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> This is just saying democracy is bad It's more subtle than that, because it depends on the scope. Democracy is already not applied in many contexts today, s

> This is just saying democracy is bad It's more subtle than that, because it depends on the scope. Democracy is already not applied in many contexts today, such as most private corporations. In fact I think large companies have many analogous features to communist governments what with the central control and absolute authority. There is certainly no suggestion that a whole state or country should be switched over to an authoritarian regime; of course we all know the classic "we tried this already and it didn't work" line. There are a lot of cult-ish or vaguely religion-based communities out there. But that's not what I have in mind. You tend to see a lot of lament in here on HN or other similar forums about things like car-centric suburban hellscapes, poor walkability, bike paths, what have you. Meanwhile in urban settings where these things are better solved there is the problem that property values are sky high, and create an elite environment that turn away support roles and cause a new set of problems. I would love to see some tech billionaire drive an innovative design over a metro-sized zone. Maybe don't have roads and cars except for deliveries, use roads for cycles and pedestrians? Have a subway built before anything else? High-rise mixed-use buildings with important services like free child-care and urgent care? Have golf-cart-like EVs easily available for short-term rent. Free stupid-fast WiFi/Internet etc. Kind of like a college campus but scaled up? Maybe the crazy sheiks in Dubai will manage it.

colechristensen 2y ago
Again, this happens regularly, they don't actually work. You're advocating for local government to be a dictatorship. Private enterprise is not the same as a government with power over people and land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telosa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telosa >Telosa is a proposed utopian planned US city conceived by American billionaire Marc Lore and announced in September 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/23/marc-andreessens-family-plans-to-build-a-visionary-subdivision-near-the-proposed-california-forever-utopia-city https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/23/marc-andreessens-family-pl... >California Forever is a proposed master-planned community, to be carved from over 60,000 acres of land that several members of Silicon Valley’s elite have quietly been buying in Solano County since 2017. Here's some more: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3216683/11-billionaires-trying-build-their-own-utopias-elon-musks-mars-colony-and-bill-gates-smart-city https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/32166... >There are a lot of cult-ish or vaguely religion-based communities out there. But that's not what I have in mind. Honestly, people and their zoning/walkable/anti-car/density/environmental ideals and desire for a little dictatorship to create it is pretty indistinguishable from all the other cult community efforts. The hippies wanted free love and drugs or whatever, the luddites wanted no technology, everybody wanted their set of things. Nobody thinks their cult is a cult, they think they have great ideas, only what those other people are doing is a cult. Seriously it's troubling how folks think billionaires and dictatorships are going to save them and can't even conceive of a community built on a strong foundation of well executed differing opinions compromising to achieve the best outcome. Folks just want their opinions and only their opinions made real by force and absolute power. It's insane that people don't recognize how many people have tried before and the awful things that happen when it fails.
- foobarian 2y ago
  For me it's a pleasant thing to ponder, especially when faced with the above mentioned existing problems. > It's insane that people don't recognize how many people have tried before and the awful things that happen when it fails. I think it's just human nature, perhaps even more so in an engineering community. Look at how much of scientific progress follows that pattern, and even worse with the participants fully recognizing the immense amounts of preceding failures.
  - colechristensen 2y ago
    Advocating for dictatorships isn't a fun little intellectual exercise.

colechristensen 2y ago

Again, this happens regularly, they don't actually work. You're advocating for local government to be a dictatorship. Private enterprise is not the same as a government with power over people and land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telosa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telosa >Telosa is a proposed utopian planned US city conceived by American billionaire Marc Lore and announced in September 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/23/marc-andreessens-family-plans-to-build-a-visionary-subdivision-near-the-proposed-california-forever-utopia-city https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/23/marc-andreessens-family-pl... >California Forever is a proposed master-planned community, to be carved from over 60,000 acres of land that several members of Silicon Valley’s elite have quietly been buying in Solano County since 2017. Here's some more: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3216683/11-billionaires-trying-build-their-own-utopias-elon-musks-mars-colony-and-bill-gates-smart-city https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/32166... >There are a lot of cult-ish or vaguely religion-based communities out there. But that's not what I have in mind. Honestly, people and their zoning/walkable/anti-car/density/environmental ideals and desire for a little dictatorship to create it is pretty indistinguishable from all the other cult community efforts. The hippies wanted free love and drugs or whatever, the luddites wanted no technology, everybody wanted their set of things. Nobody thinks their cult is a cult, they think they have great ideas, only what those other people are doing is a cult. Seriously it's troubling how folks think billionaires and dictatorships are going to save them and can't even conceive of a community built on a strong foundation of well executed differing opinions compromising to achieve the best outcome. Folks just want their opinions and only their opinions made real by force and absolute power. It's insane that people don't recognize how many people have tried before and the awful things that happen when it fails.

foobarian 2y ago
For me it's a pleasant thing to ponder, especially when faced with the above mentioned existing problems. > It's insane that people don't recognize how many people have tried before and the awful things that happen when it fails. I think it's just human nature, perhaps even more so in an engineering community. Look at how much of scientific progress follows that pattern, and even worse with the participants fully recognizing the immense amounts of preceding failures.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  Advocating for dictatorships isn't a fun little intellectual exercise.