Bitcoin Forum

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8721536/Paypal-founder-invests-in-floating-island-utopia.html

http://inhabitat.com/paypal-founder-invests-1-25-million-to-create-floating-micro-countries/

See you guys in Utopia!  ;)

BREAKING NEWS: Floating Island (utopia) drifts off into the ocean. Will it ever be found?

He is no longer involved in Paypal and has not been for a long time. Paypal is a GREAT IDEA and concept, it's the banking system behind it that causes Paypal to suck the great big one. Paypal is bound to the banking regs.

Now what problem do you have or could you possibly have with a sovereign micro nation, unless your some government hack?

dosnt say anything about the country accepting bitcoin

It's a given  8)

how do i sign up? i want to live there how much is a 3 1/2 condo on this island

TYT did an amusing story on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks#p/search/0/T0Ty9jFRtOw

It's really not that amusing.  >:(

What a couple of absolute morons. These are the exact kind of idiots that would bash bitcoin in a heartbeat.
They think they are funny and smart, but they are sad and stupid. 

In the beginning, I would imagine they will be paying people to move there, but in the long run, real estate will be difficult to measure. It will probably be like bitcoins. One day a piece of Prime Real Estate will cost you 1000 bitcoins, the next day it will be worth 1/4 of that, and just after you sold it, the value will triple, then a few days later, triple again.

Amusing is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, and I thought it was funny.  An element of truth is a great way to make something funny, and their analysis of this situation certainly had plenty of that IMO.

I've watched the free stuff from TYT for some time now.  I will bet 1 BTC (or $100 whichever is less and with the first person who takes me up on it only) that if/when TYT does a story about bitcoin, and if Cenk is leading it, it will be generally positive.

One more qualifier to my bet:  My position assumes that if/when such a story is done, Bitcoin has not become mostly an effective tool for the minority to exploit the majority, or an escape vehicle for those who gained wealth via their current corrupt practices (and I see both of these as a very distinct possibilities as the end-game for Bitcoin.)

LOL.  these projects are great until something goes wrong like a Tsunami and then they'd expect us to go save them on our tax bill otherwise they'd sue us.

Until someone marches in an army, that is.

Reminds me of www.thevenusproject.com without the eccentric billionaire and the need for money.

The Venus project is FUCKING LAME AS SHIT!

In 100 years, it may be possible, but society has to change too dramatically, first.
It's beyond stupid, stupidly utopian, and ultimately STUPID!

The entire problem with the Venus project is that it takes everyone to agree to do without money, first. If people hold onto their old desires, nothing will change toward a society like the Venus project supports.

I prefer ideas that do not require the whole human race to agree, first.

Example: I would like to manufacture a new toy for kids. I need materials and supplies. In order for me to get them, some business or entity must already exist, willing to give it to me for free, before I can build my new toy for production. That happens regardless of whether or not I want to create it and make it and give it away for free. I need the suppliers to have the same idea as me, first. If they do not, and we cannot force people to change, then we have to wait for everyone to be on board first, before it can take off as an idea. Otherwise, it's impossible, and therefore STUPID!

$1.25 million won't even buy you a decent yacht, let alone an island or a floating city.

Paypal did start with good ideas and good intentions. Sure, they soon lost them and became a scam outfit but this guy left early on. It's not fair to assume he is responsible or approves of what paypal has become, if he liked the company he would not have got out so early.

Yeah, but if only one person placed their interest in this, it would only be controlled by one person. That would not be good. If we can get 100 investors like him, then it can actually become something big, really soon. There is already 70 million value in bitcoins. Maybe more. That idea only took 2 years to reach 70 million invested. If the people who believe in sovereignty & bitcoin the most, invest 10% of their bitcoins into a fund for funding the SeaStead project, we already have pooled together 5 times the amount that this guy just laid down. just food for thought.  :)

Freedom is Slavery





so the saying goes

If there's any place you're perfectly safe when there's a tsunami, it's on a floating island.

Try watching some movies of ships in Tsunami's. You'll be surprised...

If you get your knowledge about the world from movies that would indeed explain a lot.

Myself I can do the calculations.


http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/Tsunami/description_tsunami.html

Yeah, I remember seeing the videos posted by the Navy during the Japan Tsunami. I think the ships rose 3 inches or something, then after the massive wave rolled under it, it settled back down a couple inches.

I can imagine, with no building codes, we won't have much cement on the island. All buildings will have to be earthquake proof, no doubt. It will be fun trying to figure out amongst a bunch of libertarians, how to construct buildings that do not infringe on others.

Talk about a grand experiment!

sorry, I'm no structural engineer -  if ships at sea cannot detect tsunami, can they detect earthquakes?   would a floating city actually need heavy duty earthquake-resistant construction like a city on land next to a fault would?

