As the vessel
approached the landing dock of Libertopia and began to slow, James looked
around. He was very high up, above the troposphere, and looking down
on the weather below. There were light fluffy clouds dotting the sky below them. As the air compressed in front of their vessel, creating a
braking action the hiss could be heard allowing some of the air to
bleed by in order to gain the last few meters. Seconds later the
docking was completed and the doors slid open. James, his wife Lisa, and their fellow
passengers walked in and entered “Libertopia”. There was a sign
reading, “Welcome to Libertopia”, with a sub captioning reading,
“Each for themselves to make a greater humanity”.
James smiled as he
read this, but knew that getting into the city was a bit tougher than some of the other countries throughout the world.
Libertopia did not want loiterers or people who did not believe in
freedom entering and ruining the city. Founded by readers of “Atlas
Shrugged” it was modeled after Atlantis from the novel, but not
kept a secret as it was in the book. The founders felt that getting
this idea out into the world view would promote libertarian ideals
throughout the world.
Founded in the first
half of the 21st century, Libertopia needed a few key
ingredients to get started. The technology that was key to the
successful construction was graphene, and the ability to make large
structures from graphene and nanotubes. It started much like an
offshore oil platform floating in the Pacific Ocean, and was built up
from there. Today it has expanded by using the natural gas harvested
from the ocean floor along with the energy that is harvested from the
sun. The skyscraper design is actually designed to reach into space
and offers the first low energy/thrust method of transportation into
space. This is a great revenue generator for the inhabitants who
have industrialized this sector of the massive Libertopian economy.
The sub structure
supporting the city, was and still is being created, by filling large
graphene hulls with the soil and stones from the ocean floor. No
concrete or cathodic protection needed since the graphene is
impermeable and resistant to harsh chemical actions of the ocean
water. This substructure is expandable to allow the city to grow
outwards, while maintaining the proximity that makes the sharing of
resources more efficient, and the overall operating expenses lower.
Electricity powers
100 percent of Libertopia. This is simply because it is easier to
use, transport , and store. They do use petroleum oil, gas, and coal
as important material feedstocks. Overall electricity in Libertopia
is extremely cheap due to the ability to create thin film solar
panels using doped graphene in P-N junctions. These panels are above
the troposphere, which contains the clouds, and keeps them above the
potentially cloudy weather. This allows for reliable energy to be
delivered to the consumers as needed. The backups are also very
robust, and sized to always be capable of producing 300% of demand
when the sun is not producing. These backups consist of micro
hydroelectric, gas turbine dual cycles, and graphene solid-state
energy storage.
Natural gas is
burned in a dual cycle power plant which sends the gas through a jet
turbine and uses the exhaust to heat a boiler operation. This is
mainly done to gain the carbon dioxide needed to support the islands
intensive agriculture operations since the plants around Libertopia
have sucked up vast amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (which was
found to be insubstantial in anthropogenic climate change).
Located along the
equatorial plane in the Pacific Ocean, the food production is
paramount to making Libertopia the true paradise on earth that it is.
Modeled after sustainable, holistic, regenerative, and permiculture.
The agriculture consists of farming the oceans to create an ecology
of the ocean that is far superior to any other sea. It is so
productive that the inhabitants have created further enhancements to
the surrounding oceans to create more life in these otherwise dead
areas. The surplus creates a nice financial yield for the
inhabitants that decide to pursue this endeavor, and is so
industrious that many of the sponsored citizen applicants who are of
lower skill flock towards these jobs. Part of the creation of extra
graphene hulls is to make the water shallower, and more hospitable
for ocean plants and fish. This can be done without impeding
movements to the deeper ocean, and overall allows for the ocean
ecology to flourish multiplying the yield of these areas many fold.
Moving skyward there
are management intensive rotational grazing operations to create
fertile top soil, and healthy herbivores for consumption. Being an
artificial island, this is a key step in Terra forming and creating
the top soil needed to produce the plants that make up the bulk of
the inhabitants caloric needs. People are free to eat what they
would like, but in true libertarian fashion, the food must not cause
harm to the surroundings, so things like genetic modification
(breeding is ok), pesticides, and herbicides are left out to avoid
long term problems associated with their use and consumption.
Importing food is
non existent since the quality is often questioned, and the integrity
compromised by man made adulterations. Due to the layered effect of
the city, any crop can be grown at different elevations as needed,
and at any desired quantity.
