Comment by anovikov | Hacker News Reader

Comment by anovikov | Hacker News Reader

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Extending that idea, we arrive from lunacy to a good thing: a city that is completely owned by one company. Where police is the company's private guards, the city council is its board of directors, and municipal taxes are just fees the company charges. And that is a good thing. I'd live in such a city if there was one.

For example: no homeless. This is all a private territory, and if you don't pay your rent, a guard escorts you off the premises. Very little if any crime because crime prevention is all in one hands and these hands are protecting by and large, their own private property and their profits (because if the crime rate goes up, rent goes down and rent is how they make money).

A wall keeping undesirables out.

Guards/police that can check your papers anytime just simply as they can say in a hotel - "what's your room number"? So no "undocumented" aliens.

There can't be any constitutional etc. bullshit that could prevent them from having an actual 24/7 guarded wall and checkpoints with papers check around their PRIVATE property. It can be a functional society where everyone who's there, belongs there.

> "very little if any crime because crime prevention is all in one hands and these hands are protecting by and large, their own private property and their profits (because if the crime rate goes up, rent goes down and rent is how they make money)."

a) Extortion is how they make money. They control your entire life, job, 'safety', home, streets, food supply, and everything you can do, and they aren't accountable to the public. You have no choice but to give them everything or your life collapses. "Just leave" works if you're a 20 year old single programmer with a six figure salary and no family or friends, it doesn't work if your family is dependent on your income, you have social bonds with your neighbours, limited savings, education and media controlled by the feudal Lord CEO telling you everywhere outside is awful. You may as well suggest North Koreans can just leave if they don't like it.

b) Why do they need to make money? You're a captive slave, their private security force isn't going to let you out of the wall until you've paid your "debts", "citizen". Make your way back to your cell and show up for work tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTN64g9lA2g - "Adam Something" talks through the development of such a city-dystopia. "Feudalism with extra steps".

What would you do when the city decides to double prices overnight because it’s a private company focussed on profit maximisation and has a complete monopoly over absolutely everything

What's the problem? Just move elsewhere. You don't own a place there - you can only rent - so you don't lose anything - it will be about as stupid/unworkable as one hotel in a city raking up room prices 2x just because they "try to maximise profit".

Not to mention, what happens when you get laid off or fired? Ejected from your company town?

Why? A company where one works, rents office space there. You rent an apartment. You can work for another company there, or move elsewhere.

There are contracts. If your contract forbids doubling over night, you are good. If not, it was your choice to agree to it anyway.

What are you going to do, sue them?

Sure, why not? Also, if others see they don't heed contracts, they will start avoiding to do business with them.

I imagine this as a prison-like corporate dystopia

Lmao, I actually heard this one before and the guy was serious.

I give it a few years before your corporate lordship fucks you over and you have no recourse or you simply get bored out of your mind in this perfect city.

But don't worry, the rest of us will provide some quality locks on the outside of your wall, so you can stay there until death.

That's the only potential downside i can see: because the landlord company is big, it will by nature become very conservative with the (working for hire) bosses being too cautious as to not goof up their jobs, with a huge bias on preventing failures as opposed to enabling success. So they may indeed tend to ban more and more "unsafe" or "morally objectionable" activities to please everyone, eventually making the place too boring to stay in.

If the government owns all housing, you have no recourse.

With multiple small private cities, you can change cities.

Actually, with governments, you could also try to switch countries.

That is why I am opposed to mega states like EU wants become, so that people still have some choices left.

We had that in the past. It was called feudal society.

Is this the plot of some diystopian film?

Diystopia - this is what happens when I do a home renovation

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