Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adler_von_L%C3%BCbeck
Much of human history has been about opening up new frontiers, in exploration, science, and technology. It started when we spread out of Africa, many millennia ago, and continued when men and women spread into the Americas, and Europeans later came and invaded the “new world”, in part to explore unknown lands, and in part to escape the bureaucracy and monarchies of the old world. At that time, for many immigrants coming from the old world, the Americas, and the United States in particular, were a new frontier for people looking for opportunity, hope, and change.
Today, the frontier is long gone, and the stifling bureaucracy has spread to the “new world”. Now that there are no frontiers left, where is the new land for opportunity, hope, and change? Where can one experiment in new ideas, go and start a new society, and find freedom?
Perhaps the answer lies not in the land that we lie on, but in the seas that surround us.
Enter seasteading: The colonization of the seas.
What I like about seasteading
There is one big thing that I like about seasteading that could make a profound difference in the world that we live in. The first big change that it could bring us is real choice. There are only a couple of hundred nations on this earth, and many of them are corrupt, poorly run, and dangerous. Nations are going increasingly into debt, democracy is failing the people, and economies are stagnating. People are increasingly growing dissatisfied, but nobody can agree on what the solutions are.
What if instead of the limited choice that we have today, we could instead choose from a thousand different nations, each with codes and laws tailored to the desires of its residents. What if instead of the government dictating to citizens what they can and can’t do and how they should live, the citizens instead dictated to the government what they should and shouldn’t do? I’ve always believed that the purpose of a government should be to serve the citizens who created it and vested power in it, and not the other way around.
There would be an explosion of social systems, allowing people to experiment, see what works, and discard what doesn’t. Citizens would vote with their feet, associating with systems that they liked and leaving systems that they didn’t. As the seasteads themselves would be mobile, you could even take your home with you.
The next frontier
Seasteading will rely on entrepreneurialism and success in order to attract its customers, the citizens. Unlike the revolutions of old that sought to remake the world in their own image, seasteading cannot force its vision on others. People will have to be attracted by incentives and opportunity. By the very same entrepreneurialism, seasteading won’t be a “one size fits all” idea, but will have a variety of choice to accomodate people’s different tastes.
What to start your own money-free society? There will probably be a seastead for that. Want to live in an Objectivist society? There’ll be a seastead for that, too. Want to have a direct democracy? Yep, there’ll be a seastead for that, too.
How about starting your own society? You can go right ahead; the only SDK you need is the technology to live in the ocean. If you are successful, you might even attract people to migrate to your seastead or move their seasteads near yours, and watch your community grow.
The history of seasteading
I suppose it first starts with the cruise ship industry, which has become a successful means of offering thousands of people inexpensive vacations in comfort and relative luxury. Cruise ships have been getting larger every year, and the biggest can hold thousands of people.
One seasteading-related idea was the so-called Freedom Ship, which would have been nearly a mile long and would have housed over 50,000 people. The idea has, however, failed to attract the funds required, estimated at over 11 billion dollars (which actually isn’t that horrible, since it would come out to $220 000 per person. There are plenty of semi-rich people in the world that could afford that, but you have to build it, first). You do have smaller projects, such as the The World.
Then you have the Poseidon Project, which is the Seasteading Institute’s current plan to launch a seastead by 2015. Current estimates for the construction and deployment of this project are $20 million, which is an order of magnitude smaller and a lot more feasible than trying to gather $11 billion in investment like the Freedom Ship tried to do.
Goals for the Poseidon Project:
- Have at least 50 full-time residents.
- Be economically self-sufficient.
- Be technologically safe and secure.
- Have de-facto political autonomy.
You can check out a concept video below:
2009 Seastead Design Contest Winner: Swimming City by András Győrfi from The Seasteading Institute on Vimeo.
I personally think the project is quite interesting, and I wish them the best of success.
More reading
So, what would entice you to move to the oceans, or at least do business there and spend some time there? What do you think about a new frontier on the seas? What would be some of your concerns? Let me know about it in the comments section below!
Short Yakezie Carnival
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SPACE….. THE FINAL FRONTIER!!!!! (not that far off now, may even happen on a low level in our lifetimes!).
Wow this is an interesting topic. I have heard about “The World” and similar ideas but did not really know they kind of constituted their own country (almost). I wonder what nationality would be assigned to a child born on these cities?
There is a very good childrens book called “Mortal Engines” by a guy called Phillip Reeve. It’s based in the future where all big cities are on tank style tracks so freely move around the baron earth. They keep going by eating smaller cities (basically engulfing them and enslaving the residents and using their resources)…. Anyway for some reason this idea reminded me of that :).
I joked with some friends recently creating a virtual country that although has no physical space still has rules, laws, taxes etc and establishing it as a recognised state….. I know it couldn’t work but we are all getting tired of being part of these giant machines that we have no control!
Great post and thanks for my link in the short carnival.
