Active Forums

the Law of the Sea

Altaica — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:01:01 -0500

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea AKA the constitution of the sea only protects states from other states.

Pleaure craft aren't even mentioned in it. Only commercal vessels, warships and Goverment vessels. Flying under the flag of a country doesn't give YOU any protection.

territory

Altaica — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:47:49 -0400

The purchaser draws boundaries, fences himself in, and says, "This is mine; each one by himself, each one for himself." Here, then, is a piece of land upon which, henceforth, no one has a right to step, save the proprietor and his friends; which can benefit nobody, save the proprietor and his servants. Let these sales multiply, and soon the people--who have been neither able nor willing to sell, and who have received none of the proceeds of the sale--will have nowhere to rest, no place of shelter, no ground to till.

Design shortcomings

xiagos — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:02:31 -0400

After reading a good many posts about seasteads and viewing the winning entry of the design contest, I think many factors are being overlooked with regards to design criteria.

I think that design criteria should be based on the following assumptions:

Experiment with 9-foot floating marina model

vincecate — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:10:52 -0400

Today I did a test of a 9-foot model of a floating marina. The model structure seems strong (left it tied up in the waves, will see later). However, the wave reduction was not as much as I had hoped. This is a larger version along the same lines of ealier tests.

2 foot model in 2005 http://www.floatingislands.com/wavebreak/
Video of today's test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V7mqg-Ax2k

I am the guy with the 2 boys, not the cameraman.

Oceanstead Development International (OSDI)

OCEANOPOLIS — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:05:21 -0500

We are pleased to announce the inception of Oceanstead Development International (OSDI), as the first "for profit" company dedicated to the seasteading business. The company has been formed by three TSI members, Octavian Gheorghe "Oceanopolis", Johnathan Gibbs "jtg423" and Calin Ciufudean "Calin". While our website is under construction, here is some information about OSDI and our first project, "The Man Made Key".

Biorock sea water mineral accretion technology

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:57:23 -0400

Hi,

I'd very much like research to be conducted on sea water mineral accretion technology pioneered by Wolf Hibertz http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1281641.html

Geodesic Vessel

vincecate — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:29:07 -0400

Wrote up another idea bouncing around in the back of my head:

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/User:Vincecate/GeodesicVessel

Budget Estimates for Single Family Seastead

vincecate — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:14:46 -0400

I started a page with some estimates for some of the things I would want on a single family seastead.

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/User:Vincecate/Budget

Waste Disposal

thebastidge — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:29:32 -0400

I see incineration mentioned for waste disposal in the online book, particularly in regards to human solid waste, due to the pathogens involved.

My Introduction

vab — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:59:09 -0400

Hi,

I'm a member of the Free State Project. I moved to New Hampshire from South Boston, recently. I'm a practicing Catholic. I've been interested in the liberty movement for a very long time. I read Ayn Rand's books when I was young and was a member of the Cypherpunks during the 1990's. I'm also a long time futurist. I attended some of the Foresight Senior Associate gatherings back in the day as well.

New Hampshire Event

vab — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:38:43 -0400

I live in Salem, New Hampshire. I moved there as part of the Free State Project [ http://www.freestateproject.org/ ]. Is there any interest in getting a New Hampshire group going? I could travel to a more central location - Manchester, the Sea Coast, or Boston, if necessary. There are some other FSPers who would probably be interested.

Self-Governance

ross3825 — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:16:29 -0400

On the topic of self-governance, an interesting model is Christiana, Denmark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania). Christiana has been in existence for quite some time and has an interesting history. Not that seasteads should be promoted as floating hash markets, but Christiana is one of the longest-lived independent communes of which I am aware making it quite a success in my mind.

It is also useful to note how the citizens of Christiana have been threatened by and interacted with the traditional governments by which they are surrounded.

New solar energy developments

i_is_j_smith — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:43:44 -0500

I'm partial to solar thermal systems, so news that Google has developed some new materials that might cut costs in half is promising:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61P58V20100226

Not to be outdone, researchers at the California Institute of Technology have come up with a new material that they say can make solar cells that are just as efficient as current cells (15-20%) but only use 1/100th as much silicon. It could make very cheap cells that are very easy to install:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1316303620100214

Areas of hypoxia growing

i_is_j_smith — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:48:44 -0500

In today's Yahoo news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100307/sc_mcclatchy/3444187

This will be something that needs to be addressed in any location analysis. The last thing you want to do is setup shop with your seastead in an area of low (or no) oxygen....or even near one of these areas if they are growing as fast as the researchers say. It would put a little dent in your aquaculture systems.

Which zone?

peaceman27 — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:12:37 -0500

What zone of water would the community have to be located wihtin in order to be a "soverign nation?" (past territorial waters, contiguous waters, exclusive econmic zone, or all the way out in international waters) I always thought it had to be way out in the boondocks of the ocean, 200 miles away from any land, but sealand wasn't that far away.... How far offshore are we planning on placing our communites?

