Peter Thiel's floating city

[pmbug]

I first saw reports of this back in August of last year:

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."
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More: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout...artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html

Thunderdome at sea? lol. Anyway, looks like he hasn't given up on the idea:

Imagine living on a serene, man-made floating city where you can live and work with other like-minded individuals from all over the globe, without direct influence from any government entity. If Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel has his way, that wild idea may be just a few years away. The wealthy venture capitalist is putting his money behind Blueseed, a company that promises to create an offshore luxury barge where young entrepreneurs can work, live, and socialize, all without the constraints of a modern city — or pesky immigration laws.

The Blueseed vessel will be more of a floating city than an actual ship, and will come complete with work and living spaces, outdoor areas, and sports and leisure activities. The idea is that startups and solo entrepreneurs will leave their terrestrial lives almost completely, and call the Blueseed ship their primary home.
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More: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/paypal-co-founder-to-build-a-city-on-the-sea.html

 

[benjamen]

This will run into the problem of who actually owns portions of the floating island and what rules can you enforce? In a true libertarian setup, the only rules that truely apply are private property laws:

1) If you are on my property, you follow my rules. If you do not like those rules, you leave my property.

2) If your actions damage my property, you are liable for your actions.

3) My body is included as part of property; thru this extention, things like murder, assault, rape become inherently covered by private property law

 

[bushi]

...imagine the price of an acre there :rotflmbo:

 

[Shelby-villian]

I'm intrigued. But I don't think its going to be a reality before the riots begin here in the US. Shame.

 

[mike]

This will run into the problem of who actually owns portions of the floating island and what rules can you enforce?

I don't see the problem. Everything is enforced with contracts.

 

[ancona]

I think he's alluding to the sort of problems that crop up in condo buildings and co-ops. Sure, you own your unit, but the public areas problems are joint and several, meaning whether or not you care to pay to pay for some public area thing or another, you will be assessed, then if you do not pay, fined. What about the hull and engines? Who owns them? What if one group of "owners" wants to paint all corridors, but you are willing to defer the work for a year? When a 51% majority rules, you automatically lose. Libertarianism cannot co-exist with egalitarianism. They are the antithesis of one another.

 

[DCFusor]

This one failed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

 

[ancona]

I just read the entire Wiki on that DC. Very interesting to say the least. This thing was built to withstand the North Sea and all her fury, but it is dependent upon the mainland for power and water. unless there is a cistern system from the roof and platform into [perhaps] a tank or a hollow in one or both of the legs, they would have to pay to have agua brought in by barge or pipeline. Same with power. Same with all but seafood. I suppose they could leave permanent drift-lines out, but that would get awfully boring after a while.

 

[HCA1961]

Hmmmm...interesting concept. Sounds like Galt's Gulch in Atlas Shrugged.

 

[ancona]

Hmmmm...interesting concept. Sounds like Galt's Gulch in Atlas Shrugged.

Hahaha! Only much smaller and dependent upon government systems for survival. However, I give the guy a lot of points for tenacity and simple resistance.