I did think about that, but I think it is a good experiment in terms of self sustaining if this were in space (i.e. can you grow food within the confine/technology) Granted this platform has access to air and water, but everything have to be either import/made locally (or recycle in case of space travel)
I did a lot of investigation years ago into the institute. The plan is to give the wealthy a place to do things they can't legally do in the US, and to provide space for foreign workers to work in the same time zone as california, be close enough for the fat internet pipe, but far enough that they don't require a visa.
Ah, so the people who "live" on the island will really have land-based holdings and will pay to "base" themselves on an independent seastedding "nation" with libertarian laws. Gotcha. That's cheating.
Seems to work very well for a number of smaller nations who have inscrutible banks and small buildings that happen to house thousands of shell companies.
By "that's cheating," I meant it isn't really a true experiment in libertarianism. It's just anarcho-capitalism.
A small offshore oil rig costs about $500M US to build, but has operating costs in the range of $0.1M to 2M/day.
I suspect she's implying that she would be attacking such an island and pillaging *ahem* all its various treasures.
The Captain had a daughter,
That's just silly. Any half-intelligent pirate would know better than to attack the island itself - you'd have a better chance of sacking Norfolk naval yards.
I mean cmon. Billionaires all on an island, with lax gun control policies? I'd be stupid not to be interested.
Your basing this assumption that it's just money I'd be interested in. A billionaire enviroment with lax laws of any kind were the things I thought were only fantasy.
On an island where money is the only law, vices are going to really have to kick it up a notch, or have to involve breaking laws back on the mainland. Off the top of my head, I'd say human trafficking. Drugs not so much... what's to stop them from growing their own, after all?
Soooo... you WERE thinking about using it to base a pirate enterprise after all, and use the money there to leverage goods and services unavailable anywhere else without the exorbitant costs that come from moral censure, yes?
Welp, now all you need is the cash to pay your pirate rent, and your life of unrestrained hedonism awaits.
If that's the only problem i think it would already count as having worked...
It'd probably end up as a democracy still, mainly because each party would have enough money to cut their loses and just leave if they wanted to. It's hard to oppress someone (or feel oppressed) when they have millions of dollars and the ability to make more, no matter what you do to them.
Again, it's easy to get into a pissing match with your neighbors when you have the resources to just up and leave (possibly fucking them over BY leaving as well). A polite a society is one that has a mutually assured destruction when someone leaves.
Well, sure, if you call mercury poisoning and vitamin deficiency "working."
You could make good money importing orange juice to rich people with scurvy.
Indeed. Like most self-selected elitists, they won't necessarily play well with others and the infighting will be fierce. After all, you have to consider that most of these people made their fortunes by screwing other people out of what they had. Figure they'll start hiring mercenaries within months, and after that, we just wait for the flames.
