The future made Thiel

Turn right along the American political spectrum and you find all kinds of curious species. First there are country club Republicans bemoaning the loss of their party to extremists. Then come Evangelical Christians, trying to reconcile themselves to voting for a Mormon. Further along, you find the Tea Party, crowing over their improbable rise and Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Then somewhere out there past Ron Paul, the Texan libertarian, amongst the witchy thickets of Ayn Rand and techno-futurism, you will find Peter Thiel, billionaire technology investor, Christian, gay, and a man so committed to the idea of personal freedom that he is investing in ‘seasteads’, self-governing communities built on floating rigs out at sea, beyond the reach of any nation.

These seasteads are intended to be social and political laboratories, each one different, letting inhabitants hop from one to another in search of the perfect society.