Offshore living

Salon looks at Patri Friedman's (yes, he's Milton's grandson) libertarian Seasteading Institute. Apparently, finding themselves a minority within the US, these libertarians hope to "open the oceans as a new frontier, where we can build new city-states to experiment with new institutions. This dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for forming a new government, because expensive though ocean platforms are, they are still cheap compared to winning a war, an election, or a revolution." The Institute has its online home here. Ahoy, micronations.

From nations-on-the-cheap to massive marquee commercial projects, Pruned notes a plan for the development of a Dubai-esque cedar-shaped artificial island off the coast of Lebanon. Which reminds me that back in February, BLDBLG speculated on the conversion of decommissioned Gulf of Mexico oil rigs into luxury hotels.


["Eighth wonder of the world" - replete with exploited immigrant workers, English footballers, astronomical air-conditioning bills, and an unpleasant economic crisis. Paradise.]