Seasteading
Mission Possible: How and Why to Create New Sovereign Territory in Ocean Waters
by Patri Friedman
- Intro
- So...what is "Seasteading"?
- Definition: "To Homestead The Oceans"
- Term coined by Wayne Gramlich
- Also refers to our specific project and approach
- Two-Part Talk
- For more detail, see the book
- "Seasteading: A Practical Guide to Homesteading the High Seas"
- Draft available online at http://seastead.org/
- Why Seastead?
- Many reasons
- Settle the next frontier
- Use more of the Earth's surface
- Practice for space
- Most important: make government work better!
- Why is government inefficient, and why are seasteads a solution?
- Note: more detailed explanation at http://patrifriedman.com/projects/socs/commented/drawer/dynamic_geography.html
- Why Do Governments Suck?
- Its the system, not the participants
- Public Choice Theory, Dispersed Interests, Rational Ignorance....
- Its all about incentives
- People respond to changes in incentives
- Government has bad incentive structure
- Technology is a powerful way to change incentives
- The technology of floating cities will dramatically change the incentives facing governments
- The Industry of Government
- High cost of switching providers:
- Move jobs, houses, possessions, friends, citizenship...
- Result: Little market feedback
- Result: Exploitation not innovation
- Huge barrier to entry
- Consider Iraq
- All land is claimed, and sovereignty is not for sale
- Result: Few firms
- Result: Little competition
- Not a good industry!
- Government on Modular Floating Cities
- Low cost of switching
- Territory can be dynamically re-arranged
- Entire buildings can move between political jurisdictions
- Easy to leave => hard to exploit
- Federalism resurgent!
- Low barrier to entry
- "Buy Land, They've Stopped Making It" becomes false
- Don't have to win an election or fight a revolution to have a new country
- Build piece by piece as necessary
- Result: Government Becomes a Competitive Industry
- Land: a small number of large, static service providers who poorly serve customers
- Ocean: Many small, dynamic, innovative firms competing
- Competition will make government more efficient and effective - even though we don't know how
- Technology, not political conversion.
- Wait, is this optimistic or pessimistic?
- Maybe we'll never have economic freedom on land
- But space has dynamic geography too
- So the necessary feature holds for 71% of the earth's surface and 99.99999% of the universe
- Why do things our way?
- Other ways don't work
- Our general philosophy
- Incrementalism
- financial realism
- Political realism
- technological realism (no seacrete, no OTEC)
- OTEC - does not scale down
- Seacrete - more expensive than buying cement
- How to Seastead
- "How" includes
- Environment
- Structure
- Infrastructure
- Strategy
- Ocean Environment
- Waves
- Tsunami
- Rogue Waves
- Avoiding Waves
- Pillars
- Breakwaters
- Safe Locations
- Active Movement
- Currents
- Wind
- General Circulation
- Storms - dangerous?
- Wind - No
- Storm Surge - No
- Windborne Debris - No
- Big Waves - Yes
- Politics
- Admiralty law
- Political Zones
- Territorial Sea
- Contiguous Zone
- EEZ / EFZ
- High Seas
- Approaches
- Flag of Convenience
- Flag from hands-off country
- Flagless
- Pirates (Arrrr...)
- Mostly small-scale
- Rarely dangerous outside southeast Asia
- Occasionally large and organized
- Structure
- Requirements
- Handle waves safely
- Provide living volume
- Provide solar area
- Many possibilities
- Underwater
- On the water
- Sailboats
- Big Boat
- Simple Platforms
- Cargo Containers
- Above the water
- Pillar Platfom
- Floating Spar
- Spar Platform
- Our choice: Spar Platform
- Flotation submerged
- Living area lofted
- Spar presents low cross-sectional area to waves
- Doesn't rock like a boat
- Multiple platforms can be connected
- Made from ferrocement - cheap and durable
- Cost: $25-$150/sq. ft. (labor, materials, infrastructure)
- Future: breakwaters / simple platforms
- Infrastructure
- Already a solved problem (think cruise ships)
- Many things will be imported.
- Lots of options
- Water
- Rain
- Reverse Osmosis
- Future: Solar distillation (maybe)
- Food
- Import
- Grow in hydroponic greenhouses
- Future: Aquaculture
- Power
- Photovoltaic panels
- Wind turbines
- Good old diesel generators
- Future: Wave power
- Transportation
- Moving
- Staying Still
- There and Back Again
- Misc infrastructure
- Communications
- Defense
- Waste disposal
- Strategy
- How Not To Make It Happen
- Depend on undeveloped technologies (OTEC, seacrete).
- Depend on a mysterious angel investor.
- Try to get money with no proof of concept.
- Try to tackle too big a problem at once.
- How To Make It Happen
- Stick to realistic and mature technologies.
- Have reasonable ideas for funding.
- Demonstrate the concept before expecting outside money.
- Incrementalism: a series of small, reasonable stages.
- Business ideas
- Comparative advantage: New islands
- Cargo Transshipment
- Fishing Base
- Tour base
- Green Living
- Marine Science
- Aquaculture
- Comparative advantage: Low regulation
- Resort (+ amenities)
- Offshore Manufacturing
- World Library
- Medical Research/Treatment
- Our specific plan
- Phase I: Background research
- Book
- Website
- Resources
- Required: lots of time, little money
- Sources: Patri, Wayne
- Goals
- Learn enough to plan next steps
- Raise interest/awareness
- Build interest in next stage...
- Phase II: Baystead Prototype
- 2K-10K sq. ft.
- Moored in San Francisco Bay
- Resources
- Required: $200K-$500K, 4-10 residents
- Sources: Recruit residents from publicity, pool of interested folk. Don't need many, they need some money
- Sources: Money mostly from residents (who then own Baystead). A little from project supporters. Residents will recoup some money through tours.
- Goals
- Test design, infrastructure
- Experiment
- Publicity (give tours, get articles written about us, etc.)
- Proof of concept - we are serious! This is real.
- Build interest in next stage...
- Phase III: Seastead Resort
- 20K - 200K sq. ft
- International waters (perhaps Med. Sea)
- Timeshare
- Resources:
- Required: $3M - $15M, 20-200 residents (mix of permanent, timeshare)
- Source: Residents from publicity in previous stage
- Source: Money from residents. Possibly some from real estate investors.
- Goals:
- Demonstrate that building new, sovereign land is possible.
- Build interest in next stage...
- Phase IV: Then We Take Over The World!
- Getting started (Phases I-III) is the hardest part.
- Over time, economy will evolve beyond just a resort.
- Number of permanent residents will increase.
- Additional platforms/groups built.
- More information: http://seastead.org/
- Acknowledgements
- Co-authors: Wayne Gramlich and Andy House.
- Dan Klein and the Civil Society Institute for inviting me to talk.