4 ms·

I don't think that the cold, grim, gray & very rough North Sea would be anyone's first choice to start a Seasteading habitat.

by dflock 9y ago

Tepix 9y ago
Some of the oil rigs get transported to southeast asia before they are dismantled. Check out the south Atlantic for a possible location, west of the Namibian coast. There are some shallow spots there like the Zubov Seamount, less than 50m deep and more than 200 miles from the coast.
- chrisseaton 9y ago
  Living on an isolated platform off the Namibian coast sounds like a deliberate plan to get kidnapped by pirates.
  - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
    You'd have to be producing something valuable, but then again, that's one of the economic models behind seasteading is production of high value goods which are forbidden to produce on land. ie: drugs, dangerous materials, etc.
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static!
      - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
        >Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? Pretty much as I understand it, but I don't think they're under the illusion that they don't have to maintain some sort of relationship with land-based nations. >What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? Nothing? Some form of diplomacy? >They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static! They never stop them all. I don't think I will be static. I'll be on the beach.
      - gozur88 9y ago
        Yeah, that's the flaw in the drug production plan. They think they can get around it by declaring themselves an independent nation, but nobody's going to recognize them as such. If they're not an independent nation they're just a vessel on the ocean subject to maritime law. Governments will tolerate seasteading if it's the functional equivalent of parking a big houseboat somewhere. They won't tolerate modern day Tortugas, though.
      - random28345 9y ago
        The idea is that you can simultaneously be protected by the laws of nation-states that you like (protection from pirates), and are free to break the laws of nation-states that you don't like (taxes, drug laws, etc.) It's an example of Libertarian paradise syndrome; where you want all the comforts of modern civilization with none of the obligations.
        whatshisface 9y ago
        I think the Anarcho-Capitalist paradise you're talking about would involve personal contracts with "security" companies to keep the pirates away - although it has never been explained to me what keeps the security company from becoming the pirates. The Libertarian version involves paying for a military, I think.
  - sangnoir 9y ago
    The horn of Africa (notorius for pirates) is on the other side of the continent. Or does this sound truthy because, you know...Africa? For your information, Namibia and South Africa (neighbouring country and close trading partner) have professional navies. Any hypothetical pirate's career in that geography would be similar to real-life illegal fishers' in the area: short and unfruitful.
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      > The horn of Africa (notorius for pirates) is on the other side of the continent. Or does this sound truthy because, you know...Africa? No I wasn't stereotyping Africa or ignorant of geography. Did you know there's a lot of piracy on the west coast as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Gulf_of_Guinea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Gulf_of_Guinea That's a bit further north than Namibia, but their officials in Namibia say themselves that they're concerned about it. 'Sea piracy is a concern to Namibia' http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=99745&page=archive-read http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=99745&page=archive-r...
      - sangnoir 9y ago
        > That's a bit further north than Namibia That's an understatement: it's over 2000 nautical miles north. > but their officials in Namibia say themselves that they're concerned about it. The link you gave was a speech given by the president while commissioning a naval base. I wouldn't place import on his mentioning piracy while listing the functions of a navy in a generic speech: also of concern are "global peace and security" by your terms.
- gozur88 9y ago
  That's a good idea. If you're going to deal with the hardships of living on a rig, you may as well park it somewhere nice.
- arethuza 9y ago
  I suspect those will be semi-submersible platforms - not the big production rigs that were never designed to move.
jacquesm 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
- dflock 9y ago
  Yes - that's 12km of the coast of Suffolk - down south, almost in the channel. Much warmer and calmer, relatively. Also, no one lives on it anymore, afik.
atupis 9y ago
How about server farm?

I don't think that the cold, grim, gray & very rough North Sea would be anyone's first choice to start a Seasteading habitat.

by dflock 9y ago

I don't think that the cold, grim, gray & very rough North Sea would be anyone's first choice to start a Seasteading habitat.

Tepix 9y ago

Some of the oil rigs get transported to southeast asia before they are dismantled. Check out the south Atlantic for a possible location, west of the Namibian coast. There are some shallow spots there like the Zubov Seamount, less than 50m deep and more than 200 miles from the coast.

chrisseaton 9y ago
Living on an isolated platform off the Namibian coast sounds like a deliberate plan to get kidnapped by pirates.
- fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
  You'd have to be producing something valuable, but then again, that's one of the economic models behind seasteading is production of high value goods which are forbidden to produce on land. ie: drugs, dangerous materials, etc.
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static!
    - fnordfnordfnord 9y ago
      >Is the idea that you're in international water so you can do what you want? Pretty much as I understand it, but I don't think they're under the illusion that they don't have to maintain some sort of relationship with land-based nations. >What stops a navy coming and confiscating your equipment then? Nothing? Some form of diplomacy? >They stop drug smugglers and pirates in international waters all the time. And you'll be static! They never stop them all. I don't think I will be static. I'll be on the beach.
    - gozur88 9y ago
      Yeah, that's the flaw in the drug production plan. They think they can get around it by declaring themselves an independent nation, but nobody's going to recognize them as such. If they're not an independent nation they're just a vessel on the ocean subject to maritime law. Governments will tolerate seasteading if it's the functional equivalent of parking a big houseboat somewhere. They won't tolerate modern day Tortugas, though.
    - random28345 9y ago
      The idea is that you can simultaneously be protected by the laws of nation-states that you like (protection from pirates), and are free to break the laws of nation-states that you don't like (taxes, drug laws, etc.) It's an example of Libertarian paradise syndrome; where you want all the comforts of modern civilization with none of the obligations.
      - whatshisface 9y ago
        I think the Anarcho-Capitalist paradise you're talking about would involve personal contracts with "security" companies to keep the pirates away - although it has never been explained to me what keeps the security company from becoming the pirates. The Libertarian version involves paying for a military, I think.
- sangnoir 9y ago
  The horn of Africa (notorius for pirates) is on the other side of the continent. Or does this sound truthy because, you know...Africa? For your information, Namibia and South Africa (neighbouring country and close trading partner) have professional navies. Any hypothetical pirate's career in that geography would be similar to real-life illegal fishers' in the area: short and unfruitful.
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    > The horn of Africa (notorius for pirates) is on the other side of the continent. Or does this sound truthy because, you know...Africa? No I wasn't stereotyping Africa or ignorant of geography. Did you know there's a lot of piracy on the west coast as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Gulf_of_Guinea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Gulf_of_Guinea That's a bit further north than Namibia, but their officials in Namibia say themselves that they're concerned about it. 'Sea piracy is a concern to Namibia' http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=99745&page=archive-read http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=99745&page=archive-r...
    - sangnoir 9y ago
      > That's a bit further north than Namibia That's an understatement: it's over 2000 nautical miles north. > but their officials in Namibia say themselves that they're concerned about it. The link you gave was a speech given by the president while commissioning a naval base. I wouldn't place import on his mentioning piracy while listing the functions of a navy in a generic speech: also of concern are "global peace and security" by your terms.
gozur88 9y ago
That's a good idea. If you're going to deal with the hardships of living on a rig, you may as well park it somewhere nice.
arethuza 9y ago
I suspect those will be semi-submersible platforms - not the big production rigs that were never designed to move.

jacquesm 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

dflock 9y ago
Yes - that's 12km of the coast of Suffolk - down south, almost in the channel. Much warmer and calmer, relatively. Also, no one lives on it anymore, afik.

atupis 9y ago

How about server farm?