Billionaire funding artificial libertarian islands

[Jasper]

Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/sil ... 40896.html

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."

"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."

The Seasteading Institute's Patri Friedman says the group plans to launch an office park off the San Francisco coast next year, with the first full-time settlements following seven years later.

Thiel made news earlier this year for putting a portion of his $1.5 billion fortune into an initiative to encourage entrepreneurs to skip college.

Another Silicon Valley titan, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced in June that he would be funding the "Clock of the Long Now." The clock is designed to keep ticking for 10,000 years, and will be built in a mountain in west Texas.

[chaos]

They can experiment with people who have been convicted of heinous crimes.

[Larry B.]

This is awesome.

[Bandit72]

They can experiment with people who have been convicted of heinous crimes.

I know they've never been convicted but do you think George Bush and his dad would want to go?

[chaos]

They can experiment with people who have been convicted of heinous crimes.

I know they've never been convicted but do you think George Bush and his dad would want to go?

Yeah, "convicted" is too generous.

[Hokahey]

Neato.

I want to go.

[sinep]

Neato.

I want to go.

no you don't. because it's not for individuals. that wouldn't mane any sense.

it's for industry and corporations.

[Hokahey]

Neato.

I want to go.

no you don't. because it's not for individuals. that wouldn't mane any sense.

it's for industry and corporations.

Is this a joke? I'm tired. I don't get it.

[Hype]

no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

In other words, pre-enlightenment, pre-renaissance Europe. So ... the fuckin' dark ages.

[MYXYLPLYX]

no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

In other words, pre-enlightenment, pre-renaissance Europe. So ... the fuckin' dark ages.

Dude, were you even there? That shit was off the chizain!

I love the idea of loose building codes on floating islands.

Throw in missle launchers and flame throwers for everyone and you've got the plot for a really bad science fiction movie...maybe call it "Water World"?

[Juana]

This sounds like a great idea, water world in real life fo sho

[Hokahey]

Keep what you earn, have full rights over your own body and property...

[Pure Method]

yes, for fuck's sake, I can finally hoard all of my property and no one can say a goddam thing.

life = struggle to obtain as much property as possible and keep it


cause that's all that matters, herp derp

[Hokahey]

yes, for fuck's sake, I can finally hoard all of my property and no one can say a goddam thing.

life = struggle to obtain as much property as possible and keep it


cause that's all that matters, herp derp

life = the government taking portions of your property at gun point if necessary?

life = the government restricting what you can do with your own body, home and business?

herp derp indeed my friend

Your opinion on what is important in life has no bearing on the definition of true liberty.

If I want to stockpile what IM EARNING for future generations of my family to have then that should be my option. If you want to do the same then do it. If you don't, then don't.

[Pure Method]

fuck future generations of your family (or mine, for that matter, and by future, I mean as of yet not present, not yr kids).

yeah, the government can have my money, to pay for schools, so I live in an educated society, not one where we can't even direct our economy without concessions to political extremists (one can dream)

yeah, the government can have my money to pay for cops so my beat-up volvo doesn't get stolen or I don't get raped (or is there a Reason magazine study that suggest that people behave better w/o police?).

yeah, the government can have my money to launch wars to protect the corporate interests of our society at large (just kidding)

I like things like parks and roads, hospitals, education, that sorta thing. just because I won the proverbial biological lottery doesn't (shouldn't) mean I deserve more access to those things than others.

I agree, there is some risk in creating too large a social net, a moral hazard if you will (look at Europe where no one works or pays taxes, ahem), but we need someone supervising this shit in terms of safety, etc.

or should that Ralph Nader "unsafe at any speed" car still be allowed to be sold, until market forces eliminate it?

edit: sorry for saying fuck so much, not directed at you, personally

[Hokahey]

fuck future generations of your family (or mine, for that matter, and by future, I mean as of yet not present, not yr kids).

