Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit

A Conversation with Raymond Craib

I am SO excited for this week’s episode because I got the chance to talk to the author of my favorite book this year. It’s Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age by Raymond Craib, a professor of American History and a Latin Americanist at Cornell University.

We discussed the history of libertarian exit and the case of Michael Oliver's Republic of Minerva, why these exit projects seem to have found a new life among tech elites (and if Silicon Valley will really be able to cede from the nation-state), whether these libertarian exit projects resemble classical colonialism and the impacts that these projects have had on the places where they attempt to build their new nations.

As always, you can listen to it here or subscribe here (Spotify) or here (Apple Podcasts). If you like us, please rate, review and share the Anti-Dystopians to help us get new listeners. If you want to support the production of the show, you can visit here.

---

Further reading from the episode:

The Anti-Dystopians @AntiDystopians

Cannot wait for you all to listen to this fantastic episode with Raymond Craib on his incredible book "Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age."

By Raymond Craib:

• Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age

• Egotopia

• The Brief Life and Watery Death of a ’70s Libertarian Micronation

• Crypto Bros Are Trying to Buy an Island in the Pacific

By others:

• N+1 feature on the Seasteading Community by Atossa Abrahamian

• Atlas Swam: Freedom, Capital, and Floating Sovereignties in the Seasteading Vision (Academic Article by Philip Steinberg, Elizabeth Nyman and Mario Caraccioli)

• “Vote with your feet”: Neoliberalism, the democratic nation-state, and utopian enclave libertarianism (Academic article by Casey Lynch)

• Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand (Guardian)

• The Town that Went Feral: A Review of a Libertarian Walks into a Bear (The New Republic)

• Tech billionaire’s plans for space colonization (Boston Review)

• Brock Pierce: The Hippie King of Cryptocurrency trying to turn Puerto Rico into a Burning Man utopia (Rolling Stone)

• A libertarian ‘startup city’ in Honduras faces its biggest hurdle: the locals (Rest of World)

---

What I’ve been reading

• I chatted with Steve McGookin about sports in the US and the mess Musk is making of the Twitter transition

• The bizarre stories coming out of the collapse of the cryptocurrency FTX, such as on the political (quasi-eugenics) views of Caroline Ellison

• For more on eugenics, Elon Musk continues to say weird things about the necessity of smart (white) people procreating

• Taylor Swift fans may be taking on the monopoly of Ticketmaster next

• Largest strike of 2022 in California, thousands of academic workers are demanding better pay and benefits (solidarity!)

• If you enjoyed the Anti-Dystopians episode with Julia Slupska, check out:

  Migrants Organise @migrantsorg

  Thanks to everyone who participated in our second digital privacy and security workshop with @thevoiceofdws @reconfigure2020 @walingwalinguk! Thank you @unitetheunion for hosting us ✊🏽 Read the guide: domesticworkerprivacy.github.io

  

---

Tweet(s) of the Week

Extinction Rebellion Canterbury @XRCanterbury

And bizarrely, the frogs knew of their fate. Golding