I'm writing a story in which 2000 (wealthy and educated)

The only thing I can see come out of Antarctica is some sort of science or technology economy. Nothing else really unless they find some sort of resource (don't know the country well enough to say)

antarctica contains like 90% of the worlds freshwater or something, right? so let's say that the world is in a water shortage crisis (not too unlikely), the people living in antarctica will be sitting on a literal goldmine.

>>967001
Well, you can import machines and buy resources, but it probably won't pay off.

>>967055
You can't defend a ridiculously huge continent with 2000 men.

Don't forget that there are already scientific communities, labs and outposts from many countries around the world already settled.

>>967000
> The planet of Krypton rip-off.

Why would the rest of the world be pissed off that a bunch of rich idiots want to build a utopia or whatever in Antarctica?

Antarctica is essentially resourceless and contains no arable land. Even if these rich dopes decide to build a nuclear reactor there it will not allow them to magically make growing crops in greenhouses profitable. Nuclear reactors are expensive to run and only make back their money when they are being used to power millions of homes. The smallest nuclear reactor in the US makes over 12k MW per hour. To put that in the perspective of an arctic country, the entire country of Norway uses 45k MW... per year (just for reference, Norway is home to 5m people).

In order for this economy to work they have to produce useful goods or services. Since they can't extract or refine resources in such a remote or desolate place they are forced to build their economy around tourism (unlikely in a frozen hellscape) or with services that can be accomplished from a distance, like finance or maybe technology. There are two downsides to these industries though (and really, any industry): All the people who would want to work for you don't live in Antarctica and are generally disinclined to move there for a job. Why not just build the exact same finance or technology company elsewhere in the world, like the Bahamas, or Switzerland, or Silicon Valley, or Singapore?

>>967091

Antarctica is a declared neutral zone, so the only people allowed there are scientists.

As for the energy issue: heat ice, put water on bottles, sell "Natural Arctic Mineral Water" to the world.

I also believe there are oil and gas deposits there

>>967069
They could stay there for the time being, it's not like you can make them go away.

>>967080
More like Mars Trilogy but without Mars.

>>967091
>Why would the rest of the world be pissed off that a bunch of rich idiots want to build a utopia or whatever in Antarctica?
What he said:
>>967111

>Antarctica is essentially resourceless and contains no arable land. Even if these rich dopes decide to build a nuclear reactor there it will not allow them to magically make growing crops in greenhouses profitable.
They aren't in it to make it profitable, they need food to live. Also you are reading into the nuclear reactor part too much. It's just a convenient energy source that can be used.
>Nuclear reactors are expensive to run and only make back their money when they are being used to power millions of homes. The smallest nuclear reactor in the US makes over 12k MW per hour. To put that in the perspective of an arctic country, the entire country of Norway uses 45k MW... per year (just for reference, Norway is home to 5m people).
That's not how Si units work m8. I can't even disprove you because it's literally nonsensical, only meaningful interpretation is that the smallest USA reactor is 4GW and that's just not true.
>There are two downsides to these industries though (and really, any industry): All the people who would want to work for you don't live in Antarctica and are generally disinclined to move there for a job.
True. Then again the world is at war so I'm pretty sure they could find people who would move.
>Why not just build the exact same finance or technology company elsewhere in the world, like the Bahamas, or Switzerland, or Silicon Valley, or Singapore?
Why didn't the founding fathers just do their shit in Britain? They are making a new country m8, it's pointless to ask why not just try to change another one.

>>967137
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=104&t=3
Sorry, I got my numbers from here. It's not 12k MW per hour, it's 12k MW per day. That's my bad. The point still stands.

>>967143
Yeah, but you are mixing up your units. For example, a 500MW plant in your link produces 500 million Joules every second, which is energy flow rate, but the amount (instead of how fast) of energy you generate in an hour is in KWh or MWh, for example 24h*500MW = 12k MWh in a day. Norway has a yearly per capita consumption of 23k KWh, which means that your plant produces daily enough energy for roughly 500 people for a year.
Tl;dr USA smallest plant produces enough energy for third of Norway at max capacity and more like 20-25% with all the losses.

Then again you have micro reactors with 10MW capacity like Toshiba 4S, or you have a magical thorium or fusion reactor because it's a story.

>>967159
Learn something new every day.

Honestly, if I were writing the story though I'd have them discover some magical resource in Antarctica. The economy would likely look very much like middle eastern oil extraction countries.

>>967000
PROPERTY OF AUSTRALIA
fuck off it's full!
You're not white enough for Antartica

>>967314
>2050
>Muslims and negroes become a majority in Sweden
>2100
>White Privilege Act is passed
>All pure whites exiled to Antarctica as prisoners
>Swedes gradually create a hunter gatherer communal society which begins to develop into a full fledged state
>2150
>Water slowly becomes a depleted resource worldwide
>Water from Antarctica becomes a valued resource, making New Sweden one of the richest countries on earth
>Meanwhile Old Sweden collapses into chaos with constant race war between blacks and muslims

>>967488
It's like Pottery.

>faggyswedishkidsontv.webm

>>967055
"Literal"

>>967111
>Artic
you mean antarctic

>how would money emerge in a new society
Anyone has an answer to this? Any historical sources would be cool. What did the early American settlers use? Gold guineas or something? I doubt it that you could use nonfiat money in a place without resources.

Why the fuck would 2000 wealthy and educated people voluntarily move to a frozen hell and drastically reduce their living comfort?

>>968255
Idealism.

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>>967314

>>967000
I've been there, it would be absolutely miserable to live there. You are not allowed to make a profit down there, so essentially you'd be using up your money to just survive. I met a couple Ukrainian scientists that were down there for a year with minimal contact to home, which they said blew dick, but the only practical reason to be down there is to have a presence for your country, and a little bit of research. It smells like penguin shit, it's cold, it's dry, and if you get hurt you're fucked.

>>968534
Don't they have doctors there?

>>968540
Yes but they're all doctors of marine biology or atmospheric science etc

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>>967111
>Antarctica is a declared neutral zone
1. There is some unclaimed land in Antarctica (pic related).

2. As an individual, you are not concerned by the Antarctic Treaty. It only binds those who signed it (i.e. not you). You can claim all the unclaimed land you want.

>>968748
>2. As an individual, you are not concerned by the Antarctic Treaty. It only binds those who signed it (i.e. not you). You can claim all the unclaimed land you want.
As an individual you can't sign Geneva treaty but you can be tried for war crimes regardless of if you country signed it. You can literally live in a country where mass killing is legal or have no nationality, thus not being bound by Geneva treaty in any possible way and the International Criminal Court can still claim jurisdiction over you. International law is p fucked up.