Since attending the Burning Man festival in 2000, Friedman imagined creating a water festival called Ephemerisle as a Seasteading experiment and Temporary Autonomous Zone.
A new initiative to develop experimental new societies is being spearheaded by the Seasteading Institute, founded by Patri Friedman (grandson of economist Milton Friedman), and funded by PayPal founder Peter Thiel.
In 2002, Hastings began work on seasteading with Patri Friedman, a project aimed at building floating communities free from the restrictions of current governments.