I think defending against pirates would be economically feasible through private security. The more serious problem would be defending against aggressive states

I think defending against pirates would be economically feasible through private security. The more serious problem would be defending against aggressive states. Real political progress would entail policies like legalized drugs, freedom of information and ideas, physical currency, etc. that would likely raise the ire of powerful states. Like the article says, these kinds of political experiments have the potential to act as competition toward established nations. Sadly, I think that nations would realize this and attempt to preempt the challenge through force if they could, this being their main advantage.