It seems to me that their ideological consensus is strong enough that there is little if any practical difference.
Agreed, but that's somewhat different claim from saying that the U.S. government is the only important player who can prevent seasteads from functioning. Violation of important ideological taboos shared by European and U.S. societies would certainly result into some action against the seasteads, but what are these taboos isn't decided by U.S. government's whim. The basic ideological framework is already present in the Western society and the governments are bound to respect it, not the other way around. (I also disbelieve that running some version of libertarian utopian society with several dozens of people on board would classify as such inviolable taboo.)
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
There are certainly other possibilities. Not only Russia (which may be, on the other hand, more hostile to the concerned libertarian ideas and possible tax evasion than the U.S.), but also India, Brazil, Venezuela, perhaps France - strong anti-American sentiments exists in all those countries and any strong pressure from the U.S. government would likely result in a major diplomatic conflict.
The basic ideological framework is already present in the Western society and the governments are bound to respect it, not the other way around.
This isn't really relevant for the main point, but in my opinion, this ideological consensus has been built, and is presently being maintained, overwhelmingly by American institutions (both governmental and those that are nominally not such). So it's not at all inaccurate to see it as a projection of U.S. power, even though it nowadays rests on the status and prestige of American ideas and institutions far mor...
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)?