Pay Pal Founder funding Libertarian Island

CptStern

CptStern

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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

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.

no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout...artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html

oh god I can only pray for an outbreak of zombies but I fear it'll descend into cannibalism by the second week
 
Seems interesting. I'd love a place like that, but can't ever see myself leaving Arizona. I love it here, even if I would prefer the island's government.
 
I'll bet they want western navies to protect them form pirates.
 
Mr Stabby said:
I'll bet they want western navies to protect them form pirates.
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Considering the lack of government seizing weapons, the people there will probably be able to defend the island just fine. Not to mention I doubt they're building it anywhere near the coast of Somalia.
 
What are they going to use the 1.25 million dollars for? New hand towels in five of the bathrooms? Catering at the first planning meeting? Sounds like a joke donation he can pull out at dinner parties for comedic effect.
 
When do I get to move in? I'm sure they'll need pilots....
 
It'll still be subject to international law. So suck on that, bitches!

I don't possibly see how those places expect to be self sustaining.

The only way I see the people there being able to thrive is with constant shipments of goods bought from outside countries... with only import and no export, all the revenue being generated by the already wealthy individuals who will probably have dual citizenship and make their money overseas.

"looser building codes" <laugh> You're on a ****ing OIL RIG LIKE PLATFORM.
 
Easy, they'll fish. And as far as energy goes, they just need to reconvert their decommissioned oil rig. It's flawlessly sustainable!

[edit] Pretty much, Raz. I usually think of Libertarianism as a form of self-subjugation to corporate oligarchy, and this just bolsters my belief.
 
Living on an island the size of an oil tanker for the rest of my life? Where do I sign up?
 
RakuraiTenjin said:
Considering the lack of government seizing weapons, the people there will probably be able to defend the island just fine. Not to mention I doubt they're building it anywhere near the coast of Somalia.
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If they built it in the carribean, there are people desperate enough who would resort to piracy , if it wasn't for the US Navy.
 
They could turn it into a shady tourist attraction where people come to gamble and engage in lewd acts otherwise forbidden by any self-respecting governments.
 
15357 said:
They could turn it into a shady tourist attraction where people come to gamble and engage in lewd acts otherwise forbidden by any self-respecting governments.
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pedophile tourists.
 
Don't worry Stern, I won't forget to sign you up with me.
 
oh **** how many religious people will flock to the island only to be consumed by hurricane/tsunami/act of god. it's just asking to be god smacked for it's wickedness. like a modern day Sodom
 
Island-based sodomy is actually exempt from God's wrath as per Ezekiel 1:15 through some passage I just made up.
 
Mr Stabby said:
pedophile tourists.
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Pretty much... though I get the feeling that Numbers is saying how sexually repressed his country makes him and so any sexual act is probably taboo.
 
I think you're misunderstanding libertarian ideal laws. There are of course still going to be laws against murder, assault, etc. Libertarian ideals are that the only valid laws are ones that ensure you cannot infringe upon someone else's rights. So that includes all attacks, rapes, etc. you all are getting a bit extreme with your ideas lol.

So you can do whatever you want, but you can't stop someone else from doing what they want either (EG: You can build your house however you want, but if your house extension starts overtaking someone else's property or causing it damage that obviously wouldn't be allowed)
 
RakuraiTenjin said:
I think you're misunderstanding libertarian ideal laws. There are of course still going to be laws against murder, assault, etc. Libertarian ideals are that the only valid laws are ones that ensure you cannot infringe upon someone else's rights. So that includes all attacks, rapes, etc. you all are getting a bit extreme with your ideas lol.

So you can do whatever you want, but you can't stop someone else from doing what they want either (EG: You can build your house however you want, but if your house extension starts overtaking someone else's property or causing it damage that obviously wouldn't be allowed)
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ya no:


The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place.
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CptStern said:
ya no:
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Laws as in over regulation and compulsory actions, etc.

It's obviously going to have laws against assault, murder, or rape, etc. I think that's a given and to really, really believe they won't have that is just being dumb. They may not label it as 50 different rules about each crime. They may simply say "Cannot infringe upon another person's rights" which would encompass all of those issues.
 
RakuraiTenjin said:
Laws as in over regulation and compulsory actions, etc.

It's obviously going to have laws against assault, murder, or rape, etc. I think that's a given and to really, really believe they won't have that is just being dumb. They may not label it as 50 different rules about each crime. They may simply say "Cannot infringe upon another person's rights" which would encompass all of those issues.
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how do you get all that from this sentence:

The idea is for these countries to start from scratch--free from the laws, regulations, and moral codes of any existing place.
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sounds like they'll write their own laws on a per case basis as it's needed. and what makes you think these things would even happen? you think anyone even remotely middle class will be allowed to own a slice of libertarian island?
 
I think there are more interesting issues to resolve than what is implied by a careless piece of journalistic prose from Yahoo News, which doesn't necessarily reflect on the project itself.
 
natural law and natural rights appear on their own, God invented them.
 
RakuraiTenjin said:
There is a difference between libertarianism and anarchism. You're implying that he means there will be NO RULES whatsoever. The golden rule of libertarianism is that you cannot infringe upon someone else's rights. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that.
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He's obviously talking about the idea for this island and not libertarianism in general. The quote says there will be no laws whatsoever. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that. If you want to argue that this isn't a proper libertarian island, go for it. But he's not implying shit, the quote speaks for itself.
 
CptStern said:
the quote is attributed to his partner Patri Friedman

http://www.details.com/culture-tren...aypal-facebook-internet-success?currentPage=2
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Fair enough. Looks like it really was careless journalistic prose, i.e. nicked wholesale. But it doesn't necessarily imply that there will be no laws whatsoever regarding murder or rape; only that these will proceed from a 'new beginning' in theory unrelated to the strictures of any current country. What I'm intersted in is how and whether it could ever become anything more than a gated community for the rich, a country specifically built as a tax haven for people who are making their money primarily in other nations. It will be fascinating to see if it works, though I have my doubts. And of course we're all looking forward to the possible Rapture-like breakdown, if only for the television.

Though hey, what do I know, maybe they'll have no laws at all.
 
Patri Friedman is the grandson of Milton Friedman, a libertarian economist.

These kind of havens have existed before and still do to a degree. British Hong Kong, Monaco, Virgin Islands etc. They typically work quite well for the place the wealth is being drawn too.
Rick Perry the governor of Texas, is running for president on the fact Texas is sucking jobs and wealth away from other states.

Ross Perot has already refuted Libertarianism as a means to run a large economy. You can't suck the wealth from one place to another without somebody losing jobs and money.
 
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