Facebook investor Peter Thiel to fund rogue island nations

The ultra-rich do the darndest things. While fellow PayPal cofounder and billionaire Elon Musk is shooting for the stars with SpaceX, Peter Thiel has his sights set on the deep blue sea. Thiel, an early financial backer of Facebook, has invested heavily in the Seasteading Institute, an experiment in offshore communities — literal floating island nations that would operate beyond the norms of landlocked societies. 

The Seasteading Institute, founded in 2008, seeks to create island hubs of innovation to dream up a society entirely from scratch, outside the laws and parameters of existing governments. The Institute plans to begin building its first libertarian city-states on oil rig-like platforms off the coast of San Francisco next year. The project's co-founder, Patri Friedman, told Details that he intends to create an island chain of full-time 'seasteads' within the next seven years.

Of course, building autonomous island nations comes with its share of consequences — even for billionaires. Negotiating for recognition from the United Nations as a legitimate diplomatic entity may be an uphill battle, but the Institute insists that it has altruistic aims, unlike the droves of offshore companies motivated by tax-related incentives. Until that status is achieved, the residents would be bound by the laws governing their citizenship in other nations.

The bold initiative suggests that social progress is at a standstill: "There is no open space for experimenting with new societies. That's why we work to enable seasteading communities — floating cities — which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for government. The most successful can then inspire change in governments around the world."

Only time will tell how the seafaring social experiment will pan out, but with financial backers like Peter Thiel — who recently created a fellowship that awards college students $100,000 to drop out and strike up startups —  there will be plenty of cash in the coffers when it comes time to hire a flotilla of lawyers.

[via Yahoo News]

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