They do stuff like this: <http://www.alternet.org/politics/140253>
Their business model? From the seasteading site: "The briefest answer we have is to point to the cruise ship industry as evidence that providing power, water, food, and internet on the ocean is not only possible but can be profitable." Which leads me to believe that they're too damn cheap to buy basic cable, because the Discovery channel has run a bunch of documentaries about how cruise ships are run, and they're not 'floating cities', they're 'floating resorts', dependent on people *bringing their money on board* to be profitable, and all that food and water (and beer and liquor) comes FROM THE LAND. Cruise ships go back to home port every week or two and are restocked. Their web page FAQ now cautions against selling illegal drugs, but their book still talks about it: <http://seasteading.org/book_beta/Business%20Models.html> They say that siting it near the US might be problematic for the drug trade. Hey, I know, site it in the Indian ocean! The Indonesians love them some drug trafficking! They're up to over half a million bucks in donations, though $500K of it came from one donor, who is such a libertarian he thinks that women shouldn't be allowed to vote. <http://tinyurl.com/co5v9k> Their business models make zero sense whatsoever, because they're things like 'Selling real estate'. At an estimated $300/sf. (They compare this to San Francisco at $200/sf) Quick, what are the three words one most associates with real estate sales? Yep: Location, location, location. Selling 'real estate' out in international waters isn't going to tempt a whole lot of folks who want to, you know, actually have lives, and if they would go look at their history books, the 'homesteaders' who they're modeling their system on, well, they were given land FOR FREE with the proviso they settle it and work it, to provide territorial claims for the US government, and to provide a ready market for Eastern industrialists. Homesteaders who can afford $300/sf ain't looking for the rough pioneer life. I think that the Alternet writer got it dead on...this is truly a 'dorktopia'. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/StrataList-OT?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
