Patri Friedman

Patri Friedman received a BS in math from Harvey Mudd College, an MS in Computer Science from Stanford University, and an MBA from Cardean University. Throughout his studies, he has helped launch technology startups, run a small consulting business, and co-founded two intentional communities before joining Google in 2004.

After four years at Google as a software engineer, during which the company scaled from 3,000 to 20,000 employees, he left to found The Seasteading Institute in 2008 with seed funding from PayPal founder Peter Thiel. The Institute envisions a vibrant “start-up” sector for government, using the ocean as a new frontier for colonization.

Patri has served on the board of Humanity+, is a prolific writer on political theory and philosophy, and attends festivals such as Burning Man and Pennsic (founded by his father, economist and author David Friedman). His grandfather Milton Friedman won the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics and was a well-known speaker on politics