Robotics have been
embraced to save labor, especially in agriculture. This allows
people to spend their days in higher productivity or rewarding
activities. When a robot issues a fault, there is an option for
passer byers to be alerted on their personnel device. They can aid
the robot in correcting its course to obtain social capital points,
and more importantly to gain money. This is up to the main caretaker
in how they want to handle robotic faults, but when the robot has a
fault it simply shuts down until a human can come and help intervene.
Robotic safety is very high on the island, and there is work being
done on smarter and more capable robots that can help dumber robots
in fault mode, but like any new technology it takes time to develop.
These smarter robots will also fault out when in question to avoid
injuring themselves or more importantly human passer byers.
Taxes are collected
on traded goods in the form of a tariff on exports. This is widely
accepted since the technological advances have created enormous
surplus, at a much lower production cost than people in other parts
of the world can achieve. Taxes are very low anyway, because the
whole of the population is self sufficient, financially independent,
and extremely productive. Although there is a great deal of leisure
time, people in this city love to work. After all their reward is in
social capital points and money that is backed by specie (gold and
silver). Unlike much of the world where people hide out in their
dwelling after a long day of sitting in an office, the people of
Libertopia spend their free time socializing, recreating, and most
importantly thinking about and designing the future of humanity. By
not worrying about taxes and government bureaucracies they free up
much of the mental stress and anxiety that most people in other parts
of the world are forced to deal with.
Hiring and firing
people is extremely easy in this society. Many might think that this
is a bad thing, but it actually creates a very low rate of
unemployment, and better overall management to employee relationships
since employees and managers can find the most symbiotic relationship
possible.
Some countries do
refuse to trade with Libertopia, because they still believe in fiat
currency, and they refuse to buy gold in order to complete the
transaction. Libertopia is very self sufficient, but does open up to
bartering if the country refuses to convert its money into gold.
These countries don’t have much leverage though, since many of the
goods and services can be produced in Libertopia. Trade overall is
not the main economic driver for Libertopia. It’s expansion into
space, energy, and computation drive much of the exchange, and most
of this exchange happens on the artificial island.
Social capital is
important to the inhabitants. Many of the applicants seeking to come
and become residents must prove that not only they can sustain
themselves for a period, but that they will not try to ever become a
leach on the society at large. Money on the island is all backed by
gold and silver, making it hard for some to afford the entry without
viable means or means of production. This is a harsh reality for
many throughout the world, but is necessary in order to avoid
becoming a failed welfare state like many of the countries throughout
the world.
There are further
cities of this nature under construction along the equatorial plane.
One is fittingly named Atlantis, which is obviously located in the
Atlantic Ocean. Atlantis is actually going to generate revenue by
its ability to disrupt hurricanes before they can form. This is an
energy intensive process, so countries normally affected by
hurricanes have the option to purchase this service.
-----
After looking around
and reading some of the above information, James approaches the check
in desk with his wife Lisa.
“Hello, how may I
help you?” asks a handsome registrar in his mid 30s.
“We are here for
the conference,” answers James who pulls out his display to show
him the confirmation.
“Oh, yes, indeed,” says the registrar, who scans the display. “It looks like
everything is all set on the payment end. The door over there will
take you to the elevator. Once on board, just scan your pass and it
will take to you straight to the conference. It is quite a beautiful
venue, and you should enjoy. Any questions before you head off?”
he asks with a friendly smile.
James and Lisa are
on their way to a technology conference. Since Libertopia is a
leader in most ethical fields of technology, they are pretty excited
to learn some of the new developments of the last year. Libertopia
has managed to attract the best and brightest liberty minded people
throughout the entire world. This does leave out some smart people
who would rather become politicians, CEOs, or upholders of the
orthodox in their native country, but the loss to Libertopia is
minimized by not including these types of people.
James responds to
thank the greeter, and they head off to the conference. At the
conference they are reminded to tour around the city and take in as
much information as possible. Some suggestions are made about some
of the best venues throughout the city. Unfortunately over staying a
visa in the city is viewed pretty negatively, so everyone is reminded
to leave within 24 hours of their stated departure. This is just to
prevent a mass migration to the city from unvetted people seeking to
leach off the fruits of the established inhabitants labors.
As they leave the
conference, Lisa is excited to tour the aquafarm which is similar to
an aquarium but with fish that are harvested for the caloric needs of
the inhabitants. As they get on the elevator vessel, they request to
be taken to this facility. With a smooth acceleration they are
whisked to the floor. When the door opens, Lisa exclaims, “Oh wow!
Look at all of those fish, and seaweed, and..”. Lisa is looking
up at the graphene ceiling. They are in a large tunnel that extends
underwater through the aquafarm.
