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Tech Billionaires Already Captured the White House. They Still Want to Be Kings
From Montenegro to northern California, the tech elite dream of building cities where they make the rules. Is this, finally, their moment?
After winning a Google Code-in competition as a teenager, he worked for various startups and became what he describes as “financially free.” Four years ago, Ion helped launch VitaDAO, a decentralized organization for bankrolling longevity research, which attracted funding from Balaji Srinivasan, a former biotech founder and Coinbase executive, and the drug company Pfizer’s venture arm. Even as that takeover has made the government friendlier to, say, slashing regulations on experimental medical treatments, people like Ion still hold onto the dream of a truer “exit.” Friedman now runs Pronomos Capital, a venture firm that finances the creation of what he calls “innovative zones” and whose investors include Andreessen, Srinivasan, and Thiel. Praxis, the group with plans to build a city near Vandenberg Space Force Base, pitches itself as “defending the West.” Being Praxian isn’t just about freedom from taxes or access to new technology—it is about a particular cultural vision of the “West.” The project’s leader, Dryden Brown, says the “West” refers to “countries that were formed by people from Europe” and includes many former European colonies.
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