525: Prospera the charter city, Vitalia the longevity popup, and Roatan tips
If you find value in this post, click the 'Heart' button to let me and the algorithm know which content to lean into <3
Hello from Prospera, a charter city in the Honduran Special Economic Zone on the island of Roatan. I’m here attending Vitalia, a three month pop up conference devoted mostly to longevity but also to AI, cryptocurrency, and alternative governance.
That was a lot to swallow, eh? Here’s all the links I learned from, and I’ll write a personal tweetstorm shortly with my own impressions.
On Prospera:
Prospera for entrepreneurs guide with explanation of inspirations like Shenzhen and Dubai, along with tax benefits and ease of starting businesses here.
Slate Star Codex prospectus on Prospera - detailed post from a few years ago that adds color and a timeline as to how this came to be.
Reason TV’s documentary on Prospera which covers several perspectives well.
On Vitalia:
Vitalia’s official blog post - flowery language but gives a sense for what kind of programming is happening here.
Why the Ethereum founder built the Zuzalu pop up city last year - Zuzalu in Montenegro last year inspired Vitalia, and I’m here due to Zuzalu FOMO, tbh.
Vitalia’s official wiki for citizens with logistics and other on the ground info.
Vitalia Programming Highlights:
An open source legal framework hosted on Github, created with best practices from around the world, that one can fork for ones own governance.
Alex Chen’s guide on living longer - its more diet than exercise or supplements.
10 principles of history for predicting the future - fascinating and well written Substack that publishes an upcoming book chapter by chapter of on why state incentives are misaligned with those of its population.
Nomad Capitalist on reducing tax burden through multiple residencies, which makes it harder for them to audit you and lets you use the best tax brackets.
Follistatin gene therapy that helps muscle density, which you can get here but is illegal in the US due to the FDA’s restrictive new drug laws.
Roatan travel tips:
West End has diving/snorkeling/bars and West Bay has beachside restaurants.
I kitesurfed at Camp Bay Lodge in the east, dove with Roatan Yacht Club, and hugged sloths at Manawakie nature park.
Little French Key is an tiny island resort the size of a city block you can visit. There are fake Mayan ruins nearby underwater you can see as well.
Colectivo group taxis run until 7pm daily and are 1/10th the cost of private taxis.
Everything is more expensive and crowded when cruise ships are on island, 5 days out of the week. SF/NYC prices on food, etc. Go to adjacent Utila island if you’re trying to dive and save money.
Technology
OpenAI released Sora, a text to video AI model with startlingly realistic results.
Speaking of which, there are entire courses on how to prompt AIs for specific outcomes available online now.
I finished Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet by Taylor Lorenz, a journalist who also runs my favorite meme account. It was a fascinating romp through the history of internet influencers/creators, covering essentially my entire life, which coincides with the web’s lifespan.
I learned many things I knew from experience and others I did not, such as Vine’s combative relationship with its creators, or Instagram not allowing self promoting content or sponsored posts until after the FB acquisition.
Ideologies
Did you know the US House of Representatives voted to equate antizionism with antisemitism last December? Talk about a logical fallacy! :(
William Walker was a pro slavery ‘filibuster’ Southerner who led failed vigilante military expeditions into Mexico, Honduras, and successfully in Nicaragua to install pro slavery regimes there to be annexed by the pre civil war US government(!)
Memes
It’s not about the nail captures an experience every man and woman can relate to.
If people wrote contemporaneously like they do science fiction is on the nose.
Versatile Assassins make cinematic aerialist mini movies that are gorgeous.