Below them, the
septic system of the city is visible. Despite the thought that this
should be ugly it is actually an interesting feature. The design
uses a process where the water is filtered out using graphene
filters. This water is typically used in the micro-hydro or combined
cycle power plants since it is rendered fresh. Although clean enough
to drink, the stigma of drinking that kind of water still exists.
The solids from the waste stream are cycled into different graphene
hulls where they are composted, and allowed to rot until pathogens
are eliminated. They can then be used to fertilize soils where
animals are the consumer of the plants. The fish are a great example
of this, and the fertilizer from the waste once it is rested and
composted sufficiently is used to grow various algae for the fish to
thrive on. The city has no waste streams, with everything being used
to promote some other viable enterprise.
“That is pretty
cool. Those must be the septic hulls used to grow the plants needed
for the fish”, says James pointing to one of the sewage hulls.
They continue to walk forward, and see some signage. There are a few
options for walks or hikes throughout the facility. The hikes
actually have stone and plants along the route. Although they are
underwater, the sunshine is still flowing into the chamber providing
a nice natural light. A school of fish swims over the top of the
tunnel acting like a cloud. They both exclaim at this with delight
as the fish clear the water above them allowing the light to re
penetrate to the tunnel.
Deciding to take the
hike, they set off. The hike descends about 150 meters below the
starting point, and has some automatic lighting along the way to
compensate for the lack of sunlight. Although the water is clear
enough, the fish population is so high, that the light cannot
penetrate this deeply and still guide their route.
The route winds down
and has some small undulations to create the feeling of terrain. As
they neared one of the bottoms they noticed the tunnel lighting up in
front of them. The light was moving towards them faster than they
were moving towards it.
“Who do you think
that is?” asks James, with a very peaked curiosity.
“I don’t know,
but looks like we are going to find out shortly”, Lisa replies
somewhat excitedly. They continued down the trail, which was really
laid out quite well. Along the way they noticed some trail
maintenance robots moving rocks, clearing some flora, and smoothing
out the main trails. The lights were very close at this point as a
group of cyclists approached them.
“Greetings!”
says the lead rider as he pulled up on his mountain bike to say
hello. “Are you enjoying the trail?” He asks with a big smile
on his face.
“Oh yes”,
replies Lisa, “It is like no other place on earth!”
“Ah, you must be
from the old world?” he asks with the same big smile on his face.
“Yes”, she
replies somewhat abashed by feeling more like an outsider.
Sensing this
discomfort the cyclist quickly interjected, “Nothing wrong with
that, you two should check out the space deck! We have some of the
best sunsets that you can see on earth… well, kind of on earth”.
He says as he shrugs his shoulders. “Obviously, hard to compare
the sunset to any others, and judging by the cloud cover to the west
should be a very pretty night.”
“Thanks for the
suggestion, we didn’t even think about going up there”, replies
James. “What time do you think is best to start that way?”
“Well, your half
way through the loop, if you don’t do any of the spur trails. So,
if you just do that and hike out, should be pretty ideal timing”,
replies the cyclist.
As the rest of his
group files in, the lights in the tunnel have stopped moving, but the
collapse of the lights into one area was a pretty effect to watch.
The cyclist observes
Lisa looking up at the fish and notes, “Yeah, the fish really enjoy
the artificial moving lights. They tend to follow us around the
tubes. Really pretty to ride along and race them at times! Once
these robots finish the trail work, it will roll pretty fast too.”
He looks pretty excited at saying this.
“The fish are
truly beautiful”, confirms Lisa. “Whose idea was it to create
this trail?”
“Well, we have
your typical social organizations, like in the old world, but without
all of the regulations and scarcities. These tunnels were actually
designed and created by a group of hikers and bikers who wanted to
make this into one of the most unique recreational areas on earth”,
he goes on to say, “We also have some of the best winter sports up
higher. It is pretty cool, since Libertopia goes to space, and is
located equatorial. This allows for almost every type of climate
possible. We actually have the best winter skiing in the world, just
up in the main tower. They use the cold from further up to keep the
snow in place year round, like a permanent glacier! Not sure how
industrious you two are, but you should consider putting in an
application to move here.” He smiles as he says this. Libertopia
is not easy for some to get into as it is based on Atlantis from the
Atlas Shrugged novel by Ayn Rand, but people like Lisa and James who
are well educated, motivated, and love life are always welcome.
The cyclist looks
around to see that all of his friends in the group have arrived.
“Well folks, should we press on so these two can make it to the
sunset?”
They all nod, and as
the cyclist departs, he says, “My name is John. Not like John
Galt”, he chuckles, “but really good to meet you, and probably
see you up there soon!”
