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Paraphrased: a Bloomberg Businessweek report that Nicole Antal, a librarian in Sharon, Vermont discovered that a Utah-based foundation had quietly purchased more than 900 acres of nearby farmland adjacent or close to the birthplace of Joseph Smith.
The mastermind of the purchases, a wealthy engineer named David Hall, made contact with Antal and was very forthcoming about his vision - sustainable, high-tech, high-density communities across the globe; with a trial run in Vermont based on the Plat of the City of Zion. While all that sounded a bit farfetched, Hall revealed that he already had more than 150 engineers working on technology and architecture for the project.
Vermont, famous for being fiercely proud, idealistic, and ornery (this guy being one of the more famous residents) were stirred into a frenzy, with the opposition concerned that Hall was attempting to start a cult.
Hall is a fourth-generation Mormon. "Joseph Smith was just the wildest guy out there," he says. "Lots of things he did were stupid, but in my view, he was a sage or a seer and didn't even understand what came to him." The more futuristic aspects of his plans include pedestrian communities which sustain individual privacy and views of nature. Rooftop farms will make use of advanced techniques drawn from marijuana cultivation, and box-shaped greenhouses will improve yields and prevent the spread of disease and insects. Ground-floor spaces will be occupied by businesses, all connected by enclosed walkways and space for moving "pods" that transport the sick and elderly.
The article is a bit long even for an adequate summary here, but there are many technological aspects of Hall's plans worth reading about, and it is refreshing to see that somebody is concentrating on the positive rather than the negative. What do you think?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday July 24 2016, @09:09PM
Religion gives us reason to act with kindness and honesty even when no one is watching, because it tells us we are all accountable before God, and cannot ultimately hide our crimes (or sins).
This right here tells me that religious people are all sociopaths. If you need a Leviathan (Hobbesian) in the afterlife to scare you into doing right, I, for one, hope you do not lose your faith! But if there is no Sanity Clause, then what?
Second, the infantile need for comfort, the belief that some "Heavenly Father" is in charge, seems rather pathetic. I can tolerate religious people, but it is very difficult to respect them. The operative emotion is pity. Especially those followers of Orpheus, what with their passports to the afterlife pressed on gold plates, looking for the white tree of truth and the well of remembrance on the path to Hades! Eleusian Mysteries! Such fear! And don't get me started on Mithra and Manichee! Why do all the truly crazy religions begin with the letter "M"?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday July 26 2016, @08:05AM
Also tells me about the really prevalent tendency in religions, be they Judaic, Christian, or Islamic, to want to inflict punishment on anyone outside of their cult. Oh My God! I have been modded troll. You should be in fear, troll-modder, since you should know that trolls are sacred to Odin, he of the one-eye and eight-legged horse. Trolls are made of stone, which means your modding only makes the position contrary to yours more solid. This is why SoylentNews provided a "disagree" mod, so that you might avoid disturbing powers you cannot possibly comprehend!
Why are religious people so sensitive to mockery? Yeah, I said "jehovah! Jehovah, jehovah, jehovah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_hlMK7tCks [youtube.com] Are there any women here today? Of course, it is really hard to blaspheme Mormons, since they are a barnacle religion in the first place. Parasite of Americans upon ancient reformed middle-eastern religions that no one but the Djinn understand anymore. Rather like Pascal.