You Want “Paganistan”?

From n + 1

Build Paganistan. A floating Paganistan. “Bulletproof Coffee”? I might try that once.

In addition to seeing government as just another problem that technology can overcome, Seasteaders try to “hack” every aspect of their existence down to their self-care regimens. Many participate in health and fitness regimes like the Paleo Diet and Crossfit—lifestyles that dovetail nicely with more mainstream libertarian retro-futurism, which argues humans ought to live more like they did before their “freedom” was impinged upon by large state governments, all while enjoying the enhancements of technological innovation forged in the free market. It wasn’t just Charlie from the boat cruise who proselytized the health benefits of butter: the unofficial beverage of Ephemerisle was “Bulletproof Coffee”—black coffee with half a stick of butter mixed in—which advocates claim increases their mental acuity and helps them stay trim. The inventor of the concoction claims to have increased his IQ by twenty points and lost 100 pounds as a result of his experiments “hacking” his biology. He was at Ephemerisle, too and later, in an email, told me he’d had a great time.

Cruising into the Future that Was Not

US Navy airship Macon over San Francisco, c. 1933
US Navy airship Macon over San Francisco, c. 1933

When I was about eleven, I went through a period of fascination with dirigibles (rigid airships). What technology could be more emblematic of futures that never were?

The photo above comes from a site devoted to photos of the US Navy’s Macon, which was based at Moffett Field on the San Francisco Peninsula in the early 1930s.

It is rare to see pictures of the interior: the bridge, the sick bay, the sailors’ bunks. (The Macon crashed off Big Sur in 1935.)

It’s still possible to tour the California coast by airship. I should do that some time.

(Via Roberta X.)

Postcards from the Future that Never Was


From a German chocolate maker in 1900, postcards showing life in 2000.

Thank the gods we never got to the personal flying machines, when you consider how some people drive in just two dimensions.

The source is Paleo-Future, a blog that looks into “the future that never was.” (Via Making Light.)