“There are a lot of business people in Silicon Valley who aren’t interested in playing the Washington game, and they see the Chamber of Commerce as the stuffy part of the Republican Party and the cronyist part of business,” Boaz told National Journal. “I don’t know whether the chamber lobbyists in California will go around in shorts and T-shirts, but they may very well relax their dress code from what I’m guessing it is on H Street.”

But even Boaz—the leader of the premiere libertarian think tank in the country—had never heard of the term “conservatarian,” and threw some cold water on the idea that this type of libertarianism is a novel idea for Californians.

Which brings us back to the original question—is “conservatarianism” a new, tech-minded branch of libertarianism, or is it the same old philosophy with a shiny new buzzword? The term seems to be just another addition to the lexicon of political flavors—are you a techno-utopian, a Randian idealist, or a run-of-the-mill nihilist?

“Libertarians have been on the cutting edge of technology for 30, 40 years,” Boaz said.

“Libertarianism was strongest in California back in the late ’70s when technology was getting underway there. At this point I think we’re past the early adopter stage of libertarianism. You can no longer be really cutting-edge by being a libertarian.”