Seth Nickell and I (mostly jokingly) chatted ages ago about setting up a hacker colony/coop in Detroit, and that was when houses were merely cheap and not practically free. Looks like some artists are going through and doing basically the same thing we were thinking of, with a green twist to boot. Maybe that is what I should do with my ‘free time‘. :)
I’ve heard Mako talk about this same exact thing (with robots with lasers from MIT to protect the geeks from crime).
He has the whole thing planned out in his head … down to the most minute detail.
There’s something wrong with all of you, really.
Honestly, I’d love to have a hacker community in Detroit. Otherwise, there’s _nothing here_. This state is dead. :/
Do it down in the lower 9th ward of New Orleans. Better weather, more culture, just as troubled.
I’ve seriously thought about this idea too. That’s the crazy thing.
AWESOME. I’ve always had this in my mind too, it would be so great, internet everywhere. Imagine all the creativity and productivity :).
Seems that lots of people have been thinking about this, myself included. It would be a lot of work, but it would be frickin’ awesome.
This was plan B for me… I still fantasize about living in Troit, as I like to call it.
I have to agree the weather is better in New Orleans than Detroit. That said, where ever it is, you’d have to be ready to improve the infrastructure … wireless, coffee shops, restaurants, …
When Seth and I were talking, we weren’t concerned about coffee-houses and restaurants; we were thinking more ‘live dirt cheap, 60s-hippie-colony style.’ Practically off-grid, to the extent that hackers can live off-grid. There was much discussion of how cheap chili could be. But agreed that obviously network and power infrastructure would be an issue.
re: climate, Detroit has the admirable quality that CPU heat is a benefit rather than a problem ;) But obviously this Miami boy would be more likely to be happy in NO…
Hey everyone i stumbled across this convo. via google and had noticed that you were talking about Hacker Spaces in the Detroit area. We currently have an active build of a Hacker space in the Metro Detroit area. We currently meet every tuesday evening at 7:00 P.M at the Coffee Beanery in Berkley on woodward ave. We are still growing our member base which is growing each week. If you would like to join us we would love to have you. Visit us at http://www.i3detroit.com for more information or contact us.
Thanks