Libertopia

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 21^st 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.

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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 20^th 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 21^st 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 20^th 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.