How large is the set of things that Western European governments would be OK with, but the U.S. government wouldn't? It seems to me that their ideological consensus is strong enough that there is little if any practical difference.
When I speak of the U.S. global authority, I don't mean just authority exercised through explicit military interventions and diplomatic pressures. I also mean the informal and indirect authority that stems from the fact that the modern-day global ideological consensus emanates from American institutions, which means that other countries also won't be OK with anything that the U.S. government seriously objects to.
Moreover, the problem isn't just the threat of armed intervention. Economic and even just PR pressures can be fatal by themselves. It's enough that the respectable worldwide opinion -- which is again driven primarily by what the respectable U.S. media and academic institutions say -- starts viewing your seastead as undemocratic, exploitative, discriminatory, in violation of human rights, etc., calling for boycotts and sanctions, and so on. This could put enough pressure on respectable people to make them avoid having any business with you, which may well be enough to ruin you without a shot ever being fired.
As for the Yellow Sea, seeking some sort of Chinese protection might indeed be the only feasible course of action, given that China is insulated from the above mentioned influences to a larger degree than probably any other country. (Russia is another such example, but it would probably be even more risky and difficult to deal with.)
How large is the set of things that Western European governments would be OK with, but the U.S. government wouldn't? It seems to me that their ideological consensus is strong enough that there is little if any practical difference.
There's some divergence on drug laws and their enforcement.
Recently the relatively awesome entrepreneur invested 1.25 million USD into this (seasteading institute website here).
It seems such a wonderful concept, finally somewhere where new forms of government could be tried out. But I'm just wondering how in the world they hope to deal with existing governments since their reaction to any kind of serious alternatives, especially one that either economically or ideologically presented a significant challenge, is bound to not be positive.
I was just wondering what LWer thoughts are on this matter? Also has there been any discussion of seasteading in the past that I've missed? Also I'm wondering if anyone would hazard to perhaps offer a prediction or judge how likley this is to succeed (maybe on predictionbook)?