The Seasteading Institute

Reply To: cthulhujunior

[quote=cthulhujunior]

Pirates need some fear of losing to the 'steads. Kicking their thieving rears, patching them up and waving "Goodbye now! Be a good little pirate!" won't deter them from attacking them again. Now, I don't recommend going pirate-hunting. In fact, it's probably a good idea to relocate the seastead after any pirate encounter. All I'm saying is that it might be a good idea to send the pirates home missing a few parts, especially if those parts are strongly linked to their masculinity.

Small question: How do pirates get on board ships, anyway? They're in tiny little boats with a few guns. Commercial liners, etc. are big and, presumably, have lots of guns. There aren't very many points of entry, as I understand it. How, then, do they get on?

[/quote]

Commercial ships almost never have or use lethal weapons for defense. With the increase in piracy near the horn of Africa, the government and private firms have been more interested in arming these private sailors. They have invented non-lethal sound and laser weapons, but the vast majority of ships don't have this tech yet.