The Gospel of Musk: Building Towns, Owning Futures

Because why stop at buying companies when you can build your own civilization?

At some point, Elon Musk stopped just launching rockets and started launching entire towns. From the much-discussed Starbase in Texas to the lesser-known but equally bizarre Snailbrook in Bastrop County, Musk's latest ventures aren't just technological—they're territorial. While most billionaires invest in yachts or islands, Musk is planting flags. On Earth. In Texas. With roads, houses, zoning proposals, and HR departments.

It raises the question: Is Elon Musk a tech visionary, or is he quietly becoming a 21st-century feudal lord?

Starbase and Snailbrook: Welcome to Musktopia

"Starbase" isn't just a SpaceX launch site—it’s a rebranding of Boca Chica, Texas. Musk announced his desire to create an entire town around the launch site back in 2021. He didn’t just want a facility. He wanted a self-contained entity where work, life, and propulsion could coexist. Starbase is a place where the roads are named after Mars missions and where the company line isn't just branding—it's also your landlord.

Snailbrook, meanwhile, is the developing utopia for Boring Company employees. It derives its name from the Boring Company's unofficial mascot (a cartoon snail) and is situated in rural Bastrop County. Reports show that Musk and his companies have quietly acquired over 250 acres in the area. The town will feature employee housing, a Montessori school, a private pool, fitness center, and—of course—a Boring Company warehouse.

The plans seem utopian until you realize they are also tightly controlled. These towns aren’t democracies. They’re company towns. Historically, this model hasn't always ended well.

The Old-School Playbook, Reinvented

Musk’s model eerily mirrors the 19th-century company towns built by coal barons and factory magnates. In those days, workers lived in employer-owned housing, shopped at employer-owned stores, and were paid in employer-issued currency. It was convenient, until it wasn't. These towns became notorious for exploitation, lack of mobility, and zero worker autonomy.

Now, replace coal with rockets and steel with neural implants. Musk isn’t just employing people—he’s housing them, educating their kids, setting the cultural tone, and, if he wants, firing them from both their jobs and homes.

He claims it’s about efficiency. Maybe it is. But it’s also about control.

How Much Control Does He Actually Have?

A lot. In Starbase, Musk tried to formally incorporate Boca Chica into a new municipality, essentially re-writing the map. The county didn’t grant the request, but he continues to operate as if it were an autonomous zone. Security checkpoints, restricted access roads, and private infrastructure give SpaceX significant sway over the area.

In Snailbrook, Musk’s control is even more concrete—he owns the land, the buildings, and presumably the leases. That makes him more than a boss. He’s a landlord, a zoning authority, and potentially a de facto mayor. This is a situation where your HR complaint might end up in the same inbox as your rent request.

Texas has historically been a haven for light regulation and private development. So it’s not a coincidence that Musk chose this state to test his version of vertical integration—not just of business, but of life.

Is This Colonization Lite?

Let’s not mince words. Colonization doesn’t always come with warships. Sometimes it comes with WiFi and housing stipends. Musk’s projects are framed as modern company towns, but the larger theme is territorial expansion. He’s not just building products. He’s building realms.

First, towns. Then, cities. Then, Mars. The man openly discusses governing Martian colonies under different laws and is actively laying the groundwork for life outside U.S. jurisdiction.

To his fans, this is futuristic ambition. To critics, it's libertarian overreach on a galactic scale.

It’s not that Musk is violating laws. It’s that he’s working to reshape the environment so laws bend to innovation—or more precisely, to him.

A Future of Walled Gardens?

If Musk's company towns flourish, we may see a return to walled-garden economies—self-contained corporate micro-nations. Everything from schooling to groceries may one day be offered by a single brand. And that brand won't be a country. It could be Tesla. Or X. Or Neuralink. Take your pick.

What happens to freedom of speech when you live in a private zone where your landlord is also your employer and the person who runs the local internet?

What happens to worker rights when "home" and "work" are literally the same address?

Musk's endgame may not be world domination, but it's certainly infrastructure domination. Roads, tunnels, satellites, payment systems, social media, energy grids, spaceports, and now towns.

That’s not just influence. That’s architecture.

Is He Taking Over the World?

Not yet. But he doesn’t have to.

He’s creating parallel systems. Alternate modes of transport, communication, economy, and now geography. If you can't change the system, build a new one and invite people to move in.

And when people start saying yes? That’s how empires begin.

So while we watch rockets go up and Teslas go out, don’t forget to look down.

There’s a town being built under your feet. And it has only one rule: Welcome to Muskland. We hope you enjoy your stay. But remember—you live here because he lets you.

And if history tells us anything, the future doesn’t always stay utopian.