Hey Forest! I agree… space colonization will come sometime this century for sure, and it will be awesome. I think I have seen a cartoon based on that book; at least, I’m sure I’ve seen this cartoon where these cities walk around the earth. It sounds familiar.
The oceans of our world are a murky gray zone where, outside of a zone around the coast, no sovereign nation exerts full control. Did you hear about the Somalian pirates who were taken to Moscow and then released? This has happened more than once. It’s because nobody can figure out which jurisdiction to try them under, and Somalia itself is not well-equipped to do so. Of course, they just set them adrift in the middle of the ocean instead, and their fate is unknown: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8675978.stm
That is pirate’s justice for ya!
I know it’s slated for release as something in 2012 so maybe you saw a preview or something.
Wow that Pirate story is interesting!
interesting…. but its also scary. If it’ll be a free society without policing one bad person is enough to hurt/spoil the entire society right?
You’re right, it just takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch. However, you have to remember that everyone will be under intense pressure to be respectable, since there is no way that seasteaders would be able to defend themselves against a navy showing up at their doorsteps.
Nobody will probably care too much if you let a few people smoke pot on your seastead, but if you are engaged in human trafficking or selling drugs to the US or another countries that forbid it, you can bet that you’ll be seeing a destroyer or two at your doorstep, and you won’t want to mess with them.
Great article Kevin,
What’s interesting in this age of relativism where each human is his own god for morals is that we will see some groups of people deploy such cities to suite their own view such as legal polygamy(1 man many women or 1 woman many men), promotion of incest between consenting adults or the termination of any individual requiring extensive health care to sustain over a certain age.
Interesting times coming ahead…
Mich
Hey Mich! You raise a very interesting point. There will undoubtedly be all sorts of activities taking place on seasteads which will offend some and disgust others.
Have you heard of “Women on Waves”? They are based on a ship which offers “reproductive health services” (basically meaning abortion) and sails under Danish law. They make appointments with women who live in more restrictive countries and take them on board the ship, where they then sail out to international waters where the abortion can be performed.
Does this shock and offend some people? For sure. However, it is better than the woman performing an unsafe procedure in her own country and possibly killing herself as well, or having a child that will grow up unwanted and unloved.
Let’s take a look at your three examples:
– Legal polygamy. If nobody is forced into it, then why not? Many cultures have practiced this in the past. The great thing about seasteading is that you’re not forced to associate with people you don’t want to. The majority of people will probably NOT practice polygamy, and they don’t have to live together and be neighbours if they don’t want to. By definition, those who practice socially undesirable behaviors will be socially ostracized and left out of the larger group.
– Incest. Well, I just find this disgusting, as I believe most people do. I don’t know who would take part in such a seastead, but again, they will just find themselves socially ostracized, like today. I don’t know if people today actually still go to jail for incest, but I’m sure people are still disgusted and refuse to associate with such people.
– Termination of individuals. So here we are talking about murder or suicide. Suicide is and always will be a personal choice that you can personally agree or disagree with, but if the seasteads are practicing murder, you can bet that the navy of any powerful nation will be showing up at their doorstep. Anyone who takes to the seas MUST understand that they are playing in a world with giants, and they must watch out lest they be stepped on by the giants. There are certain lines that can’t be crossed, and you can be sure that anyone crossing these lines will find a navy at their doorstep or perhaps a UAV Predator flying in the skies above them, with a couple missiles just waiting to be unleashed.
Seasteading first and foremost must be about advancing the human good through freedom , choice, and voluntary cooperation. To the extent that they don’t do so, they will find themselves in trouble with the existing nations of the world as well as public opinion. I believe that will keep most people from straying outside of the gray zones and into the black zones.
Interesting and it does sounds cool, but it also left me with a lot of questions…
1.) What about bad guys (pirates and other rogue nations)? Will they has some sort of Navy for protection?
2.) Seems like only really rich people could play on these, which is not necessarily bad (I would just be a little jealous).
3.) What form of money will they use?
I have more questions, but I’ll wait to see… It sounds exciting!!!
Those are some good questions. Here’s what I think how things would start out:
1) In the beginning, seasteads will probably stay far away from dangerous areas like the Gulf of Aden and will continue to fly flags of convenience. The risk shouldn’t be unreasonable.
2) Yep, sea living is more expensive than land-based living, and seasteading will start out expensive. For it to make business sense in the beginning, it will probably cater to the medical field or other similar businesses that would benefit from reduced red tape and could be competitive through lowered costs as a result. As economies of scale build up, the costs should come down to where the combined benefits could be more compelling than land-based living.
3) I am guessing they will start out using the USD, since it is the easiest to trade by far. Some form of gold-backed money might find usage as well.
You should check out the forums at http://seasteading.org, there are some guys there who have put hundreds of hours of thought into these kinds of questions and more, but I guess the best way to see will be to actually do it and then see what happens. That is what they are planning to do for 2015!
Human nature being what it is, it’s hard to imagine a thousand years of “I want to knock you over the head to take your stuff” mentality actually just dissipating.
