Would You Kindly... Seriously, Would You?

Is “The Man” holding you down? Are societal laws cramping your individualistic sensibilities? Are you itching to watch a good monkey knife fight? A group of millionaires from Silicon Valley share your pain and are currently developing a cure to what ails you.

With PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s $1.25 million investment, the group has launched The Seasteading Institute, an organization focused on creating experimental oceanic homesteads “with diverse social, political, and legal systems.” In a statement to the public, Thiel said “”Decades from now, those looking back at the start of the century will understand that Seasteading was an obvious step towards encouraging the development of more efficient, practical public-sector models around the world.”

As crazy as this may sound, The Seasteading Institute is not the first of its kind. Las Vegas millionaire Michael Oliver’s Republic of Minerva, and the $10 billion dollar Freedom Ship are just a few real world examples of failed attempts at Andrew Ryan’s wet dream. Although it may sound like Peter Thiel smoked a little too much weed and played a little too much Bioshock, The Seasteading Institute means business as they plan on placing their first prototype into the San Francisco Bay within the next two years.

The institute’s prototype is a scaled down and modified version of an actual off-shore oil rig design known as the spar platform. The design consists of an enormous concrete cylinder that would float vertically in the ocean. Large external ballasts connected to the bottom of the rig could be filled with air or water in order to raise or lower the structure in order to withstand harsh weather. The individual living spaces would be approximately 300 square feet per person and would be located within the tube. The top of the platform would house gardens, solar panels, satellites, and wind turbines.

But don’t hop into that rowboat just yet; a few of the major kinks have yet to be ironed out. One such kink involves defense. When asked about defensive strategies for things like pirates and other attacking nations, representatives from The Seasteading Institute side-stepped the issue, claiming that simple firearms should be enough to stave off an improbable attack. Also, let us not forget one of video gaming’s golden rules: Isolated dystopian societies inevitably lead to annoying boss battles.

For more information, check out The Seasteading Institute’s home page here.

*Find this original feature and others like it at RobotGeek.co.uk*