[Correction – 12/15, 10:30 AM : The original post said that Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, Founders Fund, was behind the investment to Blueseed. The investment actually came from Thiel himself.]
It was recently announced that Peter Thiel has decided to invest in Blueseed, the seasteading startup/U.S. immigration policy “hack.” Now, we are learning more about the tech incubator’s proposed vessel, a barge or cruise ship resurrected in the image of a certain Silicon Valley giant’s headquarters: the Googleplex. Several stunning new mockups of the proposed “Googleplex of the Sea” have been released to Wired.com, which featured the latest Blueseed article at the top of its front page.
Skeptics often ask how Blueseed plans to make the vessel non-claustrophobic for its inhabitants, let alone visually pleasing and energizing. While the Blueseed team has previously invoked the concept of the Googleplex (a famously stimulative work environment), such skepticism is now best answered by these pictures. In one rendering, two glass-paneled and naturally-lit geodesic domes sit atop opposite ends of a barge. Between the domes is a soccer field, which serves as both a common space for uncrowded recreation and symbol of the cosmopolitanism embodied by the venture.
Although the Blueseed vessel probably won’t house as many employees as Google’s headquarters, we won’t be surprised if American companies soon start to abandon their office parks in favor of futuristic offices on the sea. In fact, we think these new designs make the actual Googleplex look stark in comparison. Where would you prefer to live and work: the Googleplex or one of the mockups of the Blueseed ship?
