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Seasteading

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Structure Designs - Spar Platform. Submerged flotation chamber, ballast. Multi ... Spar presents low cross-sectional area to waves. Doesn't rock like a boat. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Seasteading


1
Seasteading
  • Mission Possible Creating New Sovereign
    Territory in Ocean Waters
  • By Patri Friedman

2
What is Seasteading
  • Definition To Homestead The Oceans
  • Term coined by Wayne Gramlich
  • Also refers to our specific project/approach

3
Two-Part Talk
  • Why to build seasteads
  • Why build them at all
  • Why build them our way
  • How to build seasteads
  • Environment, Structure, Infrastructure, Strategy

4
The Book
  • Seasteading A Practical Guide to Homesteading
    the High Seas
  • Currently in draft form
  • Available online at http//seastead.org/
  • Commenting system
  • Will be self-published real soon now

5
Why Build Seasteads?
  • Next frontier
  • Use more of the earths surface
  • Dry (?wet?) run for settling space
  • Make governments more responsive and efficient

6
Exponential Growth of Wealth
7
Why Government Spending?
  • Public Choice Theory
  • Rational Ignorance
  • Concentrated vs. Dispersed Interests
  • Alternate View Government as an industry
  • People are people - so blame the system!
  • Rhetoric is not enough

8
The Governing Industry
  • Citizens pay taxes in return for government
    services
  • Each government has a monopoly over one
    geographic area
  • Citizens can switch providers by moving to
    another country
  • Two features make it horribly uncompetitive

9
The Governing Industry
High Cost of Switching Providers
  • In order to change service providers, you must
  • Leave job (get another)
  • Sell House (get another)
  • Pack possessions (move them)
  • Apply for citizenship
  • Cost is ENORMOUS!
  • Results
  • Poor market feedback
  • Exploitation, not innovation.

10
The Governing Industry
Huge Barrier to Entry
  • Consider cost/difficulty of Iraq regime change
  • Cant start fresh because all land is claimed
  • Need to win an election or a revolution
  • Results
  • Oligopolistic market with few firms
  • Limited competition

11
The Governing Industry
Is Not Very Competive!
  • Hard for new competitors to enter the market
  • Hard for customers to switch between few existing
    firms
  • Imagine if it cost 25,000 to switch phone
    providers, and the FCC charged 100 billion for a
    new license
  • Governments suck because of the industry structure

12
Government on Modular Floating Cities
  • Low barrier to entry
  • Buy Land, Theyve Stopped Making It becomes
    false.
  • Build new territory.
  • Dont have to win an election or fight a
    revolution to have a new country.
  • Build piece by piece as necessary.
  • Low cost to switch
  • Territory can be dynamically re-arranged
  • Entire buildings can move between political
    jurisdictions (the ultimate federalism)
  • Easy to leave means hard to exploit
  • Re-enable Federalism

13
Result Government Becomes a Competitive Industry
  • On land we have a small number of large, static
    service providers who poorly serve customers
  • On the ocean, we will get a large number of
    small, dynamic, innovative firms competing
  • Competition will make government more efficient
    and effectivesomehow
  • Politically agnostic
  • Incentives, not rhetoric
  • Has the potential to revolutionize this key and
    backward area of human society

14
Optimistic or Pessimistic?
  • Raises serious doubts about how much freedom we
    can get on land
  • Geography of space even more fluid than ocean.
  • Necessary feature holds for 71 of the earths
    surface and 99.99999 of the universe.

15
Why Do It Our Way?
  • Lots of previous ideas, ventures, attempts
  • Little success
  • Visionary but not realistic
  • Antarctic Homesteading

Or
16
Our Philosophy
  • Incrementalism
  • Financial Realism
  • Political Realism
  • Technological Realism
  • No OTEC
  • No Seacrete

17
How to Seastead
  • Ocean Environment
  • Structure
  • Infrastructure (Power, Water, Food)
  • Strategy How to get from here to there.

18
The Ocean Environment
  • The ocean is a wilderness reaching round the
    globe, wilder than a Bengal jungle, and fuller of
    monsters, washing the very wharves of our cities
    and the gardens of our sea-side residences.
    Serpents, bears, hyenas, tigers rapidly vanish as
    civilization advances, but the most populous and
    civilized city cannot scare a shark far from its
    wharves.
  • - Henry DavidThoreau
  • Waves
  • Currents
  • Wind
  • Politics
  • Pirates (Arr)

19
Waves
  • Tsunamis
  • Rogue Waves
  • Avoiding Waves
  • Pillars
  • Breakwaters
  • Safe Locations
  • Movement

20
Currents
21
Trade Winds
22
Ill Winds - Dangerous?
  • Wind - no
  • Storm surge - no
  • Windborne debris - no
  • Waves - yes!

