Beyond our borders

by Leandro Otouzbirian

Technology is the vehicle of how we should see the political landscape today ~ Peter Thiel (Co-Founder of PayPal)

Have you ever thought we live in a chaotic society run by politicians who are proud of their long-term lack of vision? There is a place where people have a vision, with idead to make our society more efficient and virtual at the same time.

A technology-driven society where bureaucracy and current political issues are problems of the past, that’s Silicon Valley. Populated by programmers, entrepreneurs and capital investors, those are the ones shaping this new world.

How is this ideal of society?

We can see an example. There are only 193 countries with more than 7 billion people. We have much more variety of smartphones models than countries with our culture and vision that we want to be part of. If there were hundreds of floating cities, we would choose according to our needs the one that suits us best. With how diverse we are, we should not be forced to choose something that does not culturally represent us. Peter Thiel and Patri Friedman (founder of Seasteading Institute) dream of living in a city where the laws are written by investors. It is not crazy to think this, since Tim Draper, founder of Draper University, proposes to divide the state of California into 6 smaller states, one of them being Silicon Valley. This idea of ​​decentralization is the new idea of ​​what the “new politics of tomorrow” should be. And this can be seen with, for example, Bitcoin, whose underlying structure is called the Blockchain. Basically, and broadly speaking, Blockchain is a network of connected computers where no one has a greater hierarchy over another, and this in addition creates transparency. Returning to the example of floating cities, which is a project of the Seasteading Institute, they will have the following characteristics:

  1. It will be easier for many people to join the country as the island will be in a protected area of ​​the sea of ​​a host country.
  2. There will be a political exchange, autonomous, for economic, social and environmental benefits with the country that covers the island
  3. Cities will be environmentally friendly, and may be reconditioned according to needs
  4. The price of the square meter will be similar for what is paid in cities like New York or London.

And you, will you be like those 1000 people who said they wanted to live on a floating platform?