How do you know they represent Libertarians as a whole? Where on the Seasteading website to they identify themselves as Libertarians?
Why is the author, Brad Reed, so eager to make that leap? Smells like a straw man to me. A good journalist should be able to discuss the merits and problems of seasteading (or any other issue) without mentioning ideology at all. From: Bruce Johnson [email protected] Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 17:07:40 -0700 To: [email protected] Subject: [Stratalist-ot] Why libertarians tend not to get taken seriously > > 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 > > > > > Francis Drouillard, PE Novato, CA 94945 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
