Seasteading

Seasteading is the concept of creating permanent dwellings at sea, called seasteads, outside the territory claimed by any government. Most proposed seasteads have been modified cruising vessels. Other proposed structures have included a refitted oil platform, a decommissioned anti-aircraft platform, and custom-built floating islands.[1]

No one has created a state on the high seas that has been recognized as a sovereign state. The Principality of Sealand is a disputed micronation formed on a discarded sea fort near Suffolk, England.[2] The closest things to a seastead that have been built so far are large ocean-going ships sometimes called "floating cities", and smaller floating islands.

The term combines the words sea and homesteading. At least two people independently began using it: Ken Neumeyer in his book Sailing the Farm (1981) and Wayne Gramlich in his article "Seasteading – Homesteading on the High Seas" (1998).[3]

Legal issues

Outside the Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km), which countries can claim according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the high seas are not subject to the laws of any sovereign state other than the flag under which a ship sails. Examples of organizations using this possibility are Women on Waves, enabling abortions for women in countries where abortions are subject to strict laws, and offshore radio stations which were anchored in international waters. Like these organizations, a seastead would take advantage of the absence of laws and regulations outside the sovereignty of nations, and choose from among a variety of alternate legal systems such as those underwritten by "Las Portadas".[4]

"When Seasteading becomes a viable alternative, switching from one government to another would be a matter of sailing to the other without even leaving your house," said Patri Friedman at the first annual Seasteading conference.[5][6][7]

The Seasteading Institute

The Seasteading Institute's "ClubStead"

The Seasteading Institute (TSI), founded by Wayne Gramlich and Patri Friedman on April 15, 2008, is an organization formed to facilitate the establishment of autonomous, mobile communities on seaborne platforms operating in international waters.[5][8][9] Gramlich’s 1998 article "SeaSteading – Homesteading on the High Seas" outlined the notion of affordable steading, and attracted the attention of Friedman with his proposal for a small-scale project.[3] The two began working together and posted their first collaborative book online in 2001, which explored aspects of seasteading from waste disposal to flags of convenience.

The project picked up mainstream exposure in 2008 after having been brought to the attention of PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, who contributed $500,000 to fund the creation of The Seasteading Institute and has since spoken out on behalf of its viability, as seen in his essay "The Education of a Libertarian",[10] published online by Cato Unbound. The Seasteading Institute has received widespread media attention from sources such as CNN, Wired,[5] Prospect,[11] The Economist[9] Business Insider,[12] and BBC[13] American journalist John Stossel wrote an article about seasteading in February 2011 and hosted Friedman on his show on the Fox Business Network.[14]

On July 31, 2011, Friedman stepped down from the role of executive director, and became chairman of the board. Friedman was replaced by Randolph Hencken. Concomitantly, the institute's directors of business strategy and legal strategy went on to start Blueseed, the first commercial seasteading venture.[15]

Between May 31 and June 2, 2012, The Seasteading Institute held its third annual conference.[16]

In the spring of 2013,[17] the Institute launched The Floating City Project,[18] which combines principles of both seasteading and startup cities,[19] by seeking to locate a floating city within the territorial waters of an existing nation, rather than the open ocean. The institute argued that it would be easier to engineer a seastead in relatively calm, shallow waters; that the location would make it easier for residents to reach as well as to acquire goods and services from existing supply chains; and that a host nation would place a floating city within the international legal framework.

The Institute raised $27,082 from 291 funders in a crowdfunding campaign[20] and commissioned DeltaSync[21] to design a floating city concept for The Floating City Project. In December 2013, the concept report was published. The Seasteading Institute has also been collecting data from potential residents through a survey.[22]

Designs

Retrofitted cruise ships

The first seasteads are projected to be cruise ships adapted for semi-permanent habitation. Cruise ships are a proven technology, and they address most of the challenges of living at sea for extended periods of time. The cost of the first shipstead was estimated at $10M.[23]

Spar platform

The Seasteading Institute has been working on communities floating above the sea in spar buoys, similar to oil platforms.[24] The project would start small, using proven technology as much as possible, and try to find viable, sustainable ways of running a seastead.[25] Innovations that enable full-time living at sea will have to be developed. The cruise ship industry's development suggests this may be possible.

A proposed design for a custom-built seastead is a floating dumbbell in which the living area is high above sea level, which minimizes the influence of waves. In 2004, research was documented in an online book that covers living on the oceans.[26]

The Seasteading Institute focuses on three areas: building a community, doing research and building the first seastead in the San Francisco Bay. In January 2009, the Seasteading Institute patented a design for a 200-person resort seastead, ClubStead, about a city block in size, produced by consultancy firm Marine Innovation & Technology. ClubStead marked the first major development in hard engineering, from extensive analysis to simulations, of the seasteading movement.[9][26][27]

Modular island

András Győrfi's "The Swimming City"

At the Seasteading Institute Forum, an idea arose to create an island from modules.[28] There are several different designs for the modules, with a general consensus that reinforced concrete is the most proven, sustainable and cost-effective material for seastead structures,[29] as indicated by use in oil platforms and concrete submarines. The company AT Design Office recently made another design using the modular island method.[30]

Other

Many architects and firms have created designs for floating cities, including Vincent Callebaut,[31][32] Paolo Soleri[33] and companies such as Shimizu and Tangram 3DS.[34] Marshall Savage also discussed building tethered artificial islands in his book The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps, with several color plates illustrating his ideas. Some design competitions have also yielded designs, such as those produced by Evolo and other companies.[35][36][37]