23
Politics/Law
  • Admiralty Law
  • Flags
  • Boarding
  • Political Zones
  • Territorial/Contiguous Sea
  • EEZ/EFZ
  • High Seas
  • Approaches
  • Flag of convenience
  • Flag from hands-off country
  • Flagless

24
Pirates (Arrr!)
  • Mostly small scale
  • 73 of 335 attacks in 2001 involved guns
  • 20 deaths in southeast asia, 1 elsewhere
  • Seasteads are not an attractive target for
    organized pirates.

25
Structure Designs
  • Requirements
  • Handle waves safely
  • Provide living volume
  • Provide solar area
  • Possibilities
  • Underwater
  • On water
  • Above water

26
Structure Designs - Under/On
  • Underwater
  • On water
  • Boats
  • Simple platforms

27
Structure Designs - Above
  • Troll A gas platform
  • 1500 feet tall
  • Towed to operating location

28
Structure Designs - Spar Platform
  • Submerged flotation chamber, ballast
  • Multi-level platform
  • Long spar

29
Design Features
  • Spar presents low cross-sectional area to waves.
  • Doesnt rock like a boat.
  • Free-floating (can be anchored).
  • Multiple platforms can be connected in a
    hexagonal grid.
  • Ferrocement - cheap and durable.
  • Cost 25-150/sq. ft. (labor, materials,
    infrastructure)

30
No Bobbing
31
Future - Breakwaters
32
Infrastructure
  • Already a solved problem (think cruise ships)
  • Many things will be imported.
  • Lots of options

33
Water
  • Rain
  • Reverse Osmosis
  • Future Solar Distillation?

34
Food
  • Import
  • Grow in hydroponic greenhouses
  • Future Aquaculture!

35
Power
  • Photovoltaic panels
  • Wind turbines
  • Good old diesel generators
  • Future Wave power

36
Transportation
  • Anchoring - possible but expensive
  • Drifting - slowly, or in doldrums
  • Active positioning - motors
  • Getting there and back again
  • Boats
  • Helicopters
  • STOL aircraft

37
Misc. Infrastructure
  • Communications
  • Defense
  • Waste Disposal

38
How Not To Make It Happen
  • Depend on nonexistent/undeveloped technologies
    (OTEC, seacrete).
  • Depend on the appearance of a mysterious angel
    investor.
  • Trying to get investment or donations with no
    proof of concept.
  • Trying to tackle too big a problem at once.

39
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.

40
Business Ideas - Land at Sea
  • Cargo transshipment
  • Aquaculture
  • Fishing base
  • Tour base
  • Green living
  • Marine science

41
Business Ideas - Low Regulation
  • Resort (amenities)
  • Offshore manufacturing
  • World Library (Arrr)
  • Medical Research/Treatment

42
Phase I - Research
  • Book
  • Website
  • Goals
  • Learn enough to plan further steps
  • Get some publicity
  • Build interest in next stage

43
Phase II - Baystead Prototype
  • 2K - 10K sq. ft.
  • Moored in San Francisco Bay
  • Funded by 4-10 initial residents, cost 200K -
    500K.
  • Goals
  • Test design, infrastructure
  • Publicity (give tours, get articles written about
    us)
  • Proof of concept - we are serious! This is real!
  • Build interest in next stage

44
Phase III - Seastead Resort
  • 20K - 200K sq. ft.
  • International waters (perhaps Med. Sea)
  • Timeshare resort
  • A few permanent residents, many vacationers
  • Cost 3M - 15M, provided by residents
  • Goals
  • Demonstrate that its possible to build new,
    sovereign land
  • Lots of publicity
  • Become a growing community and business
  • Build interest in next stage

45
Phase IV - World Domination
  • Getting started is the hardest part
  • Economy will evolve beyond a resort
  • Permanent residents will increase
  • More platforms will be built

46
  • http//seastead.org/

47
Acknowledgements
  • Co-authors Wayne Gramlich and Andy House
  • Dan Klein and the CSI for inviting me to talk

48
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