I wonder who gets to be the Big Daddy...

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/sil … 40896.html

I actually lived in the same dorm as the guy who is heading up the Seasteading Institute my freshman year of college.  He's a great guy and very sharp.  In case the name sounds familiar, yes, he is the grandson of Milton Friedman, noted advocate of choice and hero of libertarians everywhere.

I find the idea to be pretty intriguing myself, but the one difficulty that I think is going to be the hardest to overcome is defense.  Early settlements would likely have to be heavily militarized to keep marauders at bay.

Sounds like a modern day mini-Atlantis. And probably good fodder for a new batch of docu/reality shows.

This can only end badly.

Seriously.
Even without Bioshock lingering in the back of my mind, I really can't see anything like this working at all.

If they aren't raided, they'll be at each other's throats in no time...

The first time I read about that (sort of thing) was in Distress by Greg Egan. It's surreal to read that news article, since I read the book fairly recently.

wild west out on the waters! they can make a movie about it, and call it "Aqua World." or something like that. wasn't that already done? hmm

still very intriquing in my mind as well, but there's plenty of logistics to think about.

worst I can think: storms out at sea, even if we're not worried about modern-day pirates, or societal strife that might occur in such a community.

Mr. Thiel, wonder if he's played Bio Shlock, or heard of it? (the game's my gold standard for what a current gen FPS should be like)

My first thoughts were of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_ … ipelago%29