Hacker News Reader

Comment by passivepinetree | Hacker News Reader

Do you mind elaborating? What specifically was so disappointing?

When did you guys visit? Has anything changed since then?

I liked arcosanti when I visited it. It was very much a small group of people essentially working for the artist though. I think the concept has merit. But this particular example was maybe co-opted for cheap labor.

I say that as that may be something OPs father saw and felt disillusioned. I think even that may be a fine thing. Things have to start somewhere.

I agree. It quite lived up to and even surpassed my expectations. But this would have been in the 90s. They had a nice little core built and it was a functioning artist colony. I've got a metal tile I bought there on my computer desk right now, as a little reminder of other possibilities.

But that's just it. It was supposed to be the FUTURE, not just some people making bells like you can kind anywhere.

And we were going to have flying cars and colonies throughout space by now ;)

The visit would have been around 2011. He had read about Arcosanti in the 70s I believe and was expecting much more vibrancy, much more activity, and especially much more progress than had come to fruition in that time.

I think he came in with excitement and that was confronted by a couple people he met there who were fairly off putting which didn't help matters.

I still think it is a neat idea personally, and put it in league with things like Black Rock City/Burning man where I'm never gonna fault someone for going out and just fucking trying something...but the experience and his reaction (not the place) are still a bit of a joke in our family.

"He had read about Arcosanti in the 70s I believe and was expecting much more vibrancy, much more activity, and especially much more progress."

That is rather how I felt after touring Auroville a few years ago. So much publicity on the project is from decades ago. You visit, and you find out the project was never completed, successive generations born there have split into disparate factions and there’s sometimes infighting or at least apathy about any common goal, and the surrounding city has boomed so much that the little intentional community in its midst seems like a quirky little cult instead of a guide to the future.

It's a cluster of small, drab structures surrounded by dirt. It's the furthest thing from mindblowing, in its current state.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com