Don't worry guys, there's only a seven-year limit on chargebacks.

I'm sure that won't cause any problems for this venture or users of paypal in general.

Reference: http://consumerist.com/2011/08/paypal-you-owe-us-3841-from-2004-because-we-say-so.html (http://consumerist.com/2011/08/paypal-you-owe-us-3841-from-2004-because-we-say-so.html)

This place sounds like the city "Rapture" from Bioshock only above water instead!  :o :o :o

Will it come with one of these?
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/big-daddy-20091125-103001.jpg

as long as the "ground" is able to flex by about 5-10 degrees every 100 meters or so, i think would be adequate to be safe.

you could also make a bunch of platforms and just join them together with bridges, so if one goes down, they don't all go down lol

also, how do you keep the island from floating too much without having to waste a bunch of energy on motors and such?

how about food, import it all? or set up farms?

according to this http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_agricultural_land_can_feed_one_person

300 square meters is enough for 1 person. id imaging this would scale some, and allow for dietary variety with about 100 people.

for 100 people thats 30km, square. depending on the meat to veg ratio (although i bet fish would be the main diet thing and i dont know how much that number assumes on hunting and fishing and such)

assuming it takes on average $75 per cubic meter of concrete to be laid, and the land or platform is .5m thick. 75*0.5*30*1000=$1.125m and that is just for the concrete to make the land to grow the food you eat, this would probably be higher, as i have no idea how much that $75 per cubic meter really covers. id guess its like $150 or even $200, as you are laying it in the ocean. this does not cover the cost of buildings or the soil you put on the concrete, along with roads and everything else. from start to finish, id throw out $100m or $50m if you are optimistic. although im sure the number could be in the billions.

another idea is everyone builds their own house or business to working standards and specifications. then people who agree to the same things, like laws and ways of government, simply latch on to each other and make a micro nation. if you do not like the way things and running, move your house or business elsewhere. when you make things this scale, overall it costs slightly more, but the cost load is distributed a lot more. so instead of billions, you talking maby 200-300k for the platform and another 100-200k for the house. if everyone had an efficient garden on their roofs, you could probably cover 10-30% of your dietary needs(one person, not a family).

You can grow food without land. Check out hydroponics and aquaculture.

Here is a tsunami wave for you guys, I can safely say that It's a lot higher than a couple of inches:  http://youtube.com/#/watch?v=OdhfV-8dbCE  (http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=OdhfV-8dbCE)

If they use bitcoins, the real estate prices will probably be stable. The will fluctuate measured in USD, of course, like bitcoin.

This could be the first island of stability for bitcoin ;)

I'd use the navy or airforce.

Other than that: what's to gain for a country to invade this except bad publicity for murdering naive libertarians?

There are indeed some videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06huCv3cCaM) that show a big tsunami wave hitting a ship (it survives just fine, btw).

You have to know that such waves only get high when the come close to land (more precisely, when the ocean gets shallower). Further out (where I assume such an island would be built), the wave have the same energy, but are more spread out (wider), you probably wouldn't even notice it passing by.

It will have to be done by majority rule, even though that sounds primitive. Or, it can be divided into different "ideology" townships, each with it's own set of basic rules and regs. One thing for sure, as long as there are computers and people go between this country and the mainlands, there will be a need for using bitcoins.

Micronations are a threat to the very idea of nation-state.

There have been several instances of such invasions: the Republic of Rose Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Rose_Island) was stormed and sinked by Italy in 1968, the Republic of Minerva (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva) was invaded and annexed by Tonga in 1972, I'm sure you can find more examples.

Edit: AFAIK no one was killed in either case.

I hope the richest of the rich all move there,
then I'll jump on the first pirate ship destined to rob that place.  :o

It should be legal to do so, or at least not illegal, since international laws does not apply there, right?

it's for dudes that come from old money, that don't want to pay taxes.

they will probably get sunk.

We'll have a "Town Square" set up and waiting for you, with Hemp rope, so your neck breaks and not the rope.

Pirates that try to rob the place will be a favorite around town, when we have our annual "Human Hunt" on the island.

We'll be savage, and we'll be the most savage. After all, there's no law to stop us.

No matter what happens, there is always be leaders and always be followers.

Oh man you are so smart! Yeah, they'll totally forget to consider tsunamis and storms when designing the platform. Haha LOL.

But seriously, do you even know how tsunamis work? That's a rhetorical question. You'll feel really stupid when you get it.  

Never heard of hydroponics?

http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/30/transforming-shipping-containers-into-local-farms-podponics-brings-produce-to-the-city/

In Russian "Utopia" sounds like something that is going to sink. Better give it another name