I think someone wrote a book about it...
Posted on 02/16/2011 4:47:56 AM PST by Kaslin
Here's a novel idea: Escape the suffocating chains of intrusive government by starting your own country!
That's Patri Friedman's idea. He comes from an impressive line of libertarian thinkers. Milton Friedman, the Nobel-prize-winning free-market economist, was his grandfather. His father is David Friedman, author of the libertarian classic "The Machinery of Freedom." Milton Friedman advocated severely limited government. David Friedman thinks we need no government at all. And now Patri believes he has an effective solution to bad government: communities on the ocean surface, or seasteading.
As a fan of the free market, Friedman understands the benefits of competition. The competitive process teaches us ways to do things we otherwise never would learn. This is important because resources are scarce and we want the most from them. In the crucible of entrepreneurial rivalry, where consumers are free to say yea or nay, competitors are pushed to do better, and under this pressure they come up with things no monopolistic bureaucrat would ever think of. That's why F.A. Hayek called competition a "discovery procedure."
Governments provide various services, but they do so monopolistically. This makes them inept, even when performing valuable functions. You can move to a different city or state to escape government burdens, but it doesn't seem possible to start a whole new country. Governments claim every square mile of the earth.
What is someone looking for better governance to do? In 2008, Friedman set up The Seasteading Institute. His website states: "(W)e believe that experiments are the source of all progress: To find something better, you have to try something new. But right now, there is no open space for experimenting with new societies. That's why we work to enable seasteading communities -- floating cities -- which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for government. The most successful can then inspire change in governments around the world."
In Friedman's view, there is no time to lose. Skyrocketing spending and crushing debt push governments toward crisis. Political incentives being what they are, there is little will for the needed overhaul. The retirement benefits promised by governments are totally unsustainable, and yet proposing significant cuts in benefits has been political suicide. While there is at least serious talk about cuts now, powerful constituencies will mobilize to try to portray any cutter as a monster.
Friedman is convinced that only competition can produce the way to extricate us from the mess the politicians have created. "Seasteaders believe that government shouldn't be like the cell phone carrier industry, with few choices and high customer lock-in. Instead, we envision a vibrant startup sector for government, with many small groups experimenting with innovative ideas as they compete to serve their citizens. ... The world needs a place where those who wish to experiment with building new societies can go to test out their ideas. All land is already claimed -- which makes the oceans humanity's next frontier."
To promote actual experiments in seasteading, Friedman's institute seeks to launch a "Seasteading Evangelist" program, with local chapters for enthusiasts. By 2015, the institute hopes to present its Poseidon Award, "our prize for the establishment of the first independent seasteading community." To win, a community will need at least 50 full-time residents, financial self-sufficiency, seastead real estate for sale on the open market and de-facto political autonomy.
Friedman doesn't expect lots of people to drop everything and start living on the ocean immediately. He writes in the upcoming issue of The Freeman (thefreemanonline.org): "Technology, though, has the potential to make the ocean a feasible alternative for more people. Early pioneers will learn lessons that will make life on the ocean easier, thus prompting previously unwilling pioneers to make the move. Over time, the costs in comfort, safety and access to civilization will fall and the ocean will be just another place to live. This is the path we see on any frontier."
I will not be among the first to move to a seastead. But I wish Patri well. We need all the alternatives to big arthritic government that we can get.
hee hee
I think someone wrote a book about it...
This has been tried before...
There was a nutty Brit who tried this in the late 60s when they tried converting an old Maunsell Forts that were built during the War as air raid defenses, into the independent Principality of Sealand. He issued passports, had a flag and coat of arms and there was even a coup on one of the platforms at one point.
I’m not sure where it all stands today, but as far as I know there are still a lot of Sealand passports floating around out there....
I have an idea. Let’s set up a free republic based on the rule of law, not of men. A nation with a moral basis, in which the purpose of government is to secure the God-given rights to life, liberty, and private property of all the people, from conception to natural death.
We could call it “America,” and its territory could extend from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic Ocean to the islands of the Pacific.
Yeah, we could do that...
The Arabs tried is by pumping sand to form new islands ... which are now sinking back into the sea. Fortunately, there are no hurricanes in that region... just the occacional wars of conquest...
ala the novel Snow Crash.
Figure out how to convert all this free trash:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch
into energy/products and maybe you could sustain a society for a while.
Obamacare will precipitate doctors, our highest paid workers on average, to set up shop offshore. Using Google Earth you can measure sea depth around the world. For hundreds of miles south of the Bahamas, north of Cuba, the Atlantic is very shallow, 5 feet deep in places. It's possible that new land could be dredged up there for a cost comparable to buying existing land. Land is cheaper to maintain than metal alternatives. This area is a 30 minute flight from Florida. So set up an airport, hospital, and military, hire some doctors, and Freeperland is in business. Someone like the Koch brothers could make this happen.
Sounds like a good time to make a pycrete super ship that stays near colder waters, a massive frozen wood chip hull that will not melt as it would have chilling tubes near the out surface.
http://www.theworld.ae/
Wouldn’t (wooden) it be CHEAPER just to have a REAL hull?
Instead of a refrigeration system; fuel to run it,
men to maintain it,
a backup in case it FAILED and
all of those TUBES with refrigerant instead of
a relitively thin pice of steel?
There is usually a REASON things are built they way they are; and it is called ECONOMICs.
“That’s why we work to enable seasteading communities — floating cities”
This was an idea I floated here on FR a few years back. Greens were moaning about the vast amount of plastic waste bobbing in the pacific. I proposed a floating city made of modular floats, rafts, boats and the like to harvest this petroleum-based resource, clean the ocean, and turn a profit.
A new or different society would organically rise from such a thing.
And with all the greenies on the floating city, we could go back to the USA being a producer again.
But how do we get rid of the a—holes who ruined it as they abound and are maintained by free loaders who scream loudly but do nothing constructive. ...Gosh I need a break.
Imagine a steel hull ship built like a huge slab that is say figuratively three times larger than any of the worlds larget supertankers.
A one mile long vessel, this ship never leaves waters much warmer than 40F, it will never be in the tropics. Ammonia refrigeration through solar or wind power would be supplemental but not required, and any time some melting did occur the vessel needs to only travel in colder waters to build its hull back up.
The idea was about creating torpedo proof aircraft carriers during WW2 originally.
I meant to say a mile long steel hulled ship would be too expensive, a wooden one would be feasible.
Something the founders should have put into the Constitution: knock one month off a prisoner's sentence for getting sterlized. It would have managed things, but Democrats would never have allowed it. They need their voter base.
Get back to basics. Get back to principle. Start over.
... and antidotes for boredom.
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