I'm guessing that if I go there and start a business dumping waste on the island (which would be very profitable for me, it is increasingly costly to get rid of waste in most countries because of the stringent regulations) the people there would have to learn what taxes and regulations are for.
Exploiting distrustful people is the biggest industry there ever was unfortunately, including causing them to become distrustful, uncertain, isolated. It's how terrorists are made. It's how voters who vote for political extremism are made.
Ironically all of this would only work at scale, 500 people on a tiny island would be harder to control, I'm guessing due to their closeness, or quality of their interactions. You could play them against other communities, but not against each other. We have a lot of brain stuff to ensure the viability of small communities. It's all built-in, taken care of. The problems only start at scale, when everyone is isolated. You have to be inventive at scale.
Fair argument, but mostly a strawman against peaceful progress.
Call it “nonviolence”. Define the broad goal of civilization as eliminating coercion, and these experiments seem useful.
