No Passport Required

It's gotten to the point where I want to get away.  Not just for the weekend.  Not just to a new job.  I want out of this society.  I want to leave this state of being.  I want to go someplace where I feel safe, comfortable, appreciated, challenged and acknowledged for what I am and the things I do. 

I want to move to another country. Not just any old country.  Not any of the countries currently in existence.  I want to go to My Own Country.  

It will be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Somewhere near the equator.  I'm basing this on a book I read years ago by a guy named Marshall T. Savage called "The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps."  The first step was the creation of artificial floating habitats in the middle of the ocean.  The code name for this step was Aquarius.  It is grown out of minerals in ocean water.  It would be powered by low-pressure thermal exchange units that would generate electricity by exploiting the temperature difference between the ocean water on the surface of the ocean and that pumped up from near the bottom.  It would look something like this: 

There would be a cluster of these floating habitats.  About five or six to start with.  

The second thing my country would have are orphids.  Orphids are  nano-devices conceptualized by a science fiction writer named Rudy Rucker in a short story, later turned into a novel, called "Postsingular."  Orphids will build themselves out of ambient dust on the earth.  They will replicate until they reach a density of about two orphids per square millimeter.  Everyone on the planet will be covered with a few million of them.  It would take ten sextillion, or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 orphids to cover the entire Earth.  They would stop replicating at that point and only do so to replaced any orphid that was damaged or lost during normal use.  

With orphids you can know anything and everything you want to know.  They would communicate with each other using quantum entanglement, forming a planet wide "orphidnet."  They would communicate with the citizens of my country by sending magnetic vortices. 

Only citizens of my country would be able to access the orphidnet.  Sorry.  My country, my rules.  

With orphids, the citizens of my country would not need an army.  If anyone, a foreign leader or terrorist, wanted to attack or conquer us, the orphidnet would warn us and then stop it.  Any solider or attacker coming to the country would become violently nauseous before they could hit the switch or pull the trigger.  Fighter planes wouldn't take off.  Ships would turn on their own away from our floating cities.  Missiles would refuse to launch.  

The foreign policy of my country would be very simple and straightforward.  It is encapsulated in this single sentence: 

"Leave us alone and we'll do the same for you."

My country would be peaceful.  It would be like living on a resort island.  And, for me right now, it would be easy to tell who is pulling their weight and who is cheating, being lazy or getting credit for things they didn't deserve.  We would just "know."  Our public behavior would be part of the public record.  Our private record would be filter out and only admitted if our public behavior called it into question.

Yeah, I know...  That last statement sounded snarky to me too.  It'll be one of those things that the people of my country will work out amongst themselves.  But be assured that everyone that immigrants to my country will be given the mental training, a series of meditative exercises, to keep the orphids from releasing your private thoughts without permission.  They will also be programed to not transmit anything you do in the bathroom or bedroom without your permission.  

My country will export cheap, reliable and absolutely fabulous electronics.  That will be our main export, besides the delicious lobsters we'll grow in the aqua farms surrounding each habitat.  The electronics will be packed with orphids programmed to work like whatever device you purchase.  You'll be able to connect immediately with anyone you want to talk to with perfect clarity.  And if your cell phone, notepad or laptop is lost or stolen, you have no worries about lost data.  It won't work for anyone else.  If a thief tries to use it, the screen will have the following message pop up before their eyes: 

"Look...  This isn't yours.  You stole me.  I won't work for you.  Return me to my owner or I'll call the police and let them know where you are.  See, here's a picture of you I'm sending them right now."  

They'll see themselves on the screen, holding the stolen device.  If they decide to chuck it in the trash, the device will send a signal so you can track it and recover it.  If they try to open it up, the orphids will turn into a green, gooey slime that will stick to their hands and harden into a substance harder than concrete.  It will only come off if they return the device to the police.  

In my country I'll have time to go to the gym.  I'll be able to sleep eight hours a day.  If my friends of family get sick, the orphids will be able to tell us what's wrong and how to fix it.  How's that for universal healthcare?  I'll have time to meet with friends.  I won't feel so tired all the time.  I won't have to go into work on Saturdays, unless I really want to, and then have someone else praised for the good work that got done.  I won't have to deal with childish, stupid behavior from employees, because they'll know that doing things they're not supposed to do will be noticed by the orphids.  The problems I'll have to face will be actually problems, which will require effort and team work to solve, where everyone's contribution will be noticed and respected.  

The name of my country?  How about Weare.  As in "WeAre what we are."  Maybe the country won't even have a name.  It will be whatever other people want to call it.  

For those of us that live there, it'll simply be Home.