Libertarian Wet Dream
Literally. This newest John Galt gimmick is sort of a cross between Atlas Shrugged and Waterworld.
I like Ayn Rand as much as the next person. Who could read The Fountainhead and not be rooting for Howard Roark to stomp all over those faceless one-dimensional conformists who kept holding him back?
Ditto for Atlas Shrugged. John Galt, Hank Reardon and all the rest of those self-made self-actualizing heroes — how could you not be on their side?
But how do you apply this to the real world? It’s like watching Death Wish and then trying to apply what Charles Bronson “taught” you at your next Neighborhood Watch meeting. Reality gets in the way.
Today’s technology — plus the fact that the population has probably tripled since Atlas Shrugged was written — would prevent America’s movers and shakers from building their own secret community in a hidden canyon somewhere. That damn Google Earth!
What to do? Where can you go to get away from that smothering nanny state and all those clingy parasites? To the ocean. No joke. The Seasteading Institute is a think tank that wants modern day frontiersmen and John Galt wannabes to build large concrete floating platforms in international waters. Free at last. Uh oh, Somali pirate ships on the horizon!
The main founder of this think tank is Patri Friedman, grandson of Milton Friedman. Something about the apple not falling far from the tree…
Friedman acknowledges that Libertarians are too small a minority to ever win any elections. So his solution is seasteading: “Expensive though ocean platforms are, they are still cheap compared to winning a war, an election, or a revolution…the unique nature of the fluid ocean surface means that cities can be built in a modular fashion where entire buildings can be detached and floated away.”
And they lived happily ever after.
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: Patri Friedman Milton Friedman, Seasteading Institute
posted by Tom Harper @ 1:58 AM
12 Comments:
You know, I suddenly feel like rooting for the typhoon.
What are you crying about, Randians? I plainly don't have empathy, which makes me a manly man of rugged individualism.
Randal: No empathy, that's gotta be good. Empathy is a sign of weakness, feminism and class warfare.
I see an even worse re-make of "Waterworld" coming to a theatre near you...
Bee: Even worse? OMG. I watched part of it on TV a long time ago, and I couldn't stand more than half an hour or so before I was channel surfing.
Building islands is all well and good, but what about the whole political idea of imposing your will on others? What does this new country propose to use as currency to pay for the goods and services they will inevitably need to survive? If all they are manufacturing are ideas that most people don't want, how do they intend on raising capital? I think this Friedman guy needs to pass a urine test, and pass it quickly.
Lew: True, I think building these concrete islands (the thing in the picture looked more like a space station) will be the easy part. But that's OK, long-term planning is something conservatives and corporate types never worry about.
Well, they could live off what they catch from the ocean and probably set up for solar and wind energy - Go Libertarians!
My objection comes from the inevitable pollution when they must dispose of all their "waste".
I don't want that sh*t in my ocean! :)
And cutting loose buildings and just letting them float around? Wouldn't that be the equivalent of space junk? We have enough of that in the skies, do we really need the same mess in our oceans?
Rockync: At least they'd be getting plenty of Omega-3 in their diets.
Pollution and "space junk" (or the aquatic equivalent) would definitely be problems. Also, I think the article said they'd be getting their income from illegal activities, since they wouldn't be under any government's jurisdiction.
Yes, "empathy" is just another code word for "liberal activism".
What a loony idea... heh... Waterworld II indeed. As if that movie ever needed a sequel...
"The main founder of this think tank is Patri Friedman, grandson of Milton Friedman. Something about the apple not falling far from the tree…"
That pretty much sums up the whole thing in a nutshell.
Although it would seem that if grandson adhered fully to grandfather's principles, he would be advocating more for a violent overthrow of a government somewhere in the world and remake that government in his own image, so all these new American ex-pats can move there and have their flat taxes, unregulated capitalism, etc.
If the concrete they use is engineered so all their floating cities sink, then I am fine with their idea.
Snave: "If the concrete they use is engineered so all their floating cities sink" -- There's the irony. They'll probably make sure all the building materials for their floating cities are produced and inspected according to the strictest government regulations. After they're safely aboard their government-certified floating city, then they can start railing and ranting against those socialist regulators who are strangling the economy.
Good. Let em build a waterworld place. They all annoy me anyway.
Ricardo: Yup, good riddance to 'em.
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