Seriously! I remember some story about how they brought out a psychologist to contemplate how to control their population. He basically said "just be friends with them" and they said "Na, what about bomb collars?".
They really think the legal protections they've enjoyed their whole life, will extend once there are no more laws. They are trying to destroy the only thing protecting them, the system.
"[Right] Libertarians are like house cats, they’re convinced of their fierce independence while dependent on a system they don’t appreciate or understand."
I am currently mid-playthough and there is one Andrew Ryan quote that caught my attention:
On the surface, the Parasite expects the doctor to heal them for free, the farmer to feed them out of charity. How little they differ from the pervert who prowls the streets, looking for a victim he can ravish for his grotesque amusement.
It reminds me of a significantly more recent real life Facebook group called "Communists are just economic incels". I'd say Bioshock predicted this, but this kind of bad take was probably around for a long time.
If y'all have played Bioshock... Rapture was a libertarian fever dream. No taxes, no regulations, everyone free to do whatever they want.
Look how that turned out.
(also I never really understood how that could even work, even a regular city needs constant maintenance, one under the sea, exponentially more so. Building it alone costs a fortune, maintaining it too, and as a closed ecosystem, and you either need to fund the maintenance somehow, or use slaves - admittedly, Big Daddies were indeed slaves but that came later on. Without taxes, nobody cleans the common areas, nobody fixes the ventilation, broken glass, etc., because there's no money pool to pay the workers from, buy the raw resources and tools from, and so on)
I mean, have you heard of the bear infestation from a libertarian take-over in Vermont? Yeah, it turns out bears love the trash that libertarians were neglecting on their properties.
Not that I disagree with your overall stance, but I've always found "look how x turned out in this fictional story" to be dubious because fictional stories are written by human writers and only really prove things about what their writers believed. If that logic was sound, it could be defeated by a libertarian writing some dumbass story with a libertarian utopia (actually I kinda want to see that, just to see what kind of evil shit a libertarian would unironically think is part of a utopia, like maybe a new species that loves being slaves, women happy to defer to men, or business men seeing they are being fucked by a deal and laughing about it with the person fucking them rather than walking away or starting a war).
Not saying BioShock is wrong (haven't actually played any of them yet but they sound pretty based, at least story wise), just that fictional story arcs aren't exactly convincing to those who think otherwise.
Also, even the stories that show a lot of widespread suffering often have a few people enjoying it all at the top and people who subscribe to rightwing ideology tend to prefer to think about how great it would be being that person or how well they'd be able to manipulate that person into giving them a great life with probably just a little flattery. The person who makes the Torment Nexus from Don't Make The Torment Nexus isn't doing it because they think they can run the Torment Nexus in such a way that people won't suffer in great numbers, they are doing it because they want the power to decide who suffers under the Torment Nexus while they sip on champagne and fuck their supporters' wives and kids.
To be fair, they can already do whatever they want, consequence free, in the continental US. The Mars exploration and ocean bases may just be honest "let's do cool science fiction shit (and profit off government contracts to do so)".
They know that the reality is they could never truly defend themselves if the tide turned. I have a theory that the reason they are ramping up so rapidly now is they see the writing on the wall and are behaving like a cornered animal. They've already done too much to be forgiven so the only option is to accelerate their end goal even though its clearly undercooked.
The smartest thing they can do is to nationalize their companies into any applicable public utilities. Liquidate the rest and set up some sort of charitable trust or some nonprofit that will help sort funds into various social programs.
Then slink off and live off the wealth they stole. Bar them and their family from starting new business endeavors for 100 years.
There was a theory (disputed and in some cases discredited) that basically said this is why most historical empires started around a river surrounded by desert. Their subjects were more willing to put up with oppression because going somewhere else was hard.
My first thought is that that kind of location also makes invading harder. For thousands of years, armies had to acquire most of their provisions on the road because logistics are hard when you're marching thousands of people on foot, and "acquire" usually meant "steal" even on home territory.
Being invaded fucking sucks, so it's quite possible that a lot of people were willing to trade personal liberty for security.
You mean the place with 45 weirdos and a bunch of money laundering and tax evasion? They just import workers from real Honduras outside the "agreement of co-existence." Not gonna have the same option on Mars.
