A Cryptocurrency Millionaire Wants to Build a Utopia in Nevada (nytimes.com) 116
chiefcrash shares a report from The New York Times about a man who wants to build a community based on the blockchain technology introduced by Bitcoin: An enormous plot of land in the Nevada desert -- bigger than nearby Reno -- has been the subject of local intrigue since a company with no history, Blockchains L.L.C., bought it for $170 million in cash this year. The man who owns the company, a lawyer and cryptocurrency millionaire named Jeffrey Berns, put on a helmet and climbed into a Polaris off-road vehicle last week to give a tour of the sprawling property and dispel a bit of the mystery. He imagines a sort of experimental community spread over about a hundred square miles, where houses, schools, commercial districts and production studios will be built. The centerpiece of this giant project will be the blockchain, a new kind of database that was introduced by Bitcoin.
So far, he said, he has spent $300 million on the land, offices, planning and a staff of 70 people. And buying 67,000 largely undeveloped acres is a bit of old-fashioned, real estate risk-taking. Still, Mr. Berns said his ambition was not to be a real estate magnate or even to get rich -- or richer. He is promising to give away all decision-making power for the project and 90 percent of any dividends it generates to a corporate structure that will be held by residents, employees and future investors. That structure, which he calls a "distributed collaborative entity," is supposed to operate on a blockchain where everyone's ownership rights and voting powers will be recorded in a digital wallet. "In a keynote spectacle at Devcon4 in Prague, Berns announced some of their plans for the future, as well as some of their recent activities, such as buying two nuclear bomb shelters, a mountain fortress in Switzerland, and a bank," adds Slashdot reader chiefcrash.
So far, he said, he has spent $300 million on the land, offices, planning and a staff of 70 people. And buying 67,000 largely undeveloped acres is a bit of old-fashioned, real estate risk-taking. Still, Mr. Berns said his ambition was not to be a real estate magnate or even to get rich -- or richer. He is promising to give away all decision-making power for the project and 90 percent of any dividends it generates to a corporate structure that will be held by residents, employees and future investors. That structure, which he calls a "distributed collaborative entity," is supposed to operate on a blockchain where everyone's ownership rights and voting powers will be recorded in a digital wallet. "In a keynote spectacle at Devcon4 in Prague, Berns announced some of their plans for the future, as well as some of their recent activities, such as buying two nuclear bomb shelters, a mountain fortress in Switzerland, and a bank," adds Slashdot reader chiefcrash.
Wow! (Score:2)
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So 170,000,000/67,000=2,500 per acre versus https://www.howmuchisit.org/ac... [howmuchisit.org]. At a fucking guess dickbrain bought the land twice, once from who ever owned and then again from himself via dummy companies, not so dummy that he would have to pay capital gains tax but dummy enough for the dummies to buy the land 'AT COST', yar har, the wildly inflated cost, that dickbrain inflated ie buy it orginally for less and then sell it to yourself at a much inflated price and now claim the land is worth that price. So t
I'm guessing: You are correct, I was mistaken. (Score:2)
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Nevada would be a great candidate for a solar updraft tower.
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Yeah, sure, whatever. And what is going to produce the energy in that tower? The freakin' sun is going to do it for free, I suppose? Why not just ask the wind to work for free too, while he's at it.
Interesting wonder (Score:4, Interesting)
Just my 2 cents
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Oh yeah, mister smartypants? How do you drill sand?!
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Stupid reply even stupider than my stupid question.
You get a virtual +1 Funny, sir.
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They seem to have no problem drilling wells in the Middle East.
Re:Interesting wonder (Score:5, Funny)
It'll come from blockchain.
You see, by recording things in blockchain, the least efficient database ever conceived of, anything becomes possible.
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I'm guessing he's going to build windtraps [wikia.com].
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As much as people in the west like to take about personal responsibility and freedom, the only reason that there is water is because the government exercises strict control over water use.
Much of the water storage in the area appears to be running on dry. I assume that t
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If he sets up sufficient solar, which is fairly likely already in his plans in his desert landscape, he might use that to pull it from the air en masse via condensation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
If he pulls extra, he could use it to grow large trees, which can be used to shade structures and also encourage condensation. As many species' needles/leaves (such as pines and redwoods) are also designed to encourage condensation and presuming he can get them established sufficiently, he might be able to ma
Re: Interesting wonder (Score:2)
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That doesn't mean anything. He will have to have water rights to the river to draw from it and if the Truckee River is fully appropriated he will have to purchase rights to that water. If he lacks rights and pulls the water anyone and everyone that is downstream with rights to the water will have plenty of standing to sue.
