Photo via Burning Man
Photo via Burning Man

This week, artists, musicians, techies and others are flocking to Black Rock Desert in Nevada for Burning Man, that festival of “radical inclusion,” or the freedom to hang out with your tripping fellow human beings in 100-degree-plus heat.

According to New York Magazine, Burning Man may not just be a yearly occurrence. In fact, the festival’s leadership, aka “the Borg,” is poking around a nearby property to create a year-round, permanent Burning Man city.

And rumors are floating about that big name Burning Man attendees and Silicon Valley tech stars, including SpaceX/Tesla’s Elon Musk and Google’s Sergey Brin, have toured the property and might be potential investors.

Photo via Wikipedia/Google's Sergey Brin
Photo via Wikipedia/Google’s Sergey Brin

New York Mag reports that the Borg are looking at the Fly Ranch, “4,000 acres” that could potentially include individual homesteads, a village community, art park, museums, and even a replica of Mars — “guess which tech billionaire could be thinking of that?” they write.

Of course, pesky money is standing between turning a Burning Man dream into a real city. That’s where the tech dollars come in.

New York Mag reports that “last year, the organization began giving tours of Fly Ranch to potential investors. People around the playa whispered that well-known Burners like Elon Musk, Sergey Brin” were among those touring the grounds.

Elon Musk
Elon Musk

Of course, the battle between what Burning Man used to be and the fact that a lot of its attendees now come from tech raises concerns among the community that a Burning Man city would just become another place for techies to converge and talk shop.

Will Burning Man organizers get the tech funds they need to build their “utopia?” Who knows, but it sure will be fun to see if this scheme comes to fruition.

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