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Seasteading
I think the concept of Seasteading is a great way to create anarchistic communities and societies free from government intervention. Any thoughts on the concept of seasteading? Advantages/disadvantages, pros/drawbacks, etc.
The Seasteading Institute’s initiative seems to have been stagnant for quite awhile now, anyone knows what’s going on?
Do you subscribe to their e-mail newsletter? They still send stuff out once in a while. I got an e-mail from them earlier this week, and it’s the third one in the last two months or so. Their March update reads, in part:
Progress continues with our primary effort, the Floating City Project. One of our key objectives is to find a host nation willing to offer a seastead substantial political autonomy within protected waters in territorial seas, in exchange for the economic, social, and environmental benefits of having the seastead as a neighbor. We are currently in diplomatic talks with government officials and influential people in several potential host nations, and we are seeking more contacts to widen our net of opportunities.
So things are still in motion. But slowly–I don’t think anything like this could go very quickly.
For what it’s worth, I think Seasteading is a great idea, but it will require a huge amount of planning and commitment from all involved. I would love to be a part of it, but when I investigated the costs for entry were astronomical–way beyond anything I could ever hope to pay. Maybe costs will come down with time, but for now it seems like something that’s only even theoretically doable for people who have already made their fortunes.
Yeah I don’t get the impression you should be too discouraged if the Seasteading institute seems to be a bit quite as of late. The Seasteading Institute’s Commisioned Floating City Report Seemed very promising to me.
I think Seasteading is inevitable. Whether or not libertarians get excited about it or not or the Seasteading Institute Funds it or not. It’s inevitable because there will increasingly be a market for it as technology increasingly makes such structures economically feasable. I think it’s really just that there isn’t a lot for grassroot types to do aside from donating money to the institute. So as a movement it might never have the same atmosphere as things like the Ron Paul Revolution, The Bitcoin Space, Free State Project, Agorism, or whatever. Those “movements” have tangible things that everyday people can do to participate. Seasteading will likely follow big money I think. One successful medical tourism seastead doing super cheap surgeries off the coast somewhere in the world will open the floodgates (sory for the pun) to seasteading I believe. And I think bitcoin really helps the cause as well.
The concept of seasteading puts me in mind of all those retired Navy aircraft carriers. They were run by 5000 people or so. From what I understand, the older ones are a bit unbearable in terms of living space.
As times goes on, though, what if seasteaders start using retired vessels to house their communities? This seems like it would be a lot easier than having a ship-building facility, which is incredibly expensive (and incredibly unprofitable on its own).
I do think this is absolutely the future. It will probably be seasteaders that do something about the garbage and radiation in the Pacific Ocean. That’s my impression, anyway.
Hey Winter,
Converting a cruise ship, a barge, or similar vessel is indeed one of the favorite near term strategies many seasteaders favor for the reasons you mention. It is a known tech that we have access to now. And the first serious proto-seasteading effort
Blueseed (which I’m very exited about) is doing just that. And it is a good compromise at this early stage for efforts close to the shore. It’s lower risk, lower reward than the ultimate goal. Eventually the goal is to get out far enough from the coast where a seastead will have much more autonomy according to international law (10 or 20 miles I think it is). In which case specifically designed modular units will be desired. Ones that are partially submerged to absorb the waves more than something floating just on the surface like a ship.
The current Seastead Movement is specifically not looking at mimicing Oil rigs or Sealand Because those are achored to the ocean floor and therefor forfiet most of the advantages of what Seasteading is trying to accomplish in the first place. It’s not like seasteaders have a big desire to live on the ocean for the sake of it. Decentralization and secession are at the heart of this effort so any seastead needs to be easily movable. Think of it sort of like Napster vs. Bit Torrent. Napster had a single point of failure that could be shut down but BitTorent on the other hand has survived through decentralization. A proper seasteading city will ideally be made up of completely floating and somehow tethered units (one of the biggest engineering challanges I believe) that can be rearanged endlessly as needed. That way if someone ever declares himself dictator of the city the structures making up the city can just be towed away to another neighboring seasteading city. The whole idea is to make secession infinately easier than our current land based existance.
Thanks for taking the time to respond to this discussion, guys!
Yeah I must confess it was a little irresponsible for me to make that comment without subscribing to the Seasteading Institute’s newsletter. Either way, it’s definitely good to know that it hasn’t died off.
Also, Winter, I like the idea of the more inexpensive methods of seasteading you brought up like using retired oil vessels and such, it brings to mind the Principality of Sealand.
I do, too think that seasteading is the future, and it would be an incredibly interesting and exciting world to live in.
