Can Elon Musk REALLY create his own city? (Starbase, Texas) #shorts

Giving this #shorts thing a try. Here are some links for more info on this topic:

Select images and video provided by Getty Images.

[CityBeautiful]

Hey all! This is intended for the YouTube #shorts feature on mobile. I didn't realize it would post to the main channel and people would get notifications. Sorry about that. Don't worry, you'll get a normal video next week. :)

[Thelones]

Moral of the story. When you have money, you can do almost anything you want.

[NotJustBikes]

If you follow "Smart Cities" discussions out of Silicon Valley, this is very obviously their end goal. Tech billionaires are frustrated that they can't do whatever they want in cities (for example, how Sidewalk Labs left Toronto), so they want to build their own.

You'll start to hear more about the concept of the "opt-in city". This is a city built from scratch with Silicon Valley tech, and one that they have complete control over. Residents would "opt-in", and agree to the terms of the service to live there. This neatly gets around data privacy issues and dealing with people who haven't bought into the concept.

These places are going to seem pretty shiny and cool, and will initially attract young tech workers. But I am not looking forward to the end game of a feudal-ruled libertarian tech city where every complex human problem has a "simple" high-tech "solution."

[Ozisl]

The return of company cities is very troubling. In Nevada, they are allowing companies to run cities. This is doom for workers and workers movements who already can't unionize and have no say in their lives.

[manuelfriend]

I garrauntee the vote will pass. Everyone wants a city called "starbase."

[Emilio_Garcia]

We're back to company towns! No way this could go wrong!

[Alessandro-vlbu]

Sounds cool, definitely don’t see this spiraling out of control

[rickjamesia]

We’ve come full circle. Company towns seem pretty uncommon in practice today, even though they were a big cultural thing in the US in the past. Learning some context about those after watching October Sky long ago in school was one of the most relatable moments I had in any history class. Knowing so many people whose grandparents worked in those sorts of conditions made it much more understandable (my grandfathers were a steel worker and an engineer, so it was a bit different for me personally).

Edit: Not meaning this as though they were a good thing, just a very close feeling part of the history of where I am from.

[jackflyer]

One question that I've had for a little while now is whether cities ever decide to un-incorporate. It would be a pretty drastic move to give up the self-governance that comes with being a city, but some small, former industrial cities (i.e. East St Louis or Gary IN) have lost such significant population. Especially since the higher tax brackets are the first to flee these declining cities, there is no way that these cities can afford the costs of providing for their citizens and maintaining the city's infrastructure. Is it possible for a city to give up its incorporated status to receive more support from the county/state, and if so, has it ever happened recently?

[talltomtube]

A Company Town means a Company Store you can sell your Soul to. Can't cover your debit? No worries. Now you can be an indentured servant on Mars loading sixteen tons a day. Another day older and deeper in debt.

[InternetLaser]

Given musk's ideas about transit policy, he may be able to create a city, but I don't think he'll be able to effectively run one.

[PopcornNinjapwn]

Please make a full length video on this this is so interesting and perfect for your channel

[robertszynal]

I was really confused that I hadn't seen this on Nebula until I realised it's one of those YouTube Shorts.

[mxdanger]

OpenStreetMap contributors waiting until its official before speed running the name change. :P

[alcaulique]

In your "Can Miami replace Silicon Valley", you mention the impact briefly mention the impact Stanford had on the Silicon Valley. I would be very interested to see what impact top-level universities have on a region.

[ashleyhamman]

Maybe I'm just being a Musk critic as per usual, but I'd expect that if he develops it into a real city, there won't be any sidewalks, there will be three Teslas per household, and it'll be powered by solar. A sheen of "clean" over a system whose construction will have astronomical carbon impact.

I don't mind the shorts format, though I was thrown off by the vertical video.

[MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

Those who don't work for Space X are there filming Space X so I won't be surprised when they get 100% vote. Tim is definitely voting for this.

[portugueasy]

50 years from now, Starbase will be known as the 21st century’s Blair Mountain.

[Funnyfish]

I live in Dallas and this is how it started. A few very rich people started it. I had this idea years ago but it’s hard when you only have a few hundred dollars of birthday money.

[beej]

Can you do a video explaining what those innovation zones in Nevada are? Are they cities? Are they private enterprises? What powers would they have?