Larry Page, co-founder and CEO of Google, appears to have been channelling The Seasteading Institute – whether he realized it or not – when he spoke of the need for more experiments with alternative legal and social systems. In his keynote address at Google’s I/O event yesterday, Larry Page said:
“There’s many, many exciting and important things you could do that you just can’t do ’cause they’re illegal or they’re not allowed by regulation. And that makes sense, we don’t want our world to change too fast. But maybe we should set aside some small part of the world … I think as technologists we should have some safe places where we can try out some new things and figure out: What is the effect on society? What’s the effect on people? Without having to deploy it into the normal world. And people who like those kinds of things can go there and experience that.”
We created a petition for our community to signal their support of Page’s sentiment, and to encourage his collaboration on seasteading and startup city projects. Please sign our Change.org petition to Page telling him, “I Support Your Idea for Free-Experimentation Zones… on Land & Sea!”
Here is the full text of the petition:
Change.org petition to Larry Page, CEO of Google:
The last great advance in governance technology was the American experiment with democracy more than 200 years ago. While democracy has brought health, wealth and happiness to billions of people, we also sense that modern governments are slowing down meaningful reform with one-size-fits-all policies. The clash of old rules and rapidly evolving technology leads us to believe that innovative systems of governance could serve humanity better than modern governments do today. We believe a new frontier is needed to once again test out new ways of living together.
In his keynote address at Google’s I/O event on May 15, the company’s CEO and co-founder Larry Page said, “There’s many, many exciting and important things you could do that you just can’t do because they are illegal or they are not allowed by regulation. And that makes sense, we don’t want our world to change too fast. But maybe we should set aside some small part of the world … I think as technologists we should have some safe places where we can try out some new things and figure out: What is the effect on society? What is the effect on people? Without having to deploy it into the normal world. And people who like those kinds of things can go there and experience that.”
We applaud Page’s call for the creation of safe places for experimentation, and seek to promote two viable options: seasteading and startup cities. For five years, The Seasteading Institute (www.seasteading.org) has been conducting research into the potential for permanent, innovative communities – floating at sea. At the same time, The Seasteading Institute’s allies have been working to develop startup cities in existing nations where experiments in governance will be welcomed.
We welcome Page’s voice in the call for a new frontier where innovators can chase their dreams. We encourage Page to invest resources into advancing these initiatives by collaborating with The Seasteading Institute and/or by assigning a team at Google to investigate and advance free-experimentation zones.
Well go ahead, Larry Page. Nobody is stopping you from setting aside some small part of the world. For a guy with a net worth of over $23 BILLION you should be walking-the-walk instead of talking-the-talk.
My guess is he is just fine sitting in his mansion with his cute wife and is far more interested in how he can better market his wares and make more money than he is in experimenting with new forms of government and bettering humanity…
Petitioning the United States government for “some safe places” to have basically “a little more freedom” is hypocrisy.
You want freedom? Avoid government influence wherever possible.
Tax = Theft. Safe places? Safe from…theft? Oh, but policemen must steal your money by threat of violence toward the end of caging you like a monkey in a zoo — if you don’t volunteer your money for their…no, not protection, but “law enforcement”.
Stefan Molyneux on Seasteading, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3axaN1ewHo
Atlas Shrugged Anyone? Who is John Gault?
Hey, Lar.
Signed the petition long ago, but still interested.
Can you please explain in the simplest English how a free-experimentation zone functions exactly.
I’m not being skeptical, I just like to understand how things work. Both in General and Simple English.
Thank you!
I, too, would like clarification on “free experimentation zones”. It seems intentionally vague is all, and excluding whatever forms of experimentation, or indeed including all methods would clear up any ambiguities.
Thanks.