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Paypal Founder Puts a Half Million Dollars Into Seasteading
eldavojohn writes "Wired is running an informative article on Paypal Founder Peter Thiel's investment in seasteading. There's a great graphic indicating how the spar design helps platforms weather rough seas with a ballast. There's a lot more than just Thiel throwing the half million towards this and they hope to pitch this to San Fransisco for a bay pilot. Ocean colonies can be both liberating and also downright human-rights-lacking scary."
This spot is my spot, that spot is my spot. I have a Rail Gun, you haven't got one. So give me your stuff because I want it. This world was made for only me.
What happens when a giant oil tanker or a cruise ship crashes into one of these seasteads at night during a storm. Wouldn't all hell break loose?
-- Betting on the survival of the media industry is a serious risk. I advise investing elsewhere.
How much you want to bet that after the Liberatarian/Objectivist/Transhumanist crowd breaks this barrier, that the next round of "quasi-sovereign" pioneers on the high-seas will be near-kin to the FLDS or Austrian Basement Incest Rape-Slaves?
Those that think this is a great idea, have already exposed their latent socipathy.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
This scheme will fail just as every simplistic ideologically driven utopian fantasy has failed.
Oh I'm sure they have it all worked out. Just look at how successful they are despite being burdened with paying taxes. Now imagine how successful they will be WITHOUT taxes! How clever. How naive.
The degree of spectacularity of the failure is still to be determined, and I would guess it will be about proportional to the level to which the founding oligarchs take their commitment to the faith.
One thing is for sure... it will be hilarious to see the look on their faces when they call the US government to rescue them from some terrible thing such as cuban invaders, a stiff breeze, or worst or all... creeping statism. Naturally they will blame their failure on some list of imperfections that prevented them from having a true libertarian utopia. After all, it works so well in Ayn Rand and Vernor Vinge novels, how could it not work just as well in the real world?