ZME Tech

Off all the crazy ideas. Folks wait till you hear this one. Apparently, according to gizmodo, a group of Silicon Valley gurus and entrepreneurs (oh what the heck, let’s just call them nerds!) have devised a plan to make their own little home away from home, namely to create their own autonomous and independent state. The “nation” will be located on the ocean, far from the world’s reach and its inhabitants will be lodged inside oil rig-like structures. Deja-vu? Waterworld anyone?

Led by PayPal founder Peter Thiel and a Google engineer and Sun programmer, the Seasteading project aims to allow people who are looking to live independent of any government a chance to do just that. People will get a dinky 300 square feet of living space in a windowless tube floating in the ocean, but hey, there’ll be satellite internet access!

Google’s Patri Friedman has this to say about the plan:

“Government is an industry with a really high barrier to entry,” he said. “You basically need to win an election or a revolution to try a new one. That’s a ridiculous barrier to entry. And it’s got enormous customer lock-in. People complain about their cellphone plans that are like two years, but think of the effort that it takes to change your citizenship.”Friedman estimates that it would cost a few hundred million dollars to build a seastead for a few thousand people. With costs that low, Friedman can see constellations of cities springing up, giving people a variety of governmental choices. If misguided policies arose, citizens could simply motor to a new nation.

“You can change your government without having to leave your house,” he said.

As cuckoo as it may sound, the wacko’s pretty right about making a geek heaven nation. I for one would definitely try to jump the boat. After all if a ficus can run for president, why can’t a bunch of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs succeed? Btw anyone remember when guys from thepiratebay tried to buy an island to create a copyright free nation? Boy, I loled for weeks.