Bill Gates buys land in Arizona to build 'smart city'
One thing that I haven&#x27;t seen discussed, but I think is something that <i>may</i> be a factor in the site selection, is the future of online presence.<p>Specifically, I think it&#x27;s plausible that advancements in VR over the next 20 years will drastically enhance the ability of people to work remotely; I believe that was one of the justifications provided by Facebook for their purchase of Oculus, and may also be one of the reasons behind Microsoft&#x27;s push into &quot;Mixed Reality&quot;.<p>A major factor for housing desirability currently is its physical proximity to jobs (SF, NYC, etc.); this could be a way to hedge a bet against that trend. And at $80M, it&#x27;s really not a huge investment in the grand scheme of things. The biggest question is if VR can bridge the &quot;uncanny valley&quot; of video chat and other current technologies, and make virtual interaction&#x2F;communication as seamless as in-person communication (or at least, within some acceptable margin).<p>If you&#x27;re going to be sitting in what&#x27;s essentially an air-conditioned VR cocoon for 8-10 hours a day, it probably doesn&#x27;t matter where that&#x27;s located, provided that the infrastructure is good. Since infrastructure seems to be one of the stated priorities, it could serve as a prototype for a &quot;virtual outpost&quot;.