Lisa and James thank
John for the information after introducing themselves. The group of
cyclists pedal off. Some of them are on electric hybrid bikes,
others on road bikes as there is a paved section to the side, and
others like their leader John are on mountain bikes. “Quite the
eclectic group of cyclists”, notes James as they peddle off.
“This place is pretty amazing.” They walk forward along the path
with the lights beginning to turn on in front of them. This reminds
them to look over their shoulders and watch the lights of the tunnel
move and spread out as the group of cyclists proceeds toward the
trail head. “What do you think about moving here?” James asks
as a school of fish swirls above.
“I think it is
definitely worth putting in an application before we head back”,
says Lisa as she leans into James for an embrace. They continue
walking up and down the undulations, enjoying the scenery inside and
outside the tunnel. Along the way there are water features, like
ponds and water falls. Many of the plants were picked that like
lower light conditions, like ferns and mosses, but the humidity and
temperature seem to be just about perfect for physical activity.
They later find out that the air is optimized around the inhabitants
as they travel the tunnel. Of course as anything “public” on
this island there is a small usage fee to help share the costs of
these services.
As they near the
outlet of the tunnel, it is obvious with the greater lighting and
more people. “Well, the 80/20 rule still applies, even in
Libertopia”, says James in a joke to Lisa.
“What do you mean
by that?” she questions.
“Oh, just that
every trail seems to have 80% of the people in the first 20% of the
trail”, he exclaims with a chuckle.
“Ah, true”, she
resigns to the acknowledgement of the truth and comedy in his
statement, “Even here that rule seems to apply, but at least it was
a nice walk.”
“Want to watch the
sunset from the space deck?” James asks Lisa as they finish their
tour of the aquafarm.
“That would be
great”, replies Lisa, “The only sunsets that are more impressive,
are maybe the sunsets that you can see from space", she says
quoting the cyclist John.
“Well, technically
the observation deck is in the lower regions of space”, James says
with a grin. This city was like no other place they had visited
before, and they were fortunate to have done a bit of traveling. All
of the people were extremely friendly, well educated in a manner that
made conversation about everything far more interesting than the old
world where people were locked into politically correct silos, and
people here were generally in better physical conditioning.
As they finish their
climb out of the aquafarm and back to the elevator, there are some
groups assembling to ride bikes, hike, and go for runs. Some people
are just doing yoga in this underwater park. Getting onto the
elevator vessel they scan their display credentials, request to
travel to the space deck, and
take their seats. They
are whisked skyward at a nice and steady acceleration that does not
jar them, but is somewhat relaxing. Minutes
later they arrive at the space deck, with the doors opening to allow
their egress. It is important to note that the trips in the vessels
are tracked, and paid for by the individuals. Things like larger
groups can reduce the per head fee, but in a truly libertarian
fashion, people paid their own burdens in
the city and did not push these costs onto their fellow citizens.
Lisa and James are
covered for travel, by their visa that was paid for using gold
equivalent money.
True
to a prosperous society, somethings were given to the public for
altruistic means, but even this wasn’t totally necessary since the
costs were so small that simply paying your way was easier and more
fair than creating free services. After all, nothing is free,
requiring time, energy, and/or materials for creation and
maintenance.
As
they step out of the vessel, there many groups of people gathered to
watch the sunset. As John had mentioned, the clouds in the west were
just right to generate the pinks and oranges that would paint the
evening sky for the next half an hour. The deck was spacious and
space was much more vivid in the evening lighting.
“We
should stay to see the stars”, says Lisa looking up at some of the
most vivid stars she has seen in her life even with the sun still
setting on the horizon.
“I
agree”, says James, “If that is what they look like during the
end of the day, can you imagine?”
As
they are looking up, a shuttle pops out of the top of the tower. The
top of the tower is
still about 1 km above their heads, but the evidence of the launch
was pretty clear. This
wasn’t the violent launch of a rocket, but more the casting off of
a vessel, most likely a tourist vessel, to do a low earth orbit, and
return for docking.
“You
know, next time we get back here, we might have to take a shuttle
ride”, Lisa says nodding toward the shuttle.
“That
is a great idea”, says James as they move closer to the sun
set view.
The floor
tapers down, not in
order to create stadium
seating, but more to promote solar energy harvesting. The floor that
they are standing on is actually a large photo
voltaic cell array. Of
course the ceilings and wall, although see through, also harvest
solar energy throughout the day. Below them is a large vessel with
lighter than air gas to provide an upward tension on the tower.
There are several of these located
along the tower to eliminate the need for outriggers. These will be
obfuscated once some of the other cities are constructed, and a
spacial tunnel system interconnects the cities creating
a spacial weave and rigidity.