They do and it seems to be going OK for them, not sure about how it is for the workers. Honduras did allow them to open up a second location that's manufacturing focused so it seems there's SOME benefit to the local economy? They have to pay 12% tax to Honduras on the city's earnings IIRC, but I'm not sure what the city's own tax rate is. AFAIK, low but not 0.
If you're a millionaire, you might like it there. It's like a resort with offices and coworking spaces. Compared to nice locations in the US, it's actually kinda cheap. Compared to anything in South or Central America it's very expensive, compared to at least eastern europe, it's still expensive. If I was a multimillionaire tech bro trying to become a billionaire tech bro with a startup, I'd probably go. Not so much because of the regulations but because it's a stunning location they managed to plant their colony on.
39 Comments
HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 65 pts · 2d
They think they will start a new kingdom with them as a ruler.
What it means is they are gonna get murdered in a bunker.
wjrii@lemmy.world · 45 pts · 2d
Also important to remember that the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is about a billion dollars.
https://futurism.com/future-society/apocalypse-compound-fails-wealthy-residents-turn-on-each-other
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 2d
You know things have gotten bad when even the vaults from Fallout seem more egalitarian...
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 2d
Caesar Speedrun
Veni Vidi Vhoopsiedoodle
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 2d
Seriously! I remember some story about how they brought out a psychologist to contemplate how to control their population. He basically said "just be friends with them" and they said "Na, what about bomb collars?".
They really think the legal protections they've enjoyed their whole life, will extend once there are no more laws. They are trying to destroy the only thing protecting them, the system.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1d
"[Right] Libertarians are like house cats, they’re convinced of their fierce independence while dependent on a system they don’t appreciate or understand."
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d
They're building very nice bunkers for their security teams.
xkbx@startrek.website · 25 pts · 2d
Yes, I did play Bioshock
MousePotatoDoesStuff@piefed.social · 8 pts · 2d
I am currently mid-playthough and there is one Andrew Ryan quote that caught my attention:
https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Parasite_Expectations
It reminds me of a significantly more recent real life Facebook group called "Communists are just economic incels". I'd say Bioshock predicted this, but this kind of bad take was probably around for a long time.
fonix232@fedia.io · 20 pts · 1d
If y'all have played Bioshock... Rapture was a libertarian fever dream. No taxes, no regulations, everyone free to do whatever they want.
Look how that turned out.
(also I never really understood how that could even work, even a regular city needs constant maintenance, one under the sea, exponentially more so. Building it alone costs a fortune, maintaining it too, and as a closed ecosystem, and you either need to fund the maintenance somehow, or use slaves - admittedly, Big Daddies were indeed slaves but that came later on. Without taxes, nobody cleans the common areas, nobody fixes the ventilation, broken glass, etc., because there's no money pool to pay the workers from, buy the raw resources and tools from, and so on)
impairedimperator@lemmy.zip · 17 pts · 1d
Well, in theory the poorest members of society will work hard in exchange for money from the rich, then use that money to become rich themselves.
In practice, you either get slavery or bears.
heartSagan5@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 1d
I mean, have you heard of the bear infestation from a libertarian take-over in Vermont? Yeah, it turns out bears love the trash that libertarians were neglecting on their properties.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1d
That's a much better "look how that turned out" than a work of fiction.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d
Not that I disagree with your overall stance, but I've always found "look how x turned out in this fictional story" to be dubious because fictional stories are written by human writers and only really prove things about what their writers believed. If that logic was sound, it could be defeated by a libertarian writing some dumbass story with a libertarian utopia (actually I kinda want to see that, just to see what kind of evil shit a libertarian would unironically think is part of a utopia, like maybe a new species that loves being slaves, women happy to defer to men, or business men seeing they are being fucked by a deal and laughing about it with the person fucking them rather than walking away or starting a war).
Not saying BioShock is wrong (haven't actually played any of them yet but they sound pretty based, at least story wise), just that fictional story arcs aren't exactly convincing to those who think otherwise.
Also, even the stories that show a lot of widespread suffering often have a few people enjoying it all at the top and people who subscribe to rightwing ideology tend to prefer to think about how great it would be being that person or how well they'd be able to manipulate that person into giving them a great life with probably just a little flattery. The person who makes the Torment Nexus from Don't Make The Torment Nexus isn't doing it because they think they can run the Torment Nexus in such a way that people won't suffer in great numbers, they are doing it because they want the power to decide who suffers under the Torment Nexus while they sip on champagne and fuck their supporters' wives and kids.
frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io · 19 pts · 2d
Exactly. Who's gonna volunteer to be the servant class for the journey and beyond? Your children would be born into slavery.
KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2d
Outer Worlds
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
The same people who volunteered to move to the Americas.
IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works · 18 pts · 2d
To be fair, they can already do whatever they want, consequence free, in the continental US. The Mars exploration and ocean bases may just be honest "let's do cool science fiction shit (and profit off government contracts to do so)".
driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br · 14 pts · 2d
That's because of the implication
Sanguine@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 2d
They know that the reality is they could never truly defend themselves if the tide turned. I have a theory that the reason they are ramping up so rapidly now is they see the writing on the wall and are behaving like a cornered animal. They've already done too much to be forgiven so the only option is to accelerate their end goal even though its clearly undercooked.
The smartest thing they can do is to nationalize their companies into any applicable public utilities. Liquidate the rest and set up some sort of charitable trust or some nonprofit that will help sort funds into various social programs.
Then slink off and live off the wealth they stole. Bar them and their family from starting new business endeavors for 100 years.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
I hope you're right that the writing on the wall is for them and not for us.
But so long as private business endeavors continue to exist, they'll just invest through a middleman.
rafoix@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 2d
That would make it real easy to claim that they are drug traffickers and blow them up without any due process. Apparently it’s perfectly legal.
impairedimperator@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 2d
There was a theory (disputed and in some cases discredited) that basically said this is why most historical empires started around a river surrounded by desert. Their subjects were more willing to put up with oppression because going somewhere else was hard.
rumschlumpel@feddit.org · 7 pts · 1d
My first thought is that that kind of location also makes invading harder. For thousands of years, armies had to acquire most of their provisions on the road because logistics are hard when you're marching thousands of people on foot, and "acquire" usually meant "steal" even on home territory.
Being invaded fucking sucks, so it's quite possible that a lot of people were willing to trade personal liberty for security.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 1d
I thought it was because land around the river is more fertile than in the rest of the desert
rbos@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 1d
It's really easy to think of examples of that, wow. I don't fully buy it but i can see how it could be a factor in some civs.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 1d
Counterexample: Rome, most European countries in fact, plenty of Asian countries which started in fertile lands etc
rbos@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
Yeah,.not denying it. Just saying, could be a factor in some cases.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 2d
Might as well call it Epstein Island
AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 1d
When Libertarians are in charge, garbage lines the streets and bears attack.
When Republicans are in charge, gas prices skyrocket and everyone gets explosive diarrhea.
Put that on a t-shirt.
postscarce@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 2d
This is why Musk and co are trying to speedrun robot development.
ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2d
As long as their separation fantasies turn out like the Führerbunker for everyone inside, I'm all for it.
Bo7a@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 1d
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qZA63ckKxXQ|
I do my own dishes now. I'll do my own dishes then.
crowcore_explorer@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 2d
first thing I thought about when bezos did his we're gonna move workers to space schtick.
BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1d
What? I mean why are we out here in this canyon.
sik0fewl@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 1d
Nice to see some philosoraptor.
DarkCloud@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
They already have a tax exempt colony called Prospera in Honduras don't they?
wjrii@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
You mean the place with 45 weirdos and a bunch of money laundering and tax evasion? They just import workers from real Honduras outside the "agreement of co-existence." Not gonna have the same option on Mars.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-22/honduras-prospera-libertarian-utopia-caribbean-roatan/107045960
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 1d
They do and it seems to be going OK for them, not sure about how it is for the workers. Honduras did allow them to open up a second location that's manufacturing focused so it seems there's SOME benefit to the local economy? They have to pay 12% tax to Honduras on the city's earnings IIRC, but I'm not sure what the city's own tax rate is. AFAIK, low but not 0.
If you're a millionaire, you might like it there. It's like a resort with offices and coworking spaces. Compared to nice locations in the US, it's actually kinda cheap. Compared to anything in South or Central America it's very expensive, compared to at least eastern europe, it's still expensive. If I was a multimillionaire tech bro trying to become a billionaire tech bro with a startup, I'd probably go. Not so much because of the regulations but because it's a stunning location they managed to plant their colony on.