American libertarian activist and theorist of political economy
Patri Friedman (born July 29, 1976) is an Americanlibertarian ,anarcho-capitalist ,[ 1] political economy .[ 2] The Seasteading Institute , a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.[ 3] [ 4] [ 5]
Early life and education [ edit ] Named after family friendPatri Pugliese ,[ 6] King of Prussia, Pennsylvania , and is a graduate ofUpper Merion Area High School , class of 1994, where he went by the name Patri Forwalter-Friedman. He graduated fromHarvey Mudd College in 1998, and went on toStanford University to obtain his master's degree in computer science. He also holds an MBA fromNew York Institute of Technology .[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] World Series of Poker four times.[ 10]
The Seasteading Institute [ edit ] Friedman was executive director of The Seasteading Institute, founded in 2008, with a half-million-dollar donation from venture capitalistPeter Thiel .[ 11] [ 12] [ 13] Google engineer the rest of the time[ 8] seasteading .[ 14] San Francisco Bay by 2010.[ 15] [ 16] [ 17]
Since attending theBurning Man festival in 2000, Friedman imagined creating a water festival calledEphemerisle as a Seasteading experiment andTemporary Autonomous Zone . Through The Seasteading Institute, Friedman was able to start the Ephemerisle festival in 2009, aided by TSI's James Hogan as event organizer andChicken John Rinaldi as chief builder. The first Ephemerisle is chronicled in a documentary by Jason Sussberg.[ 18] [ 19]
Future Cities Development [ edit ] On July 31, 2011, Friedman stepped down from the position as executive director of The Seasteading Institute, but remainedchairman of the board.[ 20] charter city within the borders ofHonduras .[ 21] [ 22] [ 23]
In 2019, Friedman founded Pronomos Capital, a venture capital firm whose purpose is to bankroll the construction of experimental cities on vacant tracts of land in developing countries. Like The Seasteading Institute, Pronomos Capital is backed byPeter Thiel . Most of the cities will be aimed at foreign businesses seeking friendlier tax treatment.[ 24]
In 2000,Card Player Magazine suggested Patri Friedman might become a world champion.[ 25] [ 26]
Year World Series of Poker Tournament Place Prize 2002 $2,000 No Limit Hold'em 11th $9,280 2004 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship 165th $15,000 2008 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em 24th $17,351 2008 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship 640th $21,230
Patri is the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economistMilton Friedman [ 27] Rose Friedman and son of economist and physicistDavid D. Friedman .[ 27] [ 28] [ 29] [ 30] [ 31] transhumanists andrationalists , and they have arranged to becryonically preserved after their legal death.[ 29] [ 32]
^ "Seasteading Craziness in Thailand with Patri Friedman" .YouTube . May 31, 2019.Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2019 .^ McCullagh, David (February 2, 2009)."The next frontier: 'Seasteading' the oceans" . CNET.Archived from the original on March 24, 2015. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ Bruder, Jessica (December 15, 2011)."YOU'RE THE BOSS; Floating Incubator For Start-Ups" .New York Times .Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ Flock, Elizabeth (August 17, 2011)."Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal, invests $1.24 million to create floating micro-countries" .Washington Post .Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ Miles, Jonathan (September 1, 2011)."The Billionaire King of Techtopia" . Details.Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ "My namesake has a Wikipedia page" . Patri's Peripatetic Peregrinations.Archived from the original on April 8, 2013. RetrievedFebruary 27, 2013 .^ "Building a commune in the middle of the ocean?Why" .Medium . April 15, 2022. RetrievedDecember 8, 2023 .^a b Bowles, Nellie (June 1, 2011)."Patri Friedman makes waves with 'seasteading' plan" .SFGate .Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 . ^ O'Connor, Clare (November 10, 2010)."Names You Need To Know In 2011: Patri Friedman" .Forbes .Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ "Patri Forwalter-Friedman" . The Mob Poker Database. 2002–2008.Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 .^ Mangu-Ward, Katherine (April 28, 2008)."Homesteading on the High Seas" .Reason .Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 . ^ Madrigal, Alexis (May 19, 2008)."Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies" .WIRED . Archived fromthe original on March 21, 2014. RetrievedMarch 10, 2017 . ^ Cooper, Charles (June 3, 2011)."Ocean cities? So says Milton Friedman's grandson" . CBS News.Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^ "More time for Seasteading – The Seasteading Institute" .The Seasteading Institute .Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. RetrievedJuly 3, 2008 .^ Frucci, Adam."Silicon Valley Nerds Plan Sea-Based Utopian Country to Call Their Own" .Gizmodo . Gawker Media. Archived fromthe original on November 5, 2013. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2017 . ^ "Libertarian Island: No Rules, Just Rich Dudes" .NPR.org . May 21, 2008.Archived from the original on March 17, 2018. RetrievedApril 2, 2018 .^ "Meetup.com – October 2010 Seasteading Social at the Hyatt Regency SF" .Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. RetrievedOctober 20, 2010 .^ "Ephemerisle Documentary 2009b by Jason Sussberg" .Vimeo .Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. RetrievedJuly 4, 2013 .^ Thomas, Gregory (August 14, 2019)."Burning Man on boats?" .San Francisco Chronicle . San Francisco, CA. RetrievedJune 11, 2021 . ^ Friedman, Patri (July 31, 2011)."The Seasteading Institute – July 2011 Newsletter" . The Seasteading Institute. Archived fromthe original on April 4, 2012. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 . ^ "Free cities: Honduras shrugged" . The Economist. December 10, 2011.Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 .^ Doherty, Brian (December 6, 2011)."Seasteaders Take to the Land in Honduras" .Reason .Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. RetrievedMarch 12, 2012 . ^ Friedman, Patri (October 31, 2012)."Future Cities Development ceasing operations" .Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. RetrievedMay 6, 2015 . ^ Chapman, Lizette (January 6, 2010)"The Hottest New Thing in Seasteading Is Land." Archived March 19, 2020, at theWayback Machine Bloomberg News. (Retrieved March 19, 2020). ^ Matros, Matt (2005).The Making Of A Poker Player: How An Ivy League Math Geek Learned To Play ISBN 9780818406423 Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. RetrievedOctober 18, 2020 . ^ "Patri Forwalter-Friedman's profile on The Hendon Mob" .The Hendon Mob Poker Database . RetrievedApril 13, 2024 .^a b "Live Free or Drown: Floating Utopias on the Cheap" .Wired . January 19, 2009.Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. RetrievedMarch 10, 2017 .^ Moser, Whet (August 18, 2011)."Milton Friedman's Grandson to Build Floating Libertarian Nation" . Chicago Magazine.Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. RetrievedDecember 1, 2014 . ^a b Radomsky, Rosalie R. (February 10, 2018)."A Commitment for More Than One Lifetime" .The New York Times ISSN 0362-4331 .Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 12, 2018 . ^ "The Far Right's Campaign to Explode the Population" .POLITICO . April 28, 2024. RetrievedApril 28, 2025 .^ "Case 23FL000385 Patri Friedman Vs Brit Benjamin - Trellis: Legal Intelligence + Judicial Analytics" .Trellis.Law . RetrievedApril 28, 2025 .^ "ApoE4 – The Ancestral Allele" .Biostasis . August 5, 2011.Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. RetrievedMay 11, 2020 .Let A Thousand Nations Bloom , blog about competitive government by Friedman, Jonathan Wilde, Mike Gibson, Will Chamberlain, and Michael StrongRoberts, Russ (October 13, 2008)."Patri Friedman on Seasteading" .EconTalk Library of Economics and Liberty .Podcast interview: "WS Radio: Patri Friedman Audio" ,Western Standard Lee, Timothy B. "Seasteading: Engineering the Long Tail of Nations ",ArsTechnica , September 6, 2008Reason.com "20,000 Nations Above the Sea" , June 8, 2009NBC LA "Direct Impact: NBC Interview with Patri Friedman"
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