41–50 of 57 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The risk-reward isn't there for pirates. Seasteads will likely be well-armed, populated, far from Somalia and other pirate operating areas, and lack the large material payload of a cargo ship or oil-tanker.
And when the next hurricane strikes, guess who they're gonna call? The US Coast Guard! "Help, Nanny State! Please help us!!!"
Funny how these guys can only afford these things from their profits in "nanny states." Basically this guy is keeping it close to San Francisco so that he can earn him money here and suck it over to his amusement park. If he really believed in "libertarianism" he would just do it without the money and see how he can prosper then. But alas, the super rich are not like everyone else.
Attacking "libertarianism" or "the super rich" is kind of childish - everyone is entitled to the wealth they earn (if they do so honestly) and their own political views.
Funny how these guys can only afford these things from their profits in "nanny states." Basically this guy is keeping it close to San Francisco so that he can earn him money here and suck it over to his amusement park. If he really believed in "libertarianism" he would just do it without the money and see how he can prosper then. But alas, the super rich are not like everyone else.
Do you really think Thiel would have made less money in a less socialist version of the US?
Funny how these guys can only afford these things from their profits in "nanny states." Basically this guy is keeping it close to San Francisco so that he can earn him money here and suck it over to his amusement park. If he really believed in "libertarianism" he would just do it without the money and see how he can prosper then. But alas, the super rich are not like everyone else.
I find “these guys” arguments are perfectly unenlightening — though some prefer the phrasing “those people”. One should respond to arguments Thiel is actually making, if he is making an argument at all. He thinks it’s an interesting idea. If it turns out to be stupid, great. Nobody does things “for ideology”. People do things they think are correct or useful or interesting, not for straw-man “ism”s. Is the criticism…
I think you'll need several of them linked together before you get any useful testbed for government. Most systems of government can work at small scale. They don't break until you get lots of people. The whole thing should also wind up being more stable socially. I really like the idea of ocean-going governmental experiments. Let's have socialist experiments and parecon experiments while we're at it. They really nee…
Agreed.
>They really need to be sovereign, or they're just big cruise ships. They need to have complete ownership of the platforms, which almost means they need to be donated.
No it doesn't. They can be sold, either as real estate or to groups of people who want to administrate them.
>Obviously sinking is a big risk. Make sure there are well-drilled emergency procedures, and that the links between platforms are such that one sinking will not bring down any others. And keep lifeboats and dual citizenship, so if it goes south you'll have somewhere to go when they pick you out of the ocean.
Obviously the people moving there should educate themselves on whether the platforms are resilient to turbulent weather. They can bring their own safety equipment (lifeboats, etc.) or perhaps the owner/seller of the platform will include it as part of the rental/sale arrangement. These aren't hard problems to solve without some kind of centralized paternalist entity. Maintaining dual citizenship seems like it could be a good idea - potentially high benefit (if it doesn't work out or you don't like it) for low cost (unless your country requires you to pay income tax on money not earned there).
I think you'll need several of them linked together before you get any useful testbed for government. Most systems of government can work at small scale. They don't break until you get lots of people. The whole thing should also wind up being more stable socially. I really like the idea of ocean-going governmental experiments. Let's have socialist experiments and parecon experiments while we're at it. They really nee…
>I think you'll need several of them linked together before you get any useful testbed for government. Most systems of government can work at small scale. They don't break until you get lots of people. The whole thing should also wind up being more stable socially. Agreed. >They really need to be sovereign, or they're just big cruise ships. They need to have complete ownership of the platforms, which almost means the…
Wouldn't "countries" like this be super vulnerable to attack? A few well-placed charges and it's like the place never existed.
One guy with a machine gun could conquer this country in 10 minutes. And if it's truly sovereign then it would be completely legal.
In August of 1978, a number of Dutch men came to Sealand in the employ of a German businessman. They were there to discuss business dealings with Sealand. While Roy was away in Britain, these men kidnapped Prince Roy's son Michael, and took Sealand by force. Soon after, Roy recaptured the island with a group of his own men and held the attackers as prisoners of war.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The risk-reward isn't there for pirates. Seasteads will likely be well-armed, populated, far from Somalia and other pirate operating areas, and lack the large material payload of a cargo ship or oil-tanker.
And when the next hurricane strikes, guess who they're gonna call? The US Coast Guard! "Help, Nanny State! Please help us!!!"
have some kind of contract with tugs, lifeboats, helicopter rescue, etc. You could set up some sort of insurance system for citizens/inhabitants to cover those contract retainers.
Hell, you might even end up contracting it out to the Coast Guard if they meet your needs and are close enough to count.
I think you'll need several of them linked together before you get any useful testbed for government. Most systems of government can work at small scale. They don't break until you get lots of people. The whole thing should also wind up being more stable socially. I really like the idea of ocean-going governmental experiments. Let's have socialist experiments and parecon experiments while we're at it. They really nee…
That's part of the idea. Existing governments are too big and stodgy, too slow to change. This is like having a "startup sector" for the governing industry, a place where new ideas can be tried out. If it works, people who want to live under the new rules will have a place to go. If the new ideas work extremely well, the old land-based governments will eventually adopt some of them too.
> They really need to be sovereign, or they're just big cruise ships.
The first ones will likely be flagged vessels, as cruise ships are. (There's still a lot of room for jurisdictional arbitrage - you can pick the nation that gives you the most freedom with respect to whatever metrics you care about.)
Floating countries for rich people. Products: Gambling licenses. Dual citizenships. Offshore banking (tax havens.) What am I missing? Edit: Of course, nobody would actually be living in these places other than system admins. All the available space would be stuffed with servers to run the above services.