Many people hostile to libertarians like to paint extremely pessimistic portraits of what they imagine life will be like on libertarian seasteads. For example:
"You find people who are starving to death. You offer them work on terms where they are trapped forever under debt, work for almost free, but at least are fed and get to live.
Total, blatant, _exploitation_ of desperate people.
That almost unquestionably seems like the future of seasteads if libertarians got their way.
And a ton of libertarians would argue it's a win-win, because these few, lucky starving people chosen, get to live."
Seasteaders will _blatantly_ exploit people who are suffering from near-slavery conditions and claim those people are "winning".
First, like seasteads, cruise ships can hire from anywhere in the world, and can choose almost any legal jurisdiction to govern their ships.
Yet their pay packages are well above the global median. (And not a slave to be found.)
Median income on cruise ships is between $16 K - $20 K. In addition to their salary, crew members typically receive free medical care, room and board, meals, and other benefits. (1)
By comparison, global median per capita income is about $3 K per year. (2) US median income is about $32 K / year (as of 2016).
So, much less than US median income, but much more than the global median.
Maybe pay on stationary seasteads would be much less than on cruise ships, but I don't see any a priori reason to believe that to be true.
Second, even if one buys extremely pessimistic predictions regarding libertarian seastead governance, and indentured servitude / slavery becomes commonplace, they might still be an improvement on the status quo.
Thoughout history, people have faced starvation, or mass murder at the hands of government or fellow citizens: Nazi Germany, Maoist China, Venezuela, Stalinist Russia, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, etc.
As we speak, China is currently trying to wipe out political dissidents in Hong Kong. Many have no where to escape to, due to immigration suppression laws.
If seasteading technology were more mature, they might have a choice of hundreds or thousands of seasteads to choose from.
If would-be immigrants move to the seasteads, then by their own lights, they must prefer indentured servitude on a seastead to the alternatives.
(1) https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-workers-reveal-how-much-money-they-make-2019-5
(2) https://news.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-household-income-000.aspx
EDIT:
How do employees feel about working on cruise ships? How do their feelings compare to working in other industries?
Anonymous employee reviews at Glassdoor.com suggest that the most popular cruise lines are about average in terms of employee satisfaction relative to all industries.
"Employees rated Royal Caribbean a 3.6 of 5.0, and 73% of employees would recommend the company to a friend. The average company culture rating is 3.2 (based on 250,000 companies.) Therefore, Royal Caribbean sports an above average rating for company culture.
...
Employees rated Carnival a 3.4 of 5.0, which is slightly above average. Additionally, 62% of employees would recommend the company to a friend.
...
Employees rated Norwegian Cruise Line a 3.1 of 5.0, which is slightly below average, and 55% of employees would recommend the company to a friend. These aren't terrible numbers, but Norwegian Cruise Line once again scores lower than its peers."
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/03/how-do-cruise-line-employees-rate-their-employers.aspx
Crime statistics suggest that cruise ships are much safer from crime than the mainland. (Albeit, this comes from an industry commissioned study).
https://cruising.org/-/media/research-updates/research/clia-crime-report-2015-2018-6-19-19-final.pdf
"You find people who are starving to death. You offer them work on terms where they are trapped forever under debt, work for almost free, but at least are fed and get to live.
Total, blatant, _exploitation_ of desperate people.
That almost unquestionably seems like the future of seasteads if libertarians got their way.
And a ton of libertarians would argue it's a win-win, because these few, lucky starving people chosen, get to live."
Seasteaders will _blatantly_ exploit people who are suffering from near-slavery conditions and claim those people are "winning".
First, like seasteads, cruise ships can hire from anywhere in the world, and can choose almost any legal jurisdiction to govern their ships.
Yet their pay packages are well above the global median. (And not a slave to be found.)
Median income on cruise ships is between $16 K - $20 K. In addition to their salary, crew members typically receive free medical care, room and board, meals, and other benefits. (1)
By comparison, global median per capita income is about $3 K per year. (2) US median income is about $32 K / year (as of 2016).
So, much less than US median income, but much more than the global median.
Maybe pay on stationary seasteads would be much less than on cruise ships, but I don't see any a priori reason to believe that to be true.
Second, even if one buys extremely pessimistic predictions regarding libertarian seastead governance, and indentured servitude / slavery becomes commonplace, they might still be an improvement on the status quo.
Thoughout history, people have faced starvation, or mass murder at the hands of government or fellow citizens: Nazi Germany, Maoist China, Venezuela, Stalinist Russia, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, etc.
As we speak, China is currently trying to wipe out political dissidents in Hong Kong. Many have no where to escape to, due to immigration suppression laws.
If seasteading technology were more mature, they might have a choice of hundreds or thousands of seasteads to choose from.
If would-be immigrants move to the seasteads, then by their own lights, they must prefer indentured servitude on a seastead to the alternatives.
(1) https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-workers-reveal-how-much-money-they-make-2019-5
(2) https://news.gallup.com/poll/166211/worldwide-median-household-income-000.aspx
EDIT:
How do employees feel about working on cruise ships? How do their feelings compare to working in other industries?
Anonymous employee reviews at Glassdoor.com suggest that the most popular cruise lines are about average in terms of employee satisfaction relative to all industries.
"Employees rated Royal Caribbean a 3.6 of 5.0, and 73% of employees would recommend the company to a friend. The average company culture rating is 3.2 (based on 250,000 companies.) Therefore, Royal Caribbean sports an above average rating for company culture.
...
Employees rated Carnival a 3.4 of 5.0, which is slightly above average. Additionally, 62% of employees would recommend the company to a friend.
...
Employees rated Norwegian Cruise Line a 3.1 of 5.0, which is slightly below average, and 55% of employees would recommend the company to a friend. These aren't terrible numbers, but Norwegian Cruise Line once again scores lower than its peers."
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/03/how-do-cruise-line-employees-rate-their-employers.aspx
Crime statistics suggest that cruise ships are much safer from crime than the mainland. (Albeit, this comes from an industry commissioned study).
https://cruising.org/-/media/research-updates/research/clia-crime-report-2015-2018-6-19-19-final.pdf