Most people associate heading out to sea with vacation cruises, but what if a floating platform in the ocean could be home rather than just an escape to a beach? With all of the available land on Earth claimed by one state or another, some people believe that the oceans offer the best chance to escape the control of coercive governments. The Seasteading Institute is an organization devoted to pursuing such a future. (Its founder is the grandson of the late free market economist Milton Friedman.)
I’m a little skeptical that a huge percentage of people will ever want to live without solid land underneath them, but I see a strong possibility that if something such as this happened, it could put pressure on governments not to tax productive people so much if those productive (aka wealthier) people have an alternative to pursue. What do you think? First, would you ever be interested in living on such a floating platform? Second, do you think it would pressure governments to be less coercive? And, third, do you think governments would band together to try to stop it?