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Billionaire develops 'Floating Cities' free from government laws and regulations
Utopia or dystopian nightmare? Billionaire Peter Thiel has been planning on building man-made 'floating cities' free of governmental laws and regulations. The idea is that free of regulations tech innovators would be free to develop and innovate faster.
Thiel is no stranger to outlandish ideas. The co-founder of PayPal has sunk millions into beating ageing so humanity can live forever.
But this idea may have a chance.
The utopian idea was developed by Seasteading Institute where inventors and researchers could work unhindered by government regulations.
Called 'seasteads' (permanent offshore dwellings) the concept designs look suitably hi-tech representing a space age campus in the middle of an ocean. The idea received early encouragement when Peter Thiel sunk considerable venture capital into the project in 2008.
Now nearly a decade on the project has hit a few snags. Namely, Thiel contends that “[y]ou need to have a version where you could get started with a budget of less than $50 billion." This may be beyond even Thiel's wealth, which is considerable.
Further, Seasteading Institute is reconsidering the development of the floating city in international waters instead looking for calmer, sheltered waters. The only catch is it would be under government regulation.
Still Seasteading Institute is pushing ahead. The success of the project relies being technologically, legally, and financially sustainable. "Currently, the high cost of open ocean engineering serves as a large barrier to entry, and hinders entrepreneurship in international waters. This has led us to look for cost-reducing solutions within the territorial waters of a host nation, while still remaining dedicated to the goal of obtaining political autonomy for governmental experiments."
The 'floating city' concept echoes thoughts by other tech innovators who want more autonomous places to work. Larry Page urged technologists to “set aside a small part of the world” to innovate. Venture capitalist Tim Draper even proposed to divide Silicon Valley into its own state.
