Webbo Posted 13 November 2017 Posted 13 November 2017 Quote The world's first floating nation is set to appear in the Pacific Ocean off the island of Tahiti in 2020. A handful of hotels, homes, offices, restaurants and more will be built in the next few years by the nonprofit Seasteading Institute, which hopes to 'liberate humanity from politicians'. The radical plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, could see the creation of an independent nation that will float in international waters and operate within its own laws. In a new interview, Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said he wants to see 'thousands' of rogue floating cities by 2050, each of them 'offering different ways of governance'. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077575/The-world-s-floating-city-set-2020-build.html#ixzz4yLqkjROi Personally I find stuff like this fascinating. I can see how it would liberate us from govt but at the same time could be quite dangerous.
leicsmac Posted 13 November 2017 Posted 13 November 2017 No Gods. No Kings. Only...wait, what are all these fvcking riots? In all seriousness though, this does sound pretty interesting.
Stadt Posted 13 November 2017 Posted 13 November 2017 Seems kinda dystopian sci-fi bullshit, rogue floating city states but also quite interesting
Bayfox Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 3 hours ago, Jattdogg said: Can they play in afcon? Didn't qualify finished bottom of group with Nigeria.
Buce Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 This reminds me of a Sci-Fi novel (the name of which escapes me, but I think it was written by James Blish) in which the cities of Earth become individual space-travelling entities, hawking their skills around the galaxy. A good read, iirc. Edit: This is it, Cities in Flight
Webbo Posted 14 November 2017 Author Posted 14 November 2017 It would obviously be a floating tax haven for retired billionaires but who would protect them from pirates if they weren't part of any country? Who'd make and enforce the law?
Captain... Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 1 hour ago, Webbo said: Who'd make and enforce the law? They would have to be self governing, and create a law enforcing unit, so liberate you from one government to be under the rule of another. They would also need to trade heavily with existing countries/governments, you can probably live off fish and seaweed, but you can't mine/grow all the raw materials for construction and won't have the space for manufacturing and production, especially for high end consumer products which would need to be bought in and all the fixtures and fittings of their high end hotels, you would need a water treatment plant and some form of energy generation, I see solar panels on the plans, and probably some sort of wave power generation on the ring, but this needs materials and expertise. Any attempt at setting up as a completely free and independent state would fail quickly as it would need to come in line with the rest of the world for trade, finance, migration and aid or be cut off completely. I like the idea, but it isn't going to liberate anyone from anything apart from a few rich people from their tax burden.
Alf Bentley Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 6 hours ago, Jattdogg said: Can they play in afcon? If they're moored off Tahiti, they'll qualify for the next OFC Nations Cup (Oceania). However, as they start floating around the globe, I understand that they plan to play in the next Afcon, then the Copa America, lobbing up in the Channel in time to knock us out of the 2020 Euros.
Alf Bentley Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 1 hour ago, Webbo said: It would obviously be a floating tax haven for retired billionaires but who would protect them from pirates if they weren't part of any country? Who'd make and enforce the law? Presumably the residents would be able to pay top dollar to employ private security against pirates and for law enforcement. But who would make the law? Would the security guards, agricultural labourers and hotel workers be given a vote, or only the billionaires whose cash funded the set-up? Could end up with pre-19th century governance structures as the billionaires surely wouldn't risk security guards and waiters voting to nationalise their hotels? I'm sure some good could come out of it: some experimentation with new forms of agriculture, employment for innovative specialists and for migrant labour etc. But the same applies whenever benevolent billionaires invest some of their billions in existing society: e.g. when Bill Gates invests some of his billions in health/development projects etc. Existing states, international bodies like the UN or ad-hoc groups of states could undertake the same projects. Would their governance be perfect? No. Would the governance of these city states be better? I doubt it. A basic point: these floating cities would require enormous investment. Surely those stumping up the cash would seek to retain significant control of the investment? So, the range of "different ways of governance" might be quite limited. I can't see many operating as communal societies or even one-person-one-vote democracies (without residence/capital qualifications). They say they want to "liberate humanity from politicians", but do they really want to liberate billionaires from the inconvenience of democracy, imperfect as it is? In effect, there has already been a trial run in many Caribbean islands, which has resulted in quite a few tax havens - plenty of innovative management of private cash, but not much innovative governance of society! Anyway, wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a massive boat, declare it a nation state and float around the globe as you wanted. Many of the experiments that they mention could be done on a large boat with appropriate facilities, couldn't they? Even agriculture, with appropriate attention to local weather and seasons - or use of equipment? Of course, they would run into problems as soon as they trod on the toes of any major nations, trading zones or existing corporate interests....
