A proposal to construct self-sufficient cities that would operate outside of national borders sparked a discussion between readers around governance and regulation in this weeks comments update.
Utopia: The Seasteading Institute's plans to offer deregulated innovation in floating "start-up countries" were met with a combined response of concern and praise by commenters.
Geofbob was less than optimistic about a future drafted by Silicon Valley: "So, the foolhardy (or simply foolish) now have an intriguing choice ? settling on Mars with Elon Musk or on a floating city off Tahiti with Peter Thiel."
But Matt welcomed the forward-thinking project: "I'm not sure why so many have bashed this concept. It takes an incredible amount of thought, talks and engineering, which we should be encouraging. If someone wants to be the guinea pig, it should be their choice." "This is the future. There are many highly intelligent and trained people innovating for this industry," agreed RuckusAmsel.
Ck was uncertain about the intentions of Peter Theil, co-founder of The Seasteading Institute and Paypal: "Unregulated scientific 'innovation' on an isolated island not subject to the laws of any country funded by a tech billionaire" This sounds like a very bad thing."
"Also sounds like many a James Bond film!" replied Geofbob.
One reader was reminded of the setting for a gaming classic:

Would you leave your life behind to live on t...