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There must be a streak of the contrarian in the Friedman family. Patri Friedman’s grandfather was Milton Friedman, who contributed heavily to the school of thought now called the Chicago school of economics. Patri himself was a former googler who has unconventional views on everything from diet to libertarianism.

If you had to pick a project of Patri’s to be considered as the height of insanity, that must most certainly be the Seasteading Institute. In the latest issue of Wired magazine, a feature on Patri speaks of the dream that the Seasteading Institute was founded for, to establish a cheap (relatively), mobile oceangoing platform that is self-sustaining and possibly a sovereign country. The idea of a tiny but rich nation surely won’t seem alien to anyone from Singapore, Monaco or Vatican City, but at 160,000 square feet, even Singapore seems like China by comparison. Of course, Singapore or China can’t achieve what the Seasteading mission states, that is:

Mind-blowing stuff. What is even more remarkable, for those who feel by numbers, is that 160,000 square feet of lawless paradise can be bought for an estimated 3 million USD. That’s peanuts for having your own country. I certainly wouldn’t mind forking out money for a mobile country that I can live on with like-minded individuals in the seas between East and West Malaysia during the off-Monsoon season.

Ah talk about the power of dreams.

PS. For those who wonder how such a country would earn enough money to be self-sustaining outside of just tourism, check this and this out.