Atlantis is on the opposite side of the world, but the talk of
building more of these cities is extremely popular, with some even
being proposed to be built on land.
As
the sun sets, ending an amazing day, Lisa and James look on impressed
by what is easily the best sunset they have ever gotten to witness in
first person. It is obvious that other people from the conference
are here, but there are also many inhabitants taking in the natural
beauty that their ocean based city provides.
Although extremely
peaceful, Libertopia does have an active militia, Navy, Air Force,
and some of the best technologies for offense and defense in the
world. Unfortunately this is still needed in the world, but the
world has become a much more peaceful planet since the 20th
century.
In order to join the
militia, citizens are trained on how to run the military equipment.
Because the equipment is well designed and easy to use this is easy
enough. People applying for citizenry and opting into the military
are looked on much more favorably. This trained and ready militia
offers a large force multiplier with the marriage of robotics and
other technologies. They have no need for a standing Army, and there
is no need to develop one since there is no need to go on the
offensive. When Libertopia needs to expand its land holdings, people
simply pay to build more land or housing as they see fit in a free
market capitalistic balancing act of housing.
If there is a
dispute with a sovereign country then Libertopia can simply cut trade
with that sovereignty. In a world where Libertopia is the cheapest,
most advanced producer of goods this can be economically devastating
for the aggressive country.
They also have a
force that would make the nuclear triad blush. Unfortunately in a
nuclear world the ability to retaliate is needed to keep the overall
peace. Mutually assured destruction is a scary thought, but if a
nuclear war were to start Libertopia would be best positioned to
weather a nuclear winter with their energy collection well above the
troposphere. Libertopia has a full defensive sweet to eliminate
incoming missiles, fully electric Navy that is the quietest and most
efficient in the world to keep threats out from the ocean. As the
shuttle launches demonstrate, their ability to get into space was
much easier for them than any other countries on earth. As a
libertarian nation, Libertopia did not want to threaten anyone, but
simply is prepared for whatever might come their direction.
As the remainder of
the sun faded over the clouds, and the clouds went from orange to
pink to dark gray, the sunset was over. With the clouds going from
purple to gray, they took their focus upwards towards the stars,
where the vividness was just as breathtaking as the sunset.
“So, should we get
that application in tomorrow?" asks James as the brightest
shooting star either of them have ever seen blazes over the horizon.
“Haha, if that is
not an omen for a yes, I don’t know what is!” Lisa exclaims.
---- The End ----
The competition of
creating a libertarian society has shifted the politics and policies
of many of the countries throughout the world. Much like the
establishment of the United States in 1776, Libertopia was a place
where people could come for freedom, productivity, and liberty. The
rules were just as basic as the original constitution, but included
protections to keep it from degrading into the political and
bureaucratic nightmare that had taken shape in Washington D.C from
1910 to 2016.
Now, the United
States is leading the charge, and going back to its original
libertarian and republican ideals. The Democratic party was
disbanded by a series of unethical behaviors, corruption, and general
moral decay. It still existed as a democratic socialist movement,
but as people began to realize that free market capitalism was not
present in the early 21st century United States, and that
socialism does not work in heterogeneous independent minded
populations they looked back to what worked and chose the libertarian
party to supersede the Democratic party. When Libertopia was
created, the Libertarian party was weakened a bit, by the migration
of some of the strongest supporters, but this served to act as a
great model. A model that the United States gave the rest of the
world in the decades and centuries before.
Following the model
of Libertopia, the United States has shifted it’s focus back to the
ideals that made Americans free to pursue their dreams. It is truly
the greatest ally and trading partner with the Libertopians, and as
more of these artificial island nations sprout up throughout the
globe there will be more prospect for the citizens of the wrecked
nations of the earth, where dictators under socialist or fascist
doctrines have gained control and taken the country down a dark path.
As these dictators and oligarchs are needing to take Soviet style
measures to slow the egress of their disgruntled populations, it is
the hope that rather than flee, these people will rise up in a
libertarian and free market capitalistic revolution to establish
their republic in order to live and prosper under a government that
grants freedom and justice for all.
The Libertopian Pax
extends to all friendly countries and guarantees protection of the
trading from pirates and other menaces throughout the world. Air
Force has become more important than the Navy since more
transportation is taking place above the troposphere in lighter than
air carriers and interconnected tubing system. The Libertopian Pax
is much like the Pax Americana of the 20th century with
the exception of the Soviet threat to make it a true competition.
The world is truly a
better place, and it is hard to not think of a little prayer to end
this story.
Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
