April 2021 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold: Blockchain City, Nevada, proposed for a wasteland outside Reno. Styling itself as a new “cryptocurrency-powered smart city,” the project un-smartly (i.e. stupidly) incorporates every techno-narcissistic trope possible: megastructures, “green” everything in the desert, a continuation of car-dependency, solar-powered everything, etc. Did you know that cryptocurrency “mining” — churning algorithms in computer server farms — is one of the biggest electric power hogs in the US economy? (And do you think that churning algorithms actually produces anything that resembles wealth? No it’s an hallucinatory speculative activity that is a big net energy loser.)

The CEO of Blockchain LLC, the holding company behind this scheme, one Jeffrey Berns, said, “I want to create a place where blockchain is the foundation for creativity, honesty and transparency, and then build a smart city to serve the people who live there.” he added: “That’s ultimately the goal — to democratize democracy.” I’m sure that’s what the wizards behind Twitter, Facebook, and Google also told themselves in the beginning, before they somehow transformed into the greatest censorship, snitchery, and propaganda agents in world history. Anyway, don’t worry too much about this thing. It ain’t gonna get built. As we await the Joe Biden financial crisis, America stays busy blowing green smoke up its ass.

Thanks to John Hallett for the nomination.