Ahhhhhh... Boom!

That, ladies and gentlemen, was the sound of my skull disintegrating into a billion tiny shard after reading Amanda Marcotte's recent post on seasteading. Specifically:

Who wants to start laying bets now that if they do pull this off, and pirates attack them---and if I were a pirate, I'd go a long fucking way to ransack a floating island specifically built for soft-handed dorks with too much money whose time spent at video game consoles has deluded them into thinking they're badass---they turn to the U.S. government for protection?

Oh... the irony. To criticize the seasteading dorks¹ on the ground that they won't be able to protect themselves, a criticism which only makes sense if you believe that the primary function of government is the protection of people and property. That's the essence of the libertarian argument, a position which Amanda otherwise roundly rejects.

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1 I happen to think that their hearts are in the right place... mostly... but that they ridiculously underestimate the logistical challenges of putting their ideas into practice.