osrb
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Post by osrb on Aug 17, 2011 11:26:40 GMT -5
Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine. Thiel has been a big backer of the Seasteading Institute, which seeks to build sovereign nations on oil rig-like platforms to occupy waters beyond the reach of law-of-the-sea treaties. The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place. Details says the experiment would be "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." Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands************************************************* where do I sign up? I like the concept hope the execution goes good. |
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pompey
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Post by pompey on Aug 17, 2011 11:46:28 GMT -5
So let me get this straight:
All the richest criminals on earth are going to go live on a below-code oil rig in the middle of the ocean with all the weapons their sociopathic hearts could possibly desire?
I'm 100% for it.
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osrb
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Post by osrb on Aug 17, 2011 11:51:07 GMT -5
They may be the richest but not the biggest. just look at our government.
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pompey
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Post by pompey on Aug 17, 2011 11:54:15 GMT -5
So how many days do you think this Randian paradise would last before the pirates showed up?
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osrb
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Post by osrb on Aug 17, 2011 12:00:10 GMT -5
So how many days do you think this Randian paradise would last before the pirates showed up? My guess a long time. With an armed population they would have to be nuts to try. No just they but I would not put it passed them to add CIWS to the defense.  Nothing says stay back like a hail of 20mm rounds. |
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pompey
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Post by pompey on Aug 17, 2011 12:09:10 GMT -5
Which will work just fine until you, you know, run out of bullets. Oops.
It will be fun watching the Coast Guard pick your fat asses out of the water when the whole "not up to building code" platform collapses. Hope the water's not too cold.
Or would you "rugged individualists" refuse such assistance from the evil government?
Anyway, go. PLEASE.
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osrb
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Post by osrb on Aug 17, 2011 13:11:24 GMT -5
pomp you just do not like anyplace where the government does not control your life.
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pompey
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Post by pompey on Aug 17, 2011 13:26:36 GMT -5
pomp you just do not like anyplace where the government does not control your life. Huh? No, I absolutely LOVE this idea, and I urge you to go to this shangri-la as soon as possible. Just look out for hurricanes and typhoons. Too bad your anti-government principles won't allow you to benefit from NOAA, NWS and other government-administered weather forecasting services that tell the rest of us to seek higher ground. Don't worry, I'm sure that if (when) anything goes wrong, the global community will fall over itself in an effort to rapidly rescue a sinking oil platform populated by wealthy, me-first tax cheats. We'll get right on that, uh-huh. Y'all go ahead and start swimming, and we'll be with you shortly. In a hurry to enjoy "true freedom"? Well, there's always Somalia if you can't wait. No pesky government there to "control your life". Paradise for you libertarian types, innit? Bon voyage! |
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Post by gridbug on Aug 18, 2011 11:24:37 GMT -5
Who wants to play BioShock IRL?  No really, sounds fun! |
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Post by Justin Thyme on Aug 18, 2011 12:46:57 GMT -5
This has been tried once before after an eccentric bought an old WWII anti-aircraft station built off the coast of Great Britain. I don't think that one ended too well. No one would recognize it as a country.
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Post by gridbug on Aug 18, 2011 13:17:09 GMT -5
Do you mean Sealand? That was never intended to be a community, it was an Internet server farm trying to exist outside the jurisdiction of any country. "Information wants to be free." They were just looking for a free place for information to be.
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Post by Warkitty on Aug 18, 2011 14:13:53 GMT -5
I love it. A bunch of megalomaniacs stuck living together on a boat with no laws.
PERFECT!
(the entertainment factor involved if a few webcams were installed in strategic places alone would be worth it. I mean, I've SEEN megalomaniacs interact when they have places to get away from each other. Sticking them in a location where they can't really get that far from each other? CLASSIC!)
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JC
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Post by JC on Aug 18, 2011 14:53:19 GMT -5
Good idear, WK! But only if we can call the show "Big Brother"
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Post by Justin Thyme on Aug 18, 2011 15:09:23 GMT -5
Do you mean Sealand? That was never intended to be a community, it was an Internet server farm trying to exist outside the jurisdiction of any country. "Information wants to be free." They were just looking for a free place for information to be. Havenco was the server farm. It was located on Sealand but that didn't come about until 2000 and legal issues kept it from succeeding. Sealand was founded in 1967 by Sgt Maj Paddy Roy Bates. I don't think it has ever been attacked by pirates. |
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pompey
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Post by pompey on Aug 18, 2011 18:43:57 GMT -5
Atlas Sank.
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RuneDeer
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Post by RuneDeer on Aug 19, 2011 21:36:14 GMT -5
To paraphrase another blogger:
A floating city. In the middle of the ocean. Made under the aegis of "looser building codes." Excellent idea. What could possibly go wrong??
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