Innovation Zones: Literally 1984
The Nevada state government has unveiled a plan to allow the creation of "Innovation Zones," large areas of land which will be transferred to tech firms over the course of a few years. These zones would eventually gain the legal powers equivalent to a county, meaning they would have their own courts, collect their own taxes, and even have their own police force.
This is a bad idea. The use of flowery language (in typical 1984 fashion) hides the fact that these Innovation Zones would be a nightmare for the workers living there. Tech firms would be given massive authority over the actions of workers, making unionization would be near impossible. And, with a monopoly on local employment, employees could be paid minimum wage even for skilled labor, and given the bare minimum in terms of benefits.
If a worker wants to leave the zone, to find employment elsewhere, their life could be made difficult by the police, who could charge steep tolls. Look at California's attempts at an "exit tax" for an example of how far authorities are willing to go. Border checkpoints and exit taxes sound very unconstitutional, and they would probably be struck down once they reach state-level courts, but the county-level courts run and funded by these corporations would make a major roadblock in any government actions against these zones.
Do you see the parallels to 1984, or am I just making this up? Comment below.
Yes the parallels with totalitarianism, and bare minimum wages for skilled labor is def present!
ReplyDeleteI can also see the parallels to 1984. In order to make these Innovation Zones work, they have to gain control of an entire system and community, which is similar to 1984, where the government goes to great lengths, even changing their language, to make sure everyone is under strict control.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right in drawing parallels. The privatization of government seems to be something entirely dystopian as I'm sure most would agree running a business and governing an area are something of a conflict of interest. I hope these plans do not go through.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't sound too strange, in New Jersey there is an Exit Tax if you want to move out, where you have to pay the higher price of either 2% of the selling price or 8.97% of the profit from selling the house. Jersey also has a toll on many of the large roads to exit the state to pay a toll at and prices can get pretty steep, especially on the turnpike.
ReplyDeleteThis does however sound very strange for California (to me at least) and I would think people would protest. I don't really think of it of like 1984 but I agree that there are some parallels.
Wow, this is an interesting story! (Also an alarming one.) I think the parallels exist, and that this is a very 2021 version of what Orwell envisioned, in some ways that you point out.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat see what you're talking about. The living conditions would end up being terrible, and there would end up being measures put in place to prevent people from being able to escape their jobs. However I dont think its anywhere near as extreme as 1984. To me one of the main features of 1984 is the censorship. People can barely even think without worrying about being arrested or even killed. And while these Innovation Zones would definitely be horrible, there is no way that they could even attempt to recreate that level of censorship without blatantly violating the constitution. So while I agree that this is a terrible idea, comparing it to 1984 seems a bit harsh.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely parallels 1984's totalitarian control and localization of it as well. In 1984 we have some districts that are too poor to even be controlled, and with these sectors of land you could argue that they mirror the ones controlled in 1984 which are extremely hard to get out of
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting comparison to make, and what you're describing is pretty scary to think about. I can definitely see some parallels with 1984 and the potential dangers of an area like this, and I hope these issues can be addressed and dealt with in some way before it becomes reality.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is really interesting, thanks for writing about this topic. I think you are completely valid in pointing out these parallels. It's quite scary how similar these zones are to a lot of dystopian novels that I've read. Then again, all the authors of dystopian books tend to look at aspects of current society that could get out of hand, and as society progresses, we seem to get closer to those bleak outlooks.
ReplyDeleteGood point that dystopian novels do a fair share of warning - can that reassure us, as it shows we're aware of where things could get out of hand? Nevertheless, I hope this new program has gone past some ethics committees...
DeleteI thought this was pretty shocking because it does not seem real. Similar to the way 1984 is run, those areas have a company take full control over everyone living there (through making their own government and not letting people leave). Also, feels very dystopian with the aspect of doing it all to make more money for their business.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that one of the major issues here is that if the big tech companies have literal sovereignty over these zones it could be hard legally to make sure that workers have simple rights such as the right to unionization. Since government largely exists to protect workers from coorporations, it seems quite unnecessary to me that the government would cede power back to these corporations.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely similarities between the absolute control the Party wants over its people and the measures that could be taken by these tech firms to control the people living in the Innovation Zones.
ReplyDeleteThat does seem very dystopian-esque and I think that the control these businesses would have over the workers does seem very similar to 1984. Giving a company complete control over their regulations seems like it would never end well for the workers. Maximizing profits generally means that the workers will be in terrible conditions and seemingly nothing would be stopping these companies from doing that.
ReplyDeleteWhile spending time in Appalachia I was taught about the town of Brooklyn, West Virginia. A Gilded Age town revolving around a coal mine, all governing offices were handed to the mining company that owned the mine. In fact, everything in the town operated like how Nevada seeks to construct their "innovation zones". In Brooklyn West Virginia migrants seeking employment in east coast cities were offered free train rides to Brooklyn, many likely assumed that they would be taken to the burrow of New York. Once on the train, all seeking Brooklyn were transported to the isolated company owned mining town in the mountains. Paid for their labor with company dollars, housed in company homes, policed by contracted company security, towns like Brooklyn operated as islands in land bought from the state, Pullman Illinois outside of Chicago was a notable corporate town. As we advance technologically and regress socially, cooperate towns may come back into existence.
ReplyDeleteYeah this is present in 1984, the same corporate/capitalist system exists there. Its also like how companies operated in the past, where companies owned huge plots of land and basically had little villages for their employs, but they totally exploited their workers.
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