Progress

In 2008, Friedman and Gramlich had hoped to float the first prototype seastead in the San Francisco Bay by 2010[38][39] but 2010 plans were to launch a seastead by 2014.[40] The Seasteading Institute projected in 2010 that the seasteading population would exceed 150 individuals in 2015.[41]

Conferences

The Seasteading Institute held its first conference in Burlingame, California, October 10, 2008. 45 people from 9 countries attended.[42] The second Seasteading conference was significantly larger, and held in San Francisco, California, September 28–30, 2009.[43][44] The third Seasteading conference took place on May 31 - June 2, 2012.[45]

Spin-off projects

Blueseed

As of 2011, Blueseed was a company working on launching a ship near Silicon Valley which was to serve as a visa-free startup community and entrepreneurial incubator. The shipstead planned to offer living and office space, high-speed Internet connectivity, and regular ferry service to the mainland.[46][47] The project aims included overcoming the difficulty organizations face obtaining US work visas, intending to use the easier B-1/B-2 visas to travel to the mainland, while work will be done on the ship.[46][47] Blueseed founders Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija met when both were employees of The Seasteading Institute.[46][47]

In popular culture

Seasteading has been imagined numerous times in pop culture in recent years.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mangu-Ward, Katherine (April 28, 2008). "Homesteading on the High Seas: Floating Burning Man, "jurisdictional arbitrage," and other adventures in anarchism". Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  2. ↑ "Explorers in the Valley still charting new territory". The Irish Times. 19 September 2008.
  3. 1 2 "SeaSteading -- Homesteading the High Seas". gramlich.net.
  4. ↑ "Las Portadas". seasteading.org.
  5. 1 2 3 Baker, Chris (January 19, 2009). "Live Free or Drown: Floating Utopias on the Cheap". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  6. ↑ "Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies". WIRED.
  7. ↑ "City floating on the sea could be just 3 years away". CNN. March 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  8. ↑ "History".
  9. 1 2 3 "Cities on the Ocean". The Economist. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Peter Thiel (April 13, 2009). "The Education of a Libertarian".
  11. ↑ "Seasteading: the great escape". Prospect Magazine. April 2010.
  12. ↑ "Seasteading Misconceptions - Business Insider". Business Insider. 16 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "BBC - Future - Ocean living: A step closer to reality?". BBC Future.
  14. ↑ Stossel, John (11 February 2011). "Is Seasteading the Future?".
  15. ↑ Friedman, Patri (31 July 2011). "The Seasteading Institute – July 2011 Newsletter". Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "The Seasteading Conference". Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  17. ↑ Charlie Deist. "The Seasteading Institute". The Seasteading Institute.
  18. ↑ "Floating City Project - The Seasteading Institute - Startup Cities". The Seasteading Institute.
  19. ↑ "Start". Startup Cities Institute.
  20. ↑ "Designing the Worlds First Floating City - Indiegogo". Indiegogo.
  21. ↑ "DeltaSync". deltasync.nl.
  22. ↑ "A fresh start on a floating city could be just a few years away". A fresh start on a floating city could be just a few years away.
  23. ↑ "About Seasteading - Frequently Asked Questions". The Seasteading Institute. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  24. ↑ McCullagh, Declan (February 2, 2009). "Next Frontier: "Seasteading" The Oceans". CBS News. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  25. ↑ May Young, Niki (May 22, 2008). "The Seasteading Institute established to develop permanent ocean communities.". World Architecture News. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  26. 1 2 Gramlich, Wayne; Friedman, Patri; Houser, Andrew (2002–2004). "Seasteading". seasteading.org. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  27. ↑ "ClubStead". seasteading.org. 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  28. ↑ "Modular Island Design - The Seasteading Institute". The Seasteading Institute.
  29. ↑ "Apply Seasteading Concrete Shell Structures - The Seasteading Institute". The Seasteading Institute.
  30. ↑ "Floating City concept by AT Design Office features underwater roads". Dezeen.
  31. ↑ "Vincent Callebaut Architecte LILYPAD". callebaut.org.
  32. ↑ "LILYPAD feature". archinect.com.
  33. ↑ Rose, Steve (August 25, 2008). "The man who saw the future". The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  34. ↑ "12 Post-Apocalypse Floating Cities and Homes: From Crazy Concepts to Reality". TreeHugger.
  35. ↑ "Oceanscraper- eVolo - Architecture Magazine". evolo.us.
  36. ↑ "Seascraper – Floating City - eVolo - Architecture Magazine". evolo.us.
  37. ↑ "Oil Platforms Transformed into Sustainable Seascrapers- eVolo - Architecture Magazine". evolo.us.
  38. ↑ Adam Frucci. "Silicon Valley Nerds Plan Sea-Based Utopian Country to Call Their Own". Gizmodo. Gawker Media.
  39. ↑ "Libertarian Island: No Rules, Just Rich Dudes". NPR.org. 21 May 2008.
  40. ↑ "Meetup.com - October 2010 Seasteading Social at the Hyatt Regency SF". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  41. ↑ "Seasteading: A Possible Timeline". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  42. ↑ "Seasteading Institute 2008 Annual Report" (PDF). TSI. April 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  43. ↑ "Seasteading 2009 Annual Conference". TSI. August 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
  44. ↑ McCullagh, Declan (2009-10-11). "Seasteaders Take First Step Toward Colonizing The Oceans". CBSNews. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  45. ↑ "Huffington Post: "Seasteading Institute Convention" June 2012".
  46. 1 2 3 Lee, Timothy (2011-11-29). "Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator". Ars Technica. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  47. 1 2 3 Donald, Brooke (16 December 2011). "Blueseed Startup Sees Entrepreneur-Ship as Visa Solution for Silicon Valley". Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 March 2011.

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