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Also, if you look at the industrial park's marketing, they were advertising "substantial dedicated water rights sold with each acre". And Blockchains bought most of the acres...
And the original article seems to indicate they've already got preliminary county approval...
Clearly, they thought about the issue of getting water...
Jonestown (Score:3)
Jonestown in Nevada? The setting is different but the Kool-Aid is the same.
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Can't make Kool-Aid without water. I think this is a bit more like Heaven's Gate. Maybe everybody will wear the same blockchain Nike sneakers.
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Can't take it with you. You may as well let the last your last earthly memory be the sweet, sweet taste of premium powdered fruit drink rather than cheap swill.
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And how is this different from regular society? Paying cash is starting to disappear, people are paying with debit or credit cards. You can bet that the banks and the credit card companies are keeping all transactions and building a profile on everyone.
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GLWT! (Score:3)
Ever heard of California City, California? That's the same idea, but in California. Lots are quite affordable, and also entirely plentiful. And you don't even have to live in Nevada. Guess what? Nobody wants to live in the desert unless there's some kind of natural feature there which makes it make sense.
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Retirees who want an affordable place to live. See Lake Havasu City.
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Nobody wants to live in the desert unless there's some kind of natural feature there which makes it make sense.
Retirees who want an affordable place to live. See Lake Havasu City.
I'll see your Lake Havasu City [wikipedia.org] and I'll raise you "on the shores of Lake Havasu [wikipedia.org]", a natural feature there which makes it make sense. HTH, HAND!
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The guy who bought the land and build the city and brought over the London Bridge marketed the place as a place for retirees.
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A while ago I saw a documentary about how people with allergies used to go to Phoenix (or some city like that) because because there were no plants growing there that they were allergic to. But over the years people were missing the trees and other plants from where they came and started planting them. One person would put in the plants that they wouldn't be allergic to but not thing about other people. It had gotten to the point where people are suffering from their allergies again.
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You really should thing before clicking [Submit].
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Always Thing before Clicking, unless you Thing 2'd.
[Never Submit]
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There is a natural feature that makes all of Nevada attractive. Its called No State Income Tax.
You can get that in Alaska, Florida, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
New Hampshire and Tennessee tax dividends and capital gains, but have no tax on earned income.
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some kind of natural feature there
Yeah. There's a desert. Deserts are fucking awesome.
I like the Mojave Desert. It's better even than the Western edge of the Sahara and that's got some gorgeous desert mountains.
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Also, I would totally move to the Nevada desert (planning to actually). It's beautiful.
If you've got a line on a good, reliable water source, then by all means go. Preferably more than one source...
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Give me man some credit... (Score:5, Insightful)
...even if you disagree with him. He is putting his money where his mouth is and trying something new.
Yes he is a very wealthy man who can afford to squander a big chunk of his resources. There are very many people who could well afford to expend a small portion of their resources and try nothing.
There are easily ten of thousands of "serious" socialists who spin yarns about their beautiful ideas, ideas that a couple hundred of them could try to put into practice by pooling their resources and building a new kind of community on the embers of some rural town whose heyday is long past. But they do not try.
This man is trying.
Re:Give me man some credit... (Score:5, Insightful)
Buying tons of desert with no water access, two nuclear bomb shelters and a mountain fortress is just being bat-shit crazy. But sure, I give him credit for being more interesting about it than a millionaire who converts his wealth to pennies and buries it under hundreds of mattresses.
Re: Give me man some credit... (Score:2)
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This almost reads like the backstory for the plot of Bioshock 7 after the developers ran out of every other possible reason for someone to go off and start their city on a hill.
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I'm actually a huge fan of the Nevada desert. It's vast and empty and quiet and beautiful in it's own very unique way
Until some cunt builds a new city in it.
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Now that you mention it, I know a fellow who bought into "Galt's Gulch" down in Chile. He might yet get a few pennies back from his $130k, after the criminal and civil courts have finally finished going through the mess.
A fool and his money (Score:2)
Well, You know the rest.....
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Well, You know the rest.....
