an anthropology of creativity and freedom
I remind myself of my intent to explore the youtube angle further and holed up in my own little room at the writer’s retreat, I pull out my DIY equipment: a thick sketch book, four pencils H2, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, and a set of 24 color pencils which will turn out to be... Continue Reading →
In 2017, Queen Anastasia, the sovereign Monarc of Ruritania, hosted the biannual convent of MicroNations in Atlanta, Georgia. Ruritania is a micronation hidden an unknown place in Europe. “Most of my citizens never even meet me” she tells the interviewer from Vice News. “They send in the application, I approve it. We also get a... Continue Reading →
Determined to explore the youtube angle further, I have been to the high street of the little Danish village where I am holed up having secured a room of my own to concentrate and write. So far I have ‘done’ by means of shopping – I have bought drawing utensils suddenly overcome be an urge... Continue Reading →
Nick and I were lying in bed one night in our rented apartment at Ibiza. The kids had just fallen asleep after a long evening of card games and laughter followed by me reading aloud a few chapter’s from The Bend Coin. Such harmonious and close-knit evenings with the kids happen rarely to us, the... Continue Reading →
“Of the six people who started PayPal, four had built bombs in high school” (Thiel 2014: 174). Thus Peter Thiel begins chapter 14 ‘The Founder’s Paradox’ in his book Zero to One: notes on startups, or how to build the future. In this chapter, Thiel explores the differences and commonalities between the founders of PayPal... Continue Reading →
Something is beginning to bother me. Why are there only men in my stories? Why are they all middle-aged? “I think,” said my self-taught carpenter partner when I turn to him with my insistence that there is an important link between Utopia, Mars, and the founding of micronations at Sea, “I think”, said Nick, “you... Continue Reading →
Having said apocalypse, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel and thinking about the Sillicon Valley tech elite my mind jumps to Elon Musk and outer space. At the dawn of 2019 three of multibillionaires have their eyes set on space fare and are building rockets that will take some of us into space. The visions that guide... Continue Reading →
In January 2017 news spread across the world media that Peter Thiel, multi billionaire and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, had - two years prior - purchased a 477 aches property on Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. Furthermore, he had done so without needing the approval of Oversees Investments Office – it turned out he was... Continue Reading →
A pattern begins to appear. Something about border politics. Something about not only wanting to get something, but also about wanting to get away from something: Michael Oliver wanted to flee the America of welfare rights and civil rights. A world he felt would propel North America into socialism and chaos (Hennessy 2018). Lazarus Long... Continue Reading →
Minerva Reef is situated in the Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Tonga. In early 1972 it housed for a short period of time the Republic of Minerva, a liberalist micro nation founded by an American real estate millionaire, Michael Oliver (Strauss 1999: 155). His organization, the Ocean Life Research Foundation, had raised approximately $200 million... Continue Reading →
Mars: A Room of My Own 