If the Seastead is rich, like Kuwait, people will want to take it over. And unless a larger nation profits from that Seastead, I don’t think that nation will care who bonks who over the head to take what.
I went for a run today, and looked up at the multitude of new fighters flying overhead the mini Sea-state I live in. Singapore—just an island really, but with no debt and a thriving economy, surrounded by the third world.
But we will forever be killing pirates off our shipping shores (yes, this happens daily, although I haven’t had to kill one) and the government is always afraid of some rogue nation taking control.
This country works, but you won’t see a policeman walking the streets, and you might drive around for an entire day without seeing a police car. Tough laws ensure that people toe the line. Utopia for the law-abiding? I think it’s as “utopian” as any city state on earth (for the law abiding) has ever been—ever.
But like anything, it probably won’t last forever. It has a military force for a little place, but I think a seastead would be a sitting duck to pirates. And those that had nothing, and no laws, would likely crumble like the communes of the 60s. That’s just my view—because people aren’t always inherently good, and they do seem to prefer (without always realizing it) some kind of governing structure.
Hey Andrew,
I share some of your concerns. There will likely be some people who repeat failed experiments and some that try anarchy, and these experiments will probably fail. However, the idea isn’t that we live without laws and rules, but rather that we experiment with different laws & different rules, thus increasing the choice relative to today.
http://athousandnations.com/ calls it a “Cambrian explosion in government”. The idea is that we will increase the rate of evolution of government structures by reducing the entry costs (since all of the land is taken) and increasing diversity. Sure, some seasteads will fail, but not all of them will, and the ones that succeed will set an example for the rest.
The pirate thing is a concern, but how many cruise ships are attacked by pirates? It happens, but it’s rare. There are dangerous hot spots in the world today, but outside of those areas it is not a common occurrence. These boats spend all their time at sea and are essentially mobile seasteads, but geared toward luxury and entertainment. Residensea is a small residential community of rich people that travels around the world, and they’ve survived so far. 😉
The bigger danger is a rogue nation rather than pirates. However, how many rogue nations can project their force over all of the seas? These rogue nations become more dangerous only if you are close to them. The only nations with the power to project over the deep seas are generally the democracies such as the USA, and unless things really go down the shitter over there, I don’t think the USA will be blowing up peaceful seasteads. Of course, if you are armed to the teeth with rockets and machine guns and invading other seasteads, then this might happen 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_9TCyKNyjI
Singapore is essentially a large sea-stead, with a natural land foundation instead of an artificially-constructed floating foundation. It shows what you can achieve when you have decent rules in place. In fact, I’d like to read more about it from you someday… I haven’t seen enough written about your current home!
Hey Kevin,
I’ve been here 7 years. It’s not perfect (no place is) but it’s truly awe inspiring in so many ways. Income taxes are low. There’s no capital gains tax. All citizens have a right to subsidized housing, so 90% of them take advantage of it. If I want a MRI tomorrow, I can book it as easily as booking a restaurant table, and depending on where I go, a full body thoracic can cost as little as $700. A one hour dental cleaning and check last week cost me $50 Canadian, and of course, that’s expensive compared to Thailand.
I invest using a local brokerage, and I’ve amounted a lot of what would eventually be taxed if they had capital gains here, so that’s been a nice plus.
To curb road congestion, cars are riduculously expensive. You want a car with a big engine? You pay more, based on the theory of pollution costing us all more. A new BMW would cost about $200,000 Canadian. A base level Volkswagen, about $80,000 Canadian. Public tansit is cheap (busses and metro) and taxis cost about 1/5th of what they cost in Canada.
Despite having 4 million people in a space 42km by 24 km, roughly 40% of the country is undeveloped jungle—mostly for military training, but not all.
I live 12km from work, and I can run home on jungle paths the whole way. I saw a pack of wild boars last year, I always see monitor lizards, saw a HUGE reticulated python once.
Overall, the country is wealthy and incredibly materialistic. If you were single, placing an ad, and you were anything like you and me, you’d have to be 100% clear: looking for a girl who doesn’t like Prada, Gucci, Rolex and Louis Vuitton. Looking for a girl who doesn’t spend money and who isn’t looking for gold. I’m a guy who won’t buy a girl anything. Give me a shout if interested.
What else? It’s always 30 degrees celcius, always. THe sun rises and sets at the same time every day, all year long.
But I love it!
Hey Andrew,
Do you mean you can get an MRI or other diagnostic procedures without having to jump through a million referral hoops? If so, then that’s really great, and something that we’re missing over here.
I have personally spent some time in Korea and Taiwan, and I can attest to the materialism of the girls over there, too. The catch is that you can get Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc… imitation for a fraction of the cost of the real thing 😉
I’d like to visit Singapore someday too, it sounds like a pretty decent place, and of course, there are a ton of vacation travel opportunities when you’ve over there. I also don’t mind the heat at all 😉 How long do you think you’ll be there before you come back to North America, if you ever do?