Privatized Societies

[Royston]

Would privatized residential areas work, i.e you'd have large companies running districts where the residents are working for the company and the community strives for progress in that area...e.g pharmaceutical companies would run districts where the residents are made up of GP,s, neurologists, psychologists et.c Tax on wages would mean revenue would go back directly into the community, and the maintenance and services would be localised by the company, rather than tax distributed nationally et.c You'd have engineer communities, finance and banking communities et.c and so forth.

 

It's just a thought that popped into my mind, for some reason I thought of that gross misrepresentation of American history, the town Disney built, where residents have to meet a certain criteria...model families, white picket fences et.c An extension of that, but where the communities are a concentration of like minds, and there are direct results for their labour onto their community, and the districts themselves help the progress in certain fields, like giant think tanks.

 

It really was just a fleeting thought, and I'm no economist or politician, so is it feasible, or is it utterely ludicrous.

[Klaynos]

I wonder how high the suicide rate would be....

[Royston]

I wonder how high the suicide rate would be....

 

Well it doesn't have to be utterly conformist to the individual company...errr, yeah I see what you mean.

[insane_alien]

the murder rate would probably go up as well. have you ever seen engineers argue? mace is usually involved but its usually the iron kind rather than the spray kind.

[foodchain]

That’s the umbrella company:D

 

I don’t know how it would work, I would venture to say that we already do it pretty much. I mean going from the idea that America runs on capitalism and all.

[YT2095]

we have a similar system already called the Military.

[Royston]

IA, I know exactly what you mean by engineers squabbling, my old house mate came back regularly from work with a face of thunder...really didn't think this one out at all. So to summarize...meh.

[Sisyphus]

What if I want to marry a non-coworker...?

[Royston]

What if I want to marry a non-coworker...?

 

Long distance relationship ? Phone sex ? Public execution perhaps...

 

Overlooking the sheer idiocy of the idea, it does illustrate the poor reasoning of a project such as the Disney town. Although on a much smaller scale, and surely people are allowed to leave et.c to what ends does a selection process for communities result in, is it even ethical to herd people in to predetermined groups ?

 

And so the thread doesn't veer off into ethics, does anyone have ideas that could result in a fair, perhaps more progressive society, or is it actually an impossibility. Just due to the diversity of outlooks et.c I realize this is the age old question of creating a utopia perhaps, but it doesn't have to be to that extreme. Start from terraforming another planet, and you can implement infrastructure, economic structure, laws et.c

[JohnB]

Well, you could always acknowledge Me as God. Worship Me and carry out My orders with unquestioning obedience. Then there will be no arguments.

 

Simple really.

 

Seriously though, I don't think a Utopian society will be possible for a few million years when man evolves into something else.

[ErlyRisa]

Visit Austalia...

they're called mining towns.

 

Thankfully enough a Pharmaceatica compnay doesn't need to segregate itself. (but then again it may... fo profit!)

 

Ghandi knew better... work is not the salt of the earth.

[bombus]

Yeah of course it would work. It's called feudalism and serves the rich and powerful very well. The rest of us, however, would be forced to eat sh*t and like it.

[Royston]

Yeah of course it would work. It's called feudalism and serves the rich and powerful very well. The rest of us, however, would be forced to eat sh*t and like it.

 

Well the fact 'the rest of us would be forced to eat sh*t' clearly indicates that it wouldn't work. Besides, like I said, work would directly effect the communities well-being, and profits / revenue distributed fairly...so not really similar to your example.

 

Like I said in the OP, it was 'a fleeting thought' and probably 'utterly ludicrous' so it's not surprising it fell flat on it's face. Sometimes a fleeting thought does bear fruit, but this, without a shadow of a doubt, isn't one of them.

[Gypsy Cake]

Would there be anything to stop companies buying other company's towns? If not then in theory one company could run the whole country.

 

Would there be anyplace for a government? What would they control?

[Kailassa]

Would there be anything to stop companies buying other company's towns? If not then in theory one company could run the whole country.

 

Would there be anyplace for a government? What would they control?

 

The tail does not wag the dog; the government does not control the country.

 

The government has been bought, as has the media. However the company doing so is a company of aspens only, not a legally recognised entity.

[Gypsy Cake]

"aspens" Not sure what aspens means; i looked it up and it said something about a tree.

 

But anyway, it would result in a company controlling the country (unelected).

Then this could spread through the world and one company could own every country in the world. Imagine, if it was Toys r us, coca cola etc

[MolotovCocktail]

I heard that Pepsi is seriously considering going to the moon to set up advertisements that can be seen from Earth...

[Gypsy Cake]

I would actually love them to get permission to do that. It would just cap all the bloody adverts we have to put up.

 

D'ya reckon we'll have to call it 'The Pepsi Moon' when referring to it?

 

[Pangloss]

I heard that Pepsi is seriously considering going to the moon to set up advertisements that can be seen from Earth...

 

Wouldn't it make more sense to put them a bit closer?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

According to Death by Black Hole, astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson has been contacted by several companies about similar ideas (billboards in space!).

[Sayonara]

Wouldn't it make more sense to put them a bit closer?

It's about exposure versus returns. Anyone can look at the moon (well, except for the blind, the exceptionally photosensitive, and people who are kept in windowless rooms. Oh, and Morlocks) but in the big picture few people will drive past that billboard at the corner of Maple and Seventh.

 

Getting back to the thread topic though... a private community worked really well for the Umbrella Corporation in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". Afaik the rampant zombism and the subsequent nuclear detonation were nothing to do with the underlying social concept...

[Phi for All]

Sounds like the Burbclaves from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Like-minded people living in guarded communities while working for various "franchises".

 

I think compound mentality would eventually spell disaster for these private societies. Not enough diversity, a dearth of new ideas, new thinking. Believe it or not, when people get along too well creativity can suffer.

 

And I just don't like putting like-minded people all together in one place. A little too Waco for me.

[Sayonara]

When I say "rampant zombism", I do ACTUALLY MEAN rampant zombies, rather than 9-to-5 syndrome.

[bombus]

Well the fact 'the rest of us would be forced to eat sh*t' clearly indicates that it wouldn't work. Besides, like I said, work would directly effect the communities well-being, and profits / revenue distributed fairly...so not really similar to your example.

 

Like I said in the OP, it was 'a fleeting thought' and probably 'utterly ludicrous' so it's not surprising it fell flat on it's face. Sometimes a fleeting thought does bear fruit, but this, without a shadow of a doubt, isn't one of them.

 

No, it's not in any way ludicrous. Its absolutely possible, and actually the ultimate end point of capitalism. My arguement is just that it is where we came from. Socialist ideas did good stuff (first from Biblical teachings in Victorian times, and then from the Socialist movement) like set up pensions, health service, public utilities and all that, but this is all now being reversed by unbridled capitalism. Forward to the 1840's!

 

I was once speaking about anarchism and this ultra young conservative piped up, saying how he was in favour of anarchism as it was the perfect situation for capitalism to thrive. Scary stuff!

[Royston]

I was once speaking about anarchism and this ultra young conservative piped up, saying how he was in favour of anarchism as it was the perfect situation for capitalism to thrive. Scary stuff!

 

I see his point (not that I'd particularly approve of the situation), but it would be interesting to see how a civilization pans out from anarchy. It seems logical that capitalism would thrive, but it's probably impossible to predict, especially in the long term.

 

That Pepsi ad brought up earlier...that's just sad, not sure if anyone's been to the Amazon, just when you think you're off the beaten track, you see a Pepsi sign jutting out amongst the trees...be gone consumerism, be gone.