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Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies
- Prrometheus 18y agoFor the theory, history, and practical details of the project, don't miss Patri Friedman's exhaustive book on the subject: http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/full_book_beta.html http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_beta/full_book_beta...
- Tichy 18y agoWhat do they plan to eat and drink?
- dangoldin 18y agoAnd what about pirates? =)
- johnrob 18y agoThat is probably the biggest problem. One thing we take for granted in our nation states is a military defense.
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- Prrometheus 18y agoFrom the article: "Of course, one major role of government is to provide security, which would seem to be an issue on the open sea. But Friedman's not worried about defense beyond simple firearms because he thinks pirates will lack the financial incentive to attack the seasteads. "More sophisticated pirates will take entire container ships that have tens of millions of dollars of cargo and 10 crew [members]," he said. "On a seastead, there's a much different crew-to-movable assets ratio." In fact, his only worry is that a government will try to come calling and force their jurisdiction upon them. Toward that end, they are planning to fly a "flag of convenience" from a country that sells them, like Panama, to provide them with protection from national navies. " Also, you should check out the website (http://www.seasteading.org http://www.seasteading.org) and read the FAQ. The founders have thought of the obvious questions.
- ivankirigin 18y agoTactical nukes hidden in the capitals of potentially aggressive countries should be a good enough deterrence from state actors. Robot Sharks with lasers should be enough to stop the pirates.
- thwarted 18y agoI'm sure the pirates will listen to "reason". Ultima Ratio Regum and all that.
- SwellJoe 18y agoI, for one, plan to fire upon them with my trusty sonic cannon. http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,385048,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,385048,00...
- ovi256 18y agoDo not worry, the free market will take care of it.
- ivankirigin 18y agoI love that your sentiment is meant both as an attack by skeptics and an obvious answer by believers.
- ComputerGuru 18y agoThey're in the ocean. Typically, that would involve eating fish and drinking water :) Then again, this is the 21st century. I cannot imagine the food they eat would differ too much from the food you're currently eating in Seattle/Chicago/SV/London/etc.
- Tichy 18y agofish occurred to me, too, but is it sufficient?
- ComputerGuru 18y agoIn this day and age, whether or not something is available is no longer really a question. The only thing that is relevant becomes how much it costs to get it. In this case, the cost of shipping perishable goods to these "islands" on a daily/weekly basis. Even if fish were sufficient, I don't think any of the inhabitants would appreciate eating fish and fish alone day in, day out. Non-perishable goods like crackers, chips, Pepsi, coffee, sugar, flour, etc. can be shipped in large quantities and cheaply (via barges). But stuff like eggs, milk, fresh meat, and other goods that can be held in storage for long periods of time without adversely affecting the quality and nutrition of their constituents need some other solution. At any rate, they'll have an easier time at getting something to eat than the inhabitants of the International Space Station for sure :)
- hugh 18y agoJust because it's in international waters doesn't mean it has to be in the middle of the ocean. If they're willing to accept being outside the territorial waters of any country but still in the Exclusive Economic Zone of one, then they can sit 24 miles off the coast from a port, and do weekly grocery runs with an ordinary vessel. If they can't stomach being in somebody's exclusive economic zone (not that it makes much practical difference) then they'd have to be 200 miles offshore, making grocery runs a bit more of a pain but still possible. A reasonably fast ship will get you there and back in a day.
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- danteembermage 18y agoThe burbclave goes prescient? On a more serious note, it would seem that governments tailor made for specific purposes might have a large competitive advantage over more established legal structures. Suppose, for example, startups were allowed to hold equity auctions for a tiny fraction of their company on a weekly basis, with no SEC filings and only whatever accounting the market demands. I suppose that example is more generally libertarian, but perhaps particular law on what contracts are enforceable (the NDA for one) might be helpful.
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y agoDo you know the current Kongbuck exchange rate, by chance? Jokes aside, leaving the accounting to the market seems ripe for fraud. Finance is staid, but it's got a lot of years of experience behind it.
- Prrometheus 18y ago>Jokes aside, leaving the accounting to the market seems ripe for fraud. Finance is staid, but it's got a lot of years of experience behind it. Where do you think accounting rules come from? Accounting practice comes from hundreds of years of custom and precedent, also known as "the market". It is only recently that accounting standards have been codified into law.
- henning 18y agoI suggest calling this brave new world Rapture ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock#Plot_summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock#Plot_summary ).
- rp 18y agoPerhaps the comparison is off-base but I have not read any mention of the Principality of Sealand in relation to this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
- pchivers 18y agoCheck out the "Review of Similar Projects" section in the Seasteading book: http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_alpha/review.html#Sealand http://seasteading.org/seastead.org/book_alpha/review.html#S...
- zach 18y agoI always get a kick out of Patri's work, but it raises the question, why are countries so reluctant to sell or trade territory? Even if it's universally considered short-sighted, well, governments do a lot of short-sighted things. What incentives are missing?
- helveticaman 18y agoI wonder if one could buy out the citizens of an existing country instead.
- bokonist 18y agoI've wondered that too. Why doesn't Mexico set up a bunch of low-tax, corporate run, special economic zones to attract high tech businesses from the US? With low taxes, low cost of living, and a proper regulatory environment, many businesses would set up shop. Mexico could make an enormous amount of money.
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- ca98am79 18y agoPeter Thiel is awesome
- abas 18y agoIt would be cool if they could go out to the "floating garbage continents" and make use of the plastic to build out their colonies.
- as 18y agoThings Peter Thiel has funded: The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Making sure our eventual AI overlords are benevolent) Aubrey De Grey's Methuselah Mouse Prize (Research toward ending aging) The Seasteading Institute (Build your own nation) I'm really excited about the kind of people the tech boom has made rich.