I can’t quite decide if a bill being promoted by Nevada’s Democratic governor Steve Sisolak to allow corporations to establish their own local governments feels more like a plot line thought up by Paul Verhoeven or J.G. Ballard.

The “innovation zones” would require corporations to own a sizable piece of unincorporated land and then grant them the ability to provide services typically reserved for actual governments, from levying taxes to chartering schools. As my friend Jason Roche noted, this didn’t exactly work out so well for 19th Century mining towns (see also: Upton Sinclair or “Deadwood”)

Of course, this could be an elaborate ploy to demonstrate what a self-evidently terrible idea it is to treat businesses and governments as the same thing.

Sisolak named Blockchains, LLC as a company that had committed to developing a “smart city” in an area east of Reno after the legislation has passed.

Alas.