Silicon Valley billionaire ready to create own libertarian country on water
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 lat-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.”
“There are quite a lot of people who think it’s not possible,” Thiel said at a Seasteading Institute Conference in 2009, according to Details. (His first donation was in 2008, for $500,000.) “That’s a good thing. We don’t need to really worry about those people very much, because since they don’t think it’s possible they won’t take us very seriously. And they will not actually try to stop us until it’s too late.”
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Playing APB Reloaded myself, its very unique but rage inducing until you get the hang of it. Its free to play.
On subject, I like this idea, but it will most likely just turn into another community with the eventual strict HOA. Meh, but at least it will have a water view!
Alinsky on August 16, 2011 at 2:31 PM
what happens when one of these floats too close to Cuba and refugees escape Cuba to the floating city? will the “free of laws and moral codes” floating village take them in?
what happens when a hurricane/tsunami topples one of these floating islands? will they depend on the U.S. gov to bail them out?
what happens when the majority of citizens become ill from a virus (or STD) and need quality healthcare that is found only in the U.S.?
what happens when the absence of moral codes and laws results in a chaotic community that needs moral boundaries?
jediwebdude on August 16, 2011 at 2:34 PM
Paypal and Facebook have used litigation and regulation to elbow out competition, and mostly employee low wage workers for the essential operations. Anyone else find this ironic?
Rainsford on August 16, 2011 at 2:36 PM
What does that have to do with what the National Socialist Left is doing to this country and the fact that some feel the need to go Galt?
Chip on August 16, 2011 at 2:47 PM
They go the US and get treatment. It’s not like a hospital in the US will deny someone treatment for not being US citizens. If you doubt me, take a trip to a San Diego hospital some day and see if you can spot a single US citizen getting treatment.
angryed on August 16, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Is it going to be named “Petoria”?
andycanuck on August 16, 2011 at 3:02 PM
Island, particularly artificial ones, don’t strike me as a perfect venue for libertarianism. A herd of cats is not going to maintain the place.
mojo on August 16, 2011 at 3:13 PM
Why automatically assume that a free market healthcare will be worse than ObamaCare? A Hell of a lot of doctors and patients will be glad to go to go where they can treat and get treated more freely.
The only question any rational person should be asking is: will the new “fundamentally transformed” Socialized Medicine system let the inevitable brain drain happen without violence?
logis on August 16, 2011 at 4:07 PM
If they’re going to live on a man-made island, perhaps they should rethink their opposition to building codes.
Kafir on August 16, 2011 at 4:18 PM
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