Uh, ok. Why? I'm working hard now so my children and their children will be able to do better than I was able to.

yeah, the government can have my money, to pay for schools, so I live in an educated society

Where do you live? Because where I live the public school system is a broken mess and I can do little about it because I already pay to keep these schools afloat and give my child a mandatory crappy education. Awesome! Nice dream world.

not one where we can't even direct our economy without concessions to political extremists (one can dream)

We can't direct our economy because we're broke and keep printing money.

yeah, the government can have my money to pay for cops so my beat-up volvo doesn't get stolen or I don't get raped (or is there a Reason magazine study that suggest that people behave better w/o police?).

I never said we shouldn't have a police force. But they should of course be local. Fuck the feds.

yeah, the government can have my money to launch wars to protect the corporate interests of our society at large (just kidding)

Why are you kidding? You realize that's where a very large portion of the money they're taking from you involuntarily is going right?

I like things like parks

Not necessary to be maintained by the fed government

and roads

Maintained at the loval level - great!

hospitals

Should not be funded by the government. There are plenty of free clinics by the way.

education, that sorta thing.

Already covered.

just because I won the proverbial biological lottery doesn't (shouldn't) mean I deserve more access to those things than others.

Why does not having the property you've rightfully earned forcibly taken from you mean you've been deemed more deserving?

If you feel guilty about your property then give it away. No one's stopping you. Charitable giving is a wonderful thing.

But don't take mine from me to support programs that are abused to the point of ridiculousness by people unwilling to work as hard as I am.

The people that are genuinely in need have plenty of non government sponsored programs to rely on.

I agree, there is some risk in creating too large a social net, a moral hazard if you will (look at Europe where no one works or pays taxes, ahem),

Good man...

but we need someone supervising this shit in terms of safety, etc.

Not at the federal level we don't. Let each state decide. Move to the state you feel does it best.

edit: sorry for saying fuck so much, not directed at you, personally

No worries. Just friendly debate.

[Juana]

The only thing I don't agree with is what if some shit hole state like South Dakota is the only one that you agree with the local way its run?

The only reason there is a federal AND state level is because of the constitution. The founding fathers felt we needed both. While you don't I do but I agree there should be less federal involvement on local things. But in some states like say Louisiana they need the federal funding to do things so they have to also abide by what the feds what them to do.

[Hype]

Not necessary to be maintained by the fed government

http://www.cr.nps.gov/archeology/sites/ ... /about.htm

After a generation-long effort, on June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law, thus establishing the first general legal protection of cultural and natural resources in the United States.

It's idiotic to think that that's something that should be left to a state-by-state basis... You either have a collective heritage that it's in everyone's interest to preserve, or you should just be separate countries.

[Hokahey]

It's idiotic to think that that's something that should be left to a state-by-state basis...

I'm not arguing that at all. I'm saying they should be sold to private interests.

You either have a collective heritage that it's in everyone's interest to preserve, or you should just be separate countries.

Well, they are ...states. But no, not private counrtries. And just because there's no collective heritage being preserved at a federal level doesn't mean we should be seperate countries. There's really no substance to that point.

[Hype]

It's idiotic to think that that's something that should be left to a state-by-state basis...

I'm not arguing that at all. I'm saying they should be sold to private interests.

You either have a collective heritage that it's in everyone's interest to preserve, or you should just be separate countries.

Well, they are ...states. But no, not private counrtries. And just because there's no collective heritage being preserved at a federal level doesn't mean we should be seperate countries. There's really no substance to that point.

Yes there is. That's what states are... that's what a national identity is...

[Hokahey]

It's idiotic to think that that's something that should be left to a state-by-state basis...

I'm not arguing that at all. I'm saying they should be sold to private interests.

You either have a collective heritage that it's in everyone's interest to preserve, or you should just be separate countries.

Well, they are ...states. But no, not private counrtries. And just because there's no collective heritage being preserved at a federal level doesn't mean we should be seperate countries. There's really no substance to that point.

Yes there is. That's what states are... that's what a national identity is...

So unless a central government is responsible for maintaining the parks of a country it's not a country?

[Hype]

That's not the most significant part of what that act did or does.