Seasteading is the creation of permanent dwellings ininternational waters, so-calledseasteads, that are independent of established governments. No structure on thehigh seas has yet been created and recognized as asovereign state. Proposed structures have included modifiedcruise ships, refittedoil platforms, and custom-builtfloating islands.[1]
Some proponents say seasteads can "provide the means for rapid innovation in voluntary governance and reverse environmental damage to our oceans ... and foster entrepreneurship."[2] Some critics fear seasteads may function primarily as a refuge for the wealthy toevade taxes or other national legislation.[3]
While seasteading may guarantee some freedom from unwanted rules, the high seas are regulated internationally through bodies ofadmiralty law andlaw of the sea.[4]
The termseasteading is ablend ofsea andhomesteading, and dates back to the 1960s.[5]
.jpg)
Nomadic ocean life has been practiced for millennia by so-calledsea nomad peoples, particularly aroundSoutheast Asia.[7]
.jpg)
Historic inspiration for seasteading includesVenice, which while builton stilts like similar settlements to itsNorth,East orSouth, is not only a long-standing maritime settlement, but also center of the historic independent state of theRepublic of Venice.[8][9]
.jpg)
Other inspirations includeTenochtitlan, the capital city of theAztec Empire, founded on an island inLake Texcoco with connected artificial islands built around it –Mexico City now entirely covers the lake's basin – and floating communities such as theUru people onLake Titicaca, theTanka people inAberdeen, Hong Kong, and theMakoko in Lagos, Nigeria.
Recent inspirations include:
Many architects and firms have created designs for floating cities, includingVincent Callebaut,[11][12]Paolo Soleri[13] and companies such asShimizu, Ocean Builders[14] and E. Kevin Schopfer.[15]
Marshall Savage discussed building tetheredartificial islands in his 1992 bookThe Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps, with several color plates illustrating his ideas.
A 1998 essay by Wayne Gramlich attracted the attention ofPatri Friedman.[16] The two began working together and posted their first collaborative book online in 2001.[17] Their book explored many aspects of seasteading from waste disposal toflags of convenience. This collaboration led to the creation of the non-profit The Seasteading Institute (TSI) in 2008.
As an intermediate step, theSeasteading Institute has promoted cooperation with an existing nation on prototype floating islands with legal semi-autonomy within the nation's protected territorial waters. On 13 January 2017, the Seasteading Institute signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) withFrench Polynesia to create the first semi-autonomous "seazone" for a prototype,[18][19] but later that year political changes driven by the French Polynesia presidential election led to the indefinite postponement of the project.[20] French Polynesia formally backed out of the project and permanently cut ties with Seasteading on 14 March 2018.[21]
The first single-family seastead was launched nearPhuket, Thailand by Ocean Builders in March 2019.[22][23] Two months later, the Thai Navy claimed the seastead was a threat to Thai sovereignty.[24] In 2019, Ocean Builders said it will be building again in Panama, with the support of government officials.[25] As of 2022, the project's status is uncertain.
In April 2019, the concept offloating cities as a way to cope with rising oceans was included in a presentation by the United Nations program UN-Habitat. As presented, they would be limited to sheltered waters.[26]
A nonprofit organization that has held several seasteading conferences and started The Floating City Project, which is proposed to locate a floating city within the territorial waters of an existing nation. Attempts to reach an agreement with French Polynesia ended in 2018.[27]
A proposal to build a "floating island" with a luxury hotel inJounieh north of the Lebanese capitalBeirut, was stalled as of 2015 because of concerns from local officials about environmental and regulatory matters.[28][29]
Blueseed was a company aiming to float a ship nearSilicon Valley to serve as a visa-freestartup community and entrepreneurialincubator. Blueseed foundersMax Marty andDario Mutabdzija met when both were employees of The Seasteading Institute. The project planned to offer living and office space, high-speed Internet connectivity, and regular ferry service to the mainland[30][31] but as of 2014 the project was "on hold",[32] and was later described as "failed" due to lack of investors and possible trouble with theStartup Visa Bill before the US Congress, which would make the concept obsolete.
A project which got as far as the purchase of a ship wasMSSatoshi, purchased (asPacific Dawn) in 2020 by Ocean Builders Central, to become a floating residence in theGulf of Panama; however, after failing to obtain insurance for the proposed operation, the ship was resold in 2021 for cruise operations.[4]
A Japanese consoriuim called N-Ark has a proposal to build a floating "healthcare city" to fit 10,000 people, with hopes to start construction by 2030.[33]
Cruise ships are a proven technology, and address most of the challenges of living at sea for extended periods of time. However, they're typically optimized for travel and short-term stay, not for permanent residence in a single location.
Many proposals have been made for seasteading retrofits of cruise ships, although none have succeeded. Examples include:
Platform designs based onspar buoys, similar to oil platforms.[37] In this design, the platforms rest on spars in the shape of floating dumbbells, with the living area high above sea level. Building on spars in this fashion reduces the influence of wave action on the structure.[38]
Proposals include:
There are numerous seastead designs based around interlocking modules made ofreinforced concrete.[42] Reinforced concrete is used for floating docks, oil platforms, dams, and other marine structures.
Proposals include:
A single, monolithic structure that is not intended to be expanded or connected to other modules.
Proposals include:
Seasteading has been identified as "techno-colonialism", continuing settler colonialism at sea.[49][50] Others argue that building a new government is much more difficult than advocates realize.[51] Also, seasteads would be at risk of political interference from nation states.[52]
On a logistical level, without access to culture, travel, restaurants, shopping, and other amenities, seasteads could be too remote and too uncomfortable to be attractive to potential long-term residents.[52] Building seasteads to withstand the rigors of the open ocean may prove uneconomical.[51][52]
Seastead structures may blight ocean views, their industry or farming may deplete their environments, and their waste may pollute surrounding waters. Some critics believe that seasteads will exploit both residents and the nearby population.[51] Others fear that seasteads will mainly allow wealthy individuals to escape taxes,[3] or to harm mainstream society by ignoring other financial, environmental, and labor regulations.[3][51]
Governments have become increasingly concerned that Seasteading poses a threat to national security and opens the door for individualuals or groups to create indipendent states.[53] One such case made international headlines in 2019, when Thai officials seized a seastead 14 miles off the coast of Phuket citing national security concerns.[53]
Seasteading has been imagined many times in novels, including:Jules Verne's 1895 science-fiction bookPropeller Island (L'Île à hélice) about an artificial island designed to travel the waters of the Pacific Ocean; Freezone, a seventeen square mile platform similar to Las Vegas positioned 100 miles north of Morocco in theEclipse Trilogy of the 1980s, and the 2003 novelThe Scar, which featured a floating city namedArmada.
It has been a central concept in some movies, notablyWaterworld (1995), and in TV series such asStargate Atlantis, which had a complete floating city. A two-episode sequence of the showSilicon Valley featured a seastead positioned at theInternational Date Line.[54]
It is a common setting in video games, forming the premise of theBioshock series,Brink, andCall of Duty: Black Ops II; and in anime, such asGargantia on the Verdurous Planet which takes place mainly on a traveling city made of an interconnected fleet of ocean ships.
A satirical take on seasteading in the context of human extinction is depicted in theLove, Death & Robots episode "Three Robots: Exit Strategies".[55] In theArcher episode "Cold Fusion", a villain attempts to melt the polar ice caps to promote his floating city development company.