Yep. Just goes to show ya, you can be smart (or lucky) about some things and downright dumb about other things. "A mans got to know his limitations" [youtu.be]
Oblig. Bob the Angry Flower (Score:5, Insightful)
This comic is a dispatch from the future of this city. [angryflower.com]
A paradise for wealthy bitcoin miners? (Score:2)
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And then he built Detroit.
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bitcoin slots get's shutdown by the NGC
Your Utopia - My Hell (Score:2)
Every attempt to built a Utopia turns out to be a Hell.
These for example :-
https://listverse.com/2016/05/... [listverse.com]
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Milton Keynes isn't *that* bad. My grandparents live there.
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My favorite stupid Utopia idea included in this very good list is Arcosanti in Arizona. The list (based on a comment in a referenced article) asserts that Arcosanti, and its economy, was to be based on selling wind-chimes. This is false. Soleri paid not attention to the economic basis of his supposed Utopia at all. He was an architect and all he thought about was building vast complex structures. No thought about paying for them, or how they would be supported by economic activity.
The problem with nearly a
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The list (based on a comment in a referenced article) asserts that Arcosanti, and its economy, was to be based on selling wind-chimes. This is false. Soleri paid not attention to the economic basis of his supposed Utopia at all.
Ironically, it's the one of these which is actually functional. It's not a utopia, just a couple of businesses in some funky buildings, but it's paying its bills.
Jeffery Berns is no Midas Mulligan or John Galt... (Score:2)
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and also a perpetual motion machine to make electricity and a hologram projector to keep it hidden from outsiders.
Sounds a bit like Wakanda.
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I just remembered I saw that awful movie because of your comment.
Fuck you.
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I didn't care one way or the other that most actors were black, that was a given because the story was about Black Panther.
What pissed me off was the "magic tech sand" bullshit, which is similar to the last few versions of Iron Man's suit and the last Transformer movies.
can't eat virtual cash (Score:2)
if it was based on cash - well you can't eat cash,
but it's based on blockchain - virtual cash - well you can't eat virtual cash either
fecking air heads - go out in the desert and fecking die.
(hmmm - sorry - that's not very nice)
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Woohoo, new sect (Score:2)
I can see a WACO style ending to this.
Oblig. @dril (Score:2)
https://twitter.com/dril/statu... [twitter.com]
"me and a bunch of stupid assholes are going to start a community in the middle of the desert to either die or prove a very important point"
Not this shit again (Score:2)
Not this shit again...a super-rich dude envisions his idea of Utopia and everything goes great...that is, until the humans show up.
And then it starts....petty greed, disputes, minor conflicts breeding simmering revenge, jealousy, vying for power, undue influence, bribery, power plays, pervy sexual urges, and a host of other human traits come into play, and before you know it someone's handing you a cup of Kool-Aid.
Yeah, this whole "come live in my Utopia compound" thing never seems to end well. For example:
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Not this shit again...a super-rich dude envisions his idea of Utopia and everything goes great...that is, until the humans show up.....
Because everyone's version of utopia is their own version. Most utopians all want to be the benevolent dictator in complete control and assume everyone will follow their vision. The problem is anyone who signs up to live in a utopia has their own personal vision of what it should be, and eventually they'll want to make changes. It can go one of three ways, it becomes democratized and turns into just another place (Utah), people leave and it collapses (most hippie communes), or it turns into a police state (
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There are lots of agricultural cooperatives formed in the 70s that are still there.
You don't hear about them unless something goes wrong.
It isn't like they have internet. Often they don't even have a telephone.
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Blockchain more likely laundering.drug.money.chain (Score:4, Insightful)
I am unsure... (Score:2)
If this is some sort of scam, or if he is an overly idealistic true believer.
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I'd go unrealistically idealistic...
Berns Nuclear Plant? (Score:1)
Step 3: ?????????? (Score:2)
"Wants to Build a Utopia " = " wants to build a community based on the blockchain technology"
????
Step 4: Profit!
Also:
Mr. Berns said his ambition was not ...... to get rich
Sure thing.... Mr. Burns.
So many flaws... so little time (Score:2)
This sounds like a neat idea in theory but in practice it's unlikely to work.
I can applaud the idea of a utopian society, except it's a thousand times easier to try and create one within our own society, well-integrated into the systems that are needed, than it is to completely DIY it from the ground up. The area in Nevada he's purchased is pretty miserable in any season. Hot and dry, very cold at night. The only advantage to living there is you don't need much deodorant because the environment is so hos
Utopia. Nevada. (Score:1)
I think you have to pick one.