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August 6, 2009
Patri Friedman
Executive Director, The Seasteading Institute
in a lively conversation
Seasteading
How homesteading the High Seas Will Reform Government
Patri Friedman is the Executive Director of The Seasteading
Institute.
Its mission: To further the establishment and growth of permanent, autonomous ocean communities, enabling innovation with new political and social systems.
"Feeling apathetic about politics? We're here to give you hope. Building new cities on the ocean may sound like a strange way to make government work better, but we at The Seasteading Institute are convinced it is our best shot. Learn why, how we are working to make it happen, and how you can help."
Brian Doherty wrote
about seasteading in the July issue of Reason:
"Ideas evolve quickly along the Friedman family tree. The late Milton Friedman, an economist at the University of Chicago, was one of the 20th century's most respected and influential advocates for classical liberalism. In scholarly books and popular articles he argued that if we want the greatest possible wealth and freedom, government should be restricted pretty much to cops and courts. It shouldn't be in the business of manipulating or dictating our choices, whether they involve education, the economy, or joining the military.
"Milton's son David took this attitude a step farther in several books on political philosophy and economics. Given the manifest inefficiencies of government, David argued, the healthiest and most efficient social and economic system requires no state at all.
"Now David's son Patri has taken the family tradition one step beyond. Inspired by his dad's classic 1973 book
The Machinery of Freedom, Patri Friedman has concluded that society's design flaw goes deeper than just government itself.
"Think of the state as a business -- but one with enormously high barriers to entry and enormously high exit costs. As it would in the business world, this set-up breeds sclerosis, inefficiency, and the tendency to treat customers like
dirt...."
For more information on this Junto event, including
time, location, and other features of the meeting see the August
Junto page.
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