New Libertarian Country. Wanna go? Discuss....
http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201109/peter-thiel-billionaire-paypal-facebook-internet-success?currentPage=2&printable=true
It goes like this: Friedman wants to establish new sovereign nations built on oil-rig-type platforms anchored in international waters—free from the regulation, laws, and moral suasion of any landlocked country. They'd be small city-states at first, although the aim is to have tens of millions of seasteading residents by 2050. Architectural plans for a prototype involve a movable, diesel-powered, 12,000-ton structure with room for 270 residents, with the idea that dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of these could be linked together. Friedman hopes to launch a flotilla of offices off the San Francisco coast next year; full-time settlement, he predicts, will follow in about seven years; and full diplomatic recognition by the United Nations, well, that'll take some lawyers and time.
"The ultimate goal," Friedman says, "is to open a frontier for experimenting with new ideas for government." This translates into the founding of ideologically oriented micro-states on the high seas, a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons.
It's a vivid, wild-eyed dream—think Burning Man as reimagined by Ayn Rand's John Galt and steered out to sea by Captain Nemo—but Friedman and Thiel, aware of the long and tragicomic history of failed libertarian utopias, believe that entrepreneurial zeal sets this scheme apart.
It goes like this: Friedman wants to establish new sovereign nations built on oil-rig-type platforms anchored in international waters—free from the regulation, laws, and moral suasion of any landlocked country. They'd be small city-states at first, although the aim is to have tens of millions of seasteading residents by 2050. Architectural plans for a prototype involve a movable, diesel-powered, 12,000-ton structure with room for 270 residents, with the idea that dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of these could be linked together. Friedman hopes to launch a flotilla of offices off the San Francisco coast next year; full-time settlement, he predicts, will follow in about seven years; and full diplomatic recognition by the United Nations, well, that'll take some lawyers and time.
"The ultimate goal," Friedman says, "is to open a frontier for experimenting with new ideas for government." This translates into the founding of ideologically oriented micro-states on the high seas, a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons.
It's a vivid, wild-eyed dream—think Burning Man as reimagined by Ayn Rand's John Galt and steered out to sea by Captain Nemo—but Friedman and Thiel, aware of the long and tragicomic history of failed libertarian utopias, believe that entrepreneurial zeal sets this scheme apart.
12 Comments
bareboards2Found this at The Stranger
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/08/16/fucking-go-already
Some of the comments are amusing.
Favorites:
"A pirate's dream: a static object in international waters with a very high concentration of very wealthy people. Good luck with all that!"
"Survivor: Galt Island!"
Boise_Lib"Survivor: Galt Island!"---LOL.
It's been done.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
quantumushroom"A pirate's dream: a static object in international waters with a very high concentration of very wealthy people. Good luck with all that!"
It's a pirates dream until they realize the entire island is armed, and instead of water hoses peeing down from cargo ships they're being sprayed with napalm gel from flamethrowers. Yo ho ho!
Now Boards, you asked this question with the intent to mock the concept, and that's your right. Forget pirates, if The Island worked the federal mafia would move the Navy in the next night in the name of 'fighting global warming' or some scam.
bareboards2You misunderstand, QM. I didn't post to mock. I truly am curious if this would be appealing to our staunch libertarians on the Sift.
I thought those comments I posted were amusing. I don't think it will work for a host of reasons, but I am more interested in how it MIGHT work and if someone else sees the same possible flaws as I do.
For example... domestic workers. Probably can't afford to get out there on their own. Most likely can't afford to leave on their own. So once they are there... what protections? Any? Should there be? What if they lose their job? Caveat emptor -- don't go unless you can get yourself home?
All is fine and well if you are wealthy. What happens if you aren't? Because there is no welfare, there are no regulations, right?
But I'm not interested in what I think -- what do others think?
>> ^quantumushroom:
"A pirate's dream: a static object in international waters with a very high concentration of very wealthy people. Good luck with all that!"
It's a pirates dream until they realize the entire island is armed, and instead of water hoses peeing down from cargo ships they're being sprayed with napalm gel from flamethrowers. Yo ho ho!
Now Boards, you asked this question with the intent to mock the concept, and that's your right. Forget pirates, if The Island worked the federal mafia would move the Navy in the next night in the name of 'fighting global warming' or some scam.
spoco2As mentioned, this has been tried time and again, and it never really works on any sort of scale because people don't want to be stuck on tiny little man made things out in the ocean forever.
There's the one mentioned above, the 'Freedom Ship' concept which has been in 'plans' for years and years with bugger all sign of ever becoming reality.
Really, I far prefer the concept of a large ship community than a stationary platform. At least you can see the world. Aside from the 'Freedom Ship' there was an actual ship that worked like this (on a much smaller scale), but I can't find the page any more.
bamdrewDepending on where you end up you're talking anarchy island (Somalia), communism island (Cuba), or a hybrid place not unlike the USofA.
There are left and right libertarian doctrines... If you're talking about the right, with private ownership of land, money exchanged for goods, etc., ... all that noise is just (A) people who are easily convinced that they are not to blame for their problems, and (B) hypocrites who don't recognize the hundreds of times that they daily benefit from publicly funding resources.
Don't like the EPA? Visit China... a sunny day and you can't see sky scrapers a mile away through the pollution.
Don't like high taxes? Visit countries with low taxes... good luck not getting robbed, because they fucking suck. Its not fucking rocket science to see why...
What many libertarian really MEAN to complain about is that they don't like spending they see as wasteful. Get in line.
littledragon_79For some reason this comes to mind: http://videosift.com/video/Colbert-8-8-11-Doomsday-Bargain-Bunkers
peggedbeauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhh
i'm imagining the movie brazil, on water.
NetRunnerThe problem with these things is they always talk about making them float.
Guys, Rapture was on the ocean floor, not the surface!
gwiz665I don't think I would go. I want to nudge the society around me slightly more libertarian - I don't want to just rip the band-aid. That might cause bleeding.
rottenseedTheir number one enemy? Holes...
StormsingerSomething about the combination of "looser building codes" and floating cities seem like a great concept for a reality show.
Who's bringing the popcorn?
Discuss...
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