(2) Outer space. Because the vast reaches of outer space represent a limitless frontier, they also represent a limitless possibility for escape from world politics. But the final frontier still has a barrier to entry: Rocket technologies have seen only modest advances since the 1960s, so that outer space still remains almost impossibly far away. We must redouble the efforts to commercialize space, but we also must be realistic about the time horizons involved. The libertarian future of classic science fiction, à la Heinlein, will not happen before the second half of the 21st century.

author

Seattle Neighborhoods: Magnolia — Thumbnail History (historylink.org) Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, a peninsula situated at the northern entrance to Elliott Bay, is home to pairs of nesting eagles as well as 20,000 human residents (in 2001) dependent upon bridges to gain access to the rest of the city. Magnolia consists of two hills once blanketed by forests and separated by a natural meadow. The area’s development started in 1853 with a dreamer’s vision of a transcontinental railroad, which arrived four decades later. Also at home in Magnolia’s four square miles is the oldest lighthouse on Puget Sound, Discovery Park (Fort Lawton), a state-of-the-art water treatment plant largely hidden by foot paths and creative landscaping, and Fishermen’s Terminal, which berths much of Puget Sound’s fishing fleet.

The Education of a Libertarian (cato-unbound.org) Peter Thiel shares the belief that politics is mostly futile, a conclusion he reached after years of activism. In particular, he believes that democratic politics is unlikely to bring about libertarian outcomes. Fortunately, politics is just one sphere of human life, and it’s possible, he argues, to create technologies that minimize its reach. Thiel describes a “deadly race” between politics and technology, in which human freedom is the prize. The goal of libertarian activism should not be to win in politics, he argues, but to escape it.