Technology

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well." ~Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

This is the origin story IRL for Rapture lmfaoo

The arrangement it makes with adjacent governments is nowhere near as important as the arrangements it makes in regard to physical security at sea.

Sealand is a stone's throw from the UK mainland, and even though it is not technically British it benefits from the UK's very well protected shipping lanes and coastlines. Other parts of the world, not so much. For example, they can park this thing off the east coast of Africa and have zero interference from local governments -- for the day and a half it lasts before getting stripped bare by pirates.

A government that won't interfere is likely also a government that will not protect them. They need to choose their location wisely.

One of many things that will happen when you try to regulate esoteric concepts like “AI”. It all goes dark on you, but it still happens regardless and benefits the few instead of the many.

The reason nobody is claiming a dominion over the international waters is not the lack of ability, but the fact that there's nothing worth fighting for. If somebody, anybody, establishes a profitable business in the ocean, there will be a mile long line of entities wanting a cut of the profits in exchange for "protection". A phenomenon also known as extortion in private sector, or taxation in public sector.

This is just the plot to Snow Crash

That boat looks like a light gust of wind would capsize the whole thing. What a stupid idea.