Seasteading again?

[grixit]

Off California, i would imagine that there'd be columbian and mexican drug dealers fighting for control.

[Brandybuck]

You may have pirates close into Somalia or Indonesia, but you won't have them 201 miles off of California. The biggest obstacle is not pirates, but governments deciding to take over.

There is piracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, although 200 miles off-shore would not be where they usually feed. But if you had a permanently parked enclave of rich people off the coast of California, beyond the reach of quick assistance from law enforcement, I think there is a chance you would attract criminals. (However, I would bet an off-shore enclave of rich libertarians would own guns, if only because they can.)

Then why don't they hijack those ships full of expensive cargo plying the waters between Singapore
and Los Angeles? Answer: They are flying the flags of nations. Which means if they get attacked the navies of those nations get upset. Although seasteaders are anarchists, they are not stupid anarchists. They intend to get their platforms registered to fly a flag.

[Brandybuck]

Oh, in what reality is that? The reality is that most if not all of those so called Utopian communities either simply failed or else failed spectacularly.

Yeah, Plymouth Colony is no more. Ancient history. Ditto for William Penn's utopian experiment. Rhode Island, New Amsterdam, Virginia, Maryland... ditto. Bunch of crazies who should have stayed in Europe if they had had any sense.

Just what are these so called Seasteading communities supposed to be doing to support themselves? I have seen nothing to date to indicate this, and as they are now constituted, they are unsustainable, whether for the short term or the long term,

They have several ideas. One is "medical tourism". Instead of heading off to Cuba or Mexico or elsewhere for your FDA unapproved procedure, head to a medical seastead. Ditto if your European "free" healthplan has put you on a two year wai ting list.

This is just plain nonsense, you put something like that out in the water, and it will attract just ]such an action, particularly if it is infested with the rich and stupid.

I'll mostly agree with you on this. I do think the seasteading idea won't work for the same reason anarchy itself won't work: for all its faults, having a government provides the big benefit of not having to spend your time fighting off criminals (and other governments).

[Brandybuck]

First of all, Somali pirates have raided as far out as the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of India.

Secondly, it doesn't matter what flag you fly they're still gonna hit it - that's why they're called pirates.

Commercial ships today are not armed. International treaties prevent them from being armed. But we still have commercial shipping despite pirates. Many seasteading designs are ships, and even the platforms are intended to be movable. So the solution to piracy would be essentially the same as for current shipping.

Also, if they are big enough for a fancy schmancy house/mansion...

The plan is NOT to have fancy schmancy houses or mansions. One plan is to convert an existing cruise ship to condominiums (something that already exists, btw), but the idea of seasteads is to be productive ventures. Medical tourism, aquaculture, data havens, etc.

Please note that I am not a gung ho support of seasteading. I think it is an intriguing idea, but highly doubt it can work in practice. I am merely trying to dispel the notion that it is all about insane billionaires wanting to secede from the continental shelf.

[nikki2]

Then why don't they hijack those ships full of expensive cargo plying the waters between Singapore and Los Angeles?

Better answer: Both China and the United States would get somewhat riled if pirates started operating near their coastlines -- even if it were in international waters.

Both countries have sufficient military resources to make life extremely unpleasant for any pirates, their ships, their home towns, and anyone supporting them.

[Cathulhu]

I always wanted to be a pirate captain--but I'll tell the population I'm a caterer, and charge prices for food that make a pirate look like a piker. Yo ho ho!

I can get you some good staff from Somalia.

Not needed--my cousins (and their assorted punk bands) are already volunteering...