“Democracy
is not the answer,” declared the institute’s founder, Patri Friedman, a
grandson of conservative economist Milton Friedman.
But
since no one wants to be stuck on rusty oil rigs or claustrophobic cruise
ships, the idea evolved. Today, the focus has shifted to “cloud communities.”
These are virtual “nations” of people united via digital networks. Just as
cryptocurrencies like bitcoin aim to replace traditional currency, creators of
these online crypto societies hope to replace traditional countries. Once they
have a sufficient number of citizens in their cloud, they can migrate to their
chosen lands.
Tech
barons have worked to fund the creation of these future zones in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the
United States. Newly proposed billionaire-founded cities include Praxis,
envisioned as a “crypto commune” in the Mediterranean, and Telosa,
a new city of five million people somewhere in the United States. Just last week,
even Kanye West jumped on the
bandwagon, announcing plans to build a new city on 100,000 acres in the Middle
East.