Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands

Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands

news.yahoo.com[/url ]

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.

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."

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
[url=http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201109/peter-thiel-billionaire-paypal-facebook-internet-success#ixzz1VCNep352]www.details.co m

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.”

Will this go anywhere, who knows. It could be one of the many interesting ideas that wither away for lack of interest and money but I would like to see it tried for no other reason than to have a real world example of the most extreme libertarian principles. Not that I consider myself a “libertarian” in the strictest sense of the word, but considering the number of large-scale failed experiments on the other end of the economic spectrum, it would be interesting to see how it works, or doesn’t for that matter.

And the nicest part about this is no one would be forced into it. Completely voluntary.


[url=http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/silicon-valley-billionaire-funding-creation-artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html]news.yahoo.com[/url ]
(visit the link for the full news article)

I like the idea, in theory. But, really, how many people could occupy an artificial, 'oil-rig-like', platform/island?

I think it would quickly become nothing more than an elite grouping of people doing as they pleased.

What would it take to get accepted onto this island? Money? Probably.

Very interesting idea, until you see the picture:



Looks like a maximum security prison. What kind of life would that be?

It would fail at the rate this country failed.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Very interesting idea, until you see the picture:



Looks like a maximum security prison. What kind of life would that be?

The difference being that you can come and go as you please of course.

There is already a few of these in existence.

I watched a documentary about one off the shore of the UK not long ago.

It's a very interesting issue.

I want to point out that international governments and others will end up raiding the place a few times though, citing drugs or whatever reasoning. It happened to the rig in the documentary I watched.

It's a good idea but really, it doesn't solve anything.

I want my homeland, America, to be supporting the ideals of liberty. Let's solve the root of the problem, then we won't have to hide out in the middle of the ocean.

The global narcotics industry is sure to approve of this idea.
Offshore banking may take on a whole different meaning, too.
I suppose if push came to shove, these characters wouldn't have any trouble findingfunding and deep-pocketed backers for their endevor. I wonder what their stance on human trafficing and international sexual slavery is?

And ladies and gentlemen - you now probably have the real "Elite" who will actually survive when "TSHTF".

As a side note - you've also got a very interesting entry into the movie "Waterworld"

reply to post by SmokeandShadow


There is a good example of one of these ideas which has worked OK, and would work Great if the govt would stop meddling in their affairs.

no guns restrictions, no laws, no police, unlimited booze and drugs. save yourself a fortune and move to somalia.

Its sounds like a modern day Atlantis.

And by the picture TrueAmerican posted only added to this .

Plus $1.25 million is not really a big investment in today money.

No building codes sounds pretty sketchy to me. I also don't buy the no rules business because somebody always ends up calling the shots, and in this setting it will probably be the guy or gal with the most $$$.

The rest will once again be suckers. Meanwhile, where does their garbage go? Into the ocean? Eventually ending up on our shores?

Then there's all the dirty-work and manual labour that needs to be done. It will probably be done through near-slave labour something like in Bahrain, but worse.

I can't believe that people with money can be so dumb as to think this could work.

The simple fact that the only way to have a free society is to manufacture a barge in international waters or to deposit a massive dome at the bottom of the sea or blast off of this rock and colonize another planet entirely is the saddest thing.

That tyranny is so engrained in humanity that liberty's only hope is to abandon it altogether.

Interesting idea. Reminds me of the setting for Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". A place where those of scientific minds can go do their thing, restriction-free.

Shame there's so much cynicism surrounding this, but I suppose it's warrented. Like so many other things before, we humans have an amazing capacity for turning things that sound truly amazing on paper, into total crap-fests.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Don't forget the Lagrangian points, there are five of them and they are prime locations, especially L4 and L5, for massive orbital arcological habitats.

I would bet in the next few decades, L4 or L5 is going to be colonized by the ultra wealthy as an orbital data haven and offworld financial center.

...eee-uuu... makes me nauseous just to think about it... i'm a land-lubber...

how about they just buy an island instead of making an oil rig? Is that to far out of the box?

reply to post by camaro68ss


It can be moved.

There is a good Netflix documentary that covers an acclaimed futurist and he too drew designs of floating cities. I like the idea but its more about the people that initiate it than anything - do they have a good vision and respect for liberty and freedom or are they Republicans or Democrats?

I would be more worried that its a scam meant to remove prominent libertarians from the Earth.

reply to post by SirMike


As a libertarian myself, I in know way want to be on an island with no controlling authority to reign in people that want to destroy my liberty. There is a proper purpose of government, and it is to protect ME and YOU from roving bands of idiots with guns that will force you to comply with their own moral code and rules of society through threats. So in that island, apparently you can blow someone away without consequence. That is not liberty. That is not libertarian. That is anarchy.