Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to turn New York over to the tech billionaires for "reimagining." During his May 5 Coronavirus press conference, Cuomo called Microsoft founder Bill Gates a "visionary," pointed to his philanthropic work on education, and promised to work with Gates to change New York City's education system. The next day, Cuomo said former Google CEO Eric Schmidt would lead a 15-member committee tasked with revolutionizing New York's economy and health care system. Cuomo is opening up the state to Silicon Valley experimentation.

"When does change come to a society?" Cuomo said when he announced Gates' involvement. "Because we all talk about change and advancement, but really we like control and we like the status quo. It's hard to change the status quo. You get moments in history where people say, 'Okay, I'm ready. I'm ready for change.' I get it. I think this is one of those moments."

Perhaps ironically, Cuomo announced Schmidt's involvement just before Google's Sidewalk Labs announced it would abandon its much hyped, and very dystopian-sounding smart city project in Toronto.