This would be totally corporate operated, with zero public accountability and oversight, with the single goal being the company’s profits. We all know how good Google is at customer service (just look at the daily Youtube scandals). The idea that a company like this is running a whole f…ing city, including law enforcement, is frankly terrifying.
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Wasn’t that kind of the idea with the invasion of Iraq? Transform it into a free market utopia.
‘Oath of Fealty’ by Niven&Pournelle may be where we’re heading. Sure the company have cameras in your apartment, but don’t worry, it’s only for your own safetey.
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Wasn’t that situation portrayed as a good thing, too? 
Yes, and the Coalition Provisional Authority was too busy deregulating everything to worry about water, electricity, telecommunications, banking, public order, or any of the other things needed for economic activity. The bts of Iraqi industry that had survived the sanctions years and the invasion were wiped out by cheap imports from Iran, because import duty had been completely abolished.
The CPA was based in one of Saddam’s old palaces, the Republican Palace. The joke was that it was now a different kind of Republican Palace.
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“Well, you see, our ambitions have expanded since then; so it’s technically correct…”
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I’d buy that for a dollar.
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I, too, thought this is Snowcrash coming to life!
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Todos Santos, Oath of Fealty, Niven and Pournelle covered this in '81.
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I bet you’re right. I suspect this project has been presented in different ways to different people, including those who were invited to work on it. It makes me look back on the automated Amazon stores and think they weren’t so bad. At least they were contained to private spaces, and not replacing law enforcement/public areas.
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I haven’t read them in a long time, but this is how I remember the Sprawl Trilogy and (to a lesser degree) Islands in the Net. There were governments but they were largely ineffectual; formalities at best – the real power had been handed over to the large(st) corporations. Maybe this is my inference rather than the authors’ implication, but that’s the big theme I walked away with after reading those books (maybe as big as the depictions of cyberspace etc.). My recollection from Count Zero was when Turner rescued Angie Mitchell, there was some accompanying catastrophe, about which the Mexican government complained. The context implied something like “Pfft, the Mexican government complained about Maas, ha-ha…” Neuromancer had the Turing Police, but I don’t recall who they actually worked for (or whether this was actually explained). In Islands Laura’s group sings a corporate anthem.
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Don’t get me wrong, they were good jokes, but enough joking already. What do we do?
First Toronto, then the world. My neighboring town of Alameda was on that list. This isn’t like laughing at the antics of mayor Rob Ford anymore. This bumblefuckery must stop now.
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Vote. Help people register to vote. March and demonstrate. Go to city council meetings and object. Run for office if you’re inclined. Because yes, sitting on our rears and regaling each other with our brilliant humor isn’t going to accomplish much. We’re fiddling while Rome burns.
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How post-democracy. How…“benevolently” fascist.
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Unless they plan on buying Zug Island, this silliness is DOA. Much of the river frontage downtown Detroit is owned by the city, the Feds, and that old asshole who owns the Ambassador Bridge.
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Whole new level of utter value extraction from each human. This is way beyond slavery.
The thing that surprises me the most about this the land they’re talking about. Isn’t the Toronto waterfront already gentrified to hell and back? I was in the city last summer and the waterfront that I saw was mostly horrendously overpriced bars and cafes. Is there another part that is more run down and available for mass purchase?
All of my time is taken up with grad school and nursing and my mission to take action on the microscale, in the lives of people when they are most vulnerable, sick or dying. I guess I need to reconfigure my time a little.
I can’t find any organization opposing sidewalk labs, nor any current call to action. Anyone else?
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I mean sure, their plan was to install a dystopian, authoritarian, corporate-run shadow government whose stated aim is to punish any citizens who won’t grant it surveillance powers which would make the Stasi go “that seems a bit much”.
But if I can have a Rat Thing, then maybe there’s something to this .
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