Digital Capitalism Goes Analogue
Why we should be wary of Google’s smart city
Google’s parent company Alphabet wants to build the city of the future in Toronto. The project looks auspicious, but beneath its shiny surface lurks the cold hand of digital capitalism — and a threat to democracy.
The blueprint for the city of the future will be “a prime example to the rest of the world of how to build cities that have the greatest impact on our future.” We are talking about “Sidewalk Toronto”, the latest project of Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Right at Toronto’s waterfront, the Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs is planning to build a city that, according to the promotional video, will use “technology to enrich our daily lives”. It’s supposed to be the dream of technology optimists and forward-looking urban planners, a kind of Brasilia on drugs, adapted to the needs of its residents and steeped in the latest technology.
That Alphabet should be behind such a plan is hardly surprising. If there is one thing the Silicon Valley giant doesn’t lack then it’s ideas about how technology could change the world. With Waymo Alphabet works on self-driving cars, DeepMind is one of the leading artificial intelligence companies, Nest explores the “smart home” and with Calico, the Californian company hopes to conquer death itself…
