Brave New Waterworld

8/14/01 - The human race is slowly returning to the sea, a reverse-evolutionary move symbolic (and a direct result) of the current administration's environmental policy. But as the ice caps melt and the oceans rise, we freedom-seeking humans might actually find the lawlessness of the oceans more desirable.

There's growing popularity in using the international waters as a haven for activity dubbed morally wrong and therefore illegal by any number of terra firma governments. Much like a server on the Internet follows the laws where that machine geographically lies, a ship in international waters follows the law as dictated by the flag flying on it:

• The organization "Women on Waves" fights abortion laws worldwide, and operates the Aurora, the floating abortion clinic that arrived in Ireland last June.
  
• With separation of church and state never fully realized anywhere, human cloning looks destined for the high seas as well.
  
• Can't kill yourself in your hometown? Take a ride on the life-ending cruise of a lifetime! The Euthanasia Ship, coming soon to the shores of the UK!

  Speaking of gambling and cloning, what policy will the self-governing American Indian Reservations take on cloning? Are you a Native America in favor of cloning?

  
  
• Oh relax. Take a classic gambling cruise! Maybe you'll win enough cash to buy yourself a new kidney on a black-market organ ship...

... no, there is no black-market organ ship, yet. But the idea doesn't seem too far-fetched. Nor does the idea of a ship that serves marijuana for sufferers of glaucoma, or turns a blind eye to consenting adults that wish to sodomize each other. How about a prostitution cruise!?

Not much for floating? Plenty of uninhabited islands still available out there (one example) to be installed with the government of your choice; just follow the lead of the financial and investment services in the Caribbean. Even artificial islands exist as privately governed entities. Sealand, an independent "platform" in the North Sea, houses HavenCo, an offshore data storage site. And who says more can't be built to house laws designed for the minimalist?

Whether you're preparing for the oceans to swell, or you need to escape from the morality laws as dictated by your government, it's time to build your ark.