Strokes Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 Would the spanish government recognise them though? Otherwise whats the point?
Guest Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 1 hour ago, Captain... said: They would have to be self governing, and create a law enforcing unit, so liberate you from one government to be under the rule of another. They would also need to trade heavily with existing countries/governments, you can probably live off fish and seaweed, but you can't mine/grow all the raw materials for construction and won't have the space for manufacturing and production, especially for high end consumer products which would need to be bought in and all the fixtures and fittings of their high end hotels, you would need a water treatment plant and some form of energy generation, I see solar panels on the plans, and probably some sort of wave power generation on the ring, but this needs materials and expertise. Any attempt at setting up as a completely free and independent state would fail quickly as it would need to come in line with the rest of the world for trade, finance, migration and aid or be cut off completely. I like the idea, but it isn't going to liberate anyone from anything apart from a few rich people from their tax burden. Basically a floating Brexit then....
foxy boxing Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 Waterworld with Kevin Costner suddenly springs into mind!
Finnegan Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 12 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said: I immediately think of... 36 minutes ago, foxy boxing said: Waterworld with Kevin Costner suddenly springs into mind! I was coming in this thread to say both these things. Would you kindly both get out of my head.
Kalacs_Orthopedic_Shoe Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 They would have to be self governing, and create a law enforcing unit, so liberate you from one government to be under the rule of another. They would also need to trade heavily with existing countries/governments, you can probably live off fish and seaweed, but you can't mine/grow all the raw materials for construction and won't have the space for manufacturing and production, especially for high end consumer products which would need to be bought in and all the fixtures and fittings of their high end hotels, you would need a water treatment plant and some form of energy generation, I see solar panels on the plans, and probably some sort of wave power generation on the ring, but this needs materials and expertise. Any attempt at setting up as a completely free and independent state would fail quickly as it would need to come in line with the rest of the world for trade, finance, migration and aid or be cut off completely. I like the idea, but it isn't going to liberate anyone from anything apart from a few rich people from their tax burden.Couple of tidal waves soon have them begging for Lenny Henry to come see them...Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Guest Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 If Scotland had voted for independance they could have done similar - apart from the floating bit obviously.
whoareyaaa Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 1 hour ago, foxy boxing said: Waterworld with Kevin Costner suddenly springs into mind! Great film
whoareyaaa Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 This would be a good idea until a hurricane, tsunami or an unexpected iceberg struck it
Finnegan Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 1 hour ago, whoareyaaa said: Great film Wouldn't go that far.
whoareyaaa Posted 14 November 2017 Posted 14 November 2017 19 minutes ago, Finnegan said: Wouldn't go that far. Classic mate
Webbo Posted 14 November 2017 Author Posted 14 November 2017 7 hours ago, Captain... said: They would have to be self governing, and create a law enforcing unit, so liberate you from one government to be under the rule of another. They would also need to trade heavily with existing countries/governments, you can probably live off fish and seaweed, but you can't mine/grow all the raw materials for construction and won't have the space for manufacturing and production, especially for high end consumer products which would need to be bought in and all the fixtures and fittings of their high end hotels, you would need a water treatment plant and some form of energy generation, I see solar panels on the plans, and probably some sort of wave power generation on the ring, but this needs materials and expertise. Any attempt at setting up as a completely free and independent state would fail quickly as it would need to come in line with the rest of the world for trade, finance, migration and aid or be cut off completely. I like the idea, but it isn't going to liberate anyone from anything apart from a few rich people from their tax burden. It was questions like these I had in mind. Obviously you have some sort of govt but for those of us who believe in small govt it would be preferable. What if they legalised paedophilia or whipping your servants? Would there extradition for criminals?
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