Maldives to Build Floating Islands

David — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:47:30 -0500

Interesting:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/05/maldives-to-fight-rising-sea-levels-...

Maintenance of The Hull

olemann89 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:26:26 -0500

In this topic I wish to discuss maintenance in general, and Maintenance of a ferro-cement hull. I will be critical throughout the thread, in order for us to have a well informed discussion.

First of all, I believe that docking may be inevitable. That is unless one constructs a hull that can be self repairing while in water(steel hull + biorock / ferro-cement + biorock anyone?).

Ferro-cement also has some limitations, maintenace-wise:

In How and Why To Dry a Ferro-Cement Hull, Steve Smith writes:

Smallest individual structure that can survive in the deep ocean

nx2059 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:20:25 -0400

Suppose we want to build the smallest possible safe individual platform to stay in the deep ocean. What kind of design would it be? If the platform is to survive 100ft rouge waves, it's got to be

Modular Island Design

xnsdvd — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:51:26 -0400

The sketch above is for the design of a HDPE Hexagonal Pontoon(Hexatoon) that can be used in the construction of modular artificial islands for the equatorial zones.

A few things I've considered during the design process:

1) Sized such that they can be easily man-handled

2) Size also allows them to easily fit into standard shipping containers and trucks

Remove Captcha from post preview.

Altaica — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:20:24 -0500

Can you please remove the Captcha from post preview.

What function does that do other than deterring people from previewing there posts.

Starting your Military

xnsdvd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:23:04 -0400

It's an important consideration is it not? How do we avoid the strange military sub-culture that America has? Or those coups that constantly seem to be happening in 3rd world countries? How about the strange incompetence that comes with mandatory drafting like Singapore?(Speaking from experience here...)

Energy from a bottle of water.

libertariandoc — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:58:41 -0500

If it works out, cool:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/video-artificial-photos...

30 kw is a lot of power...more than my house uses a day.

An Idea: Variable Hull-Breach Stability System

cthulhujunior — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:43:03 -0400

I've had an idea for a system that might make these platforms more stable at sea. Basically, the idea is to have a series of holes in the hull that lead to water-tight tubes. In these tubes are stoppers on extendable arms. For normal balance, these arms are fully extended, stoppering the hole. However, should the platform tip to one side due to a wave, an arm on the other side contracts, unbalancing the platform forcing the formerly upended side to sink, re-balancing the craft.

Literature and fiction centered around seasteading

Joseph — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:23:09 -0500

Literature has always been a huge moving force behind changing the world, especially if you can do it in animaginative and creative way. I am writing a series of books that are centered around seasteading and Thallasacracies and can be found on my site: www.sagasofsteamandice.wetpaint.com I think that this is one thing that is being left out more than anything and is a great mover for the spirit of the seasteading movement, not only for those who know little or nothing about seasteading, but for those who are well-acquainted with it to help keep their he

Los Angeles Seasteaders

Swanberg — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:13:42 -0500

What's up guys, I just wanted to get an idea of how many of us are based out of LA. Message me if you'd be interested in getting together with some of the other potential Seasteaders in the LA area.

Swanberg

Method & Apparatus For Collapsing Water Waves AKA the Bubble Wall Breakwater

Altaica — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:19:22 -0500

Popular Science (1943)

"Air Bubbles Employed To Form Breakwater"

A new type of breakwater consisting of nothing more than air bubbles recently was devices for quieting even the highest waves of the sea. It is the invention of Phillip Brasher, an American. One of the units is said to have been operated successfully at El Segundo, CA, to protect a concrete pier.

What it takes to run a cruise ship

i_is_j_smith — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:31:35 -0500

Article from the Wall Street Journal:

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109001/what-it-takes-to-kee...

It talks a little bit about how much work goes into running "The Oasis of the Seas". Talk about an infrastructure...sheesh!

Leadership without coercion:Example Constitution for TSI's movement.

Altaica — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:20:09 -0500

How many other countries give you the constitutional right to leave?

...

Materials and resources

CrosiarCM — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:39:49 -0500

This was a response to a new member introduction, but I thought it would be better placed here.

Here is the link to Oliver's introduction: seasteading.org/interact/forums/community/introductions/some-ideas-a-new-member

Sea anchors.

wesley_Bruce — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:08:59 -0500

dual wall HDPE corrugated pipe

Altaica — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:59:59 -0500

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ51SMxcikA

a 20 feet of 24 inch pipe should displace 7 cubic meters of water.

Use it a a submerged float and biofoul it to protect it from UV.

HDPE is a thermoplastic so should be easy to seal the ends.

The SEASTAR PLATFORM

ellmer — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:25:49 -0500

One of the big issues with family seasteading is that small platforms do not behave as "comfortable" in waves as big ones would.

So i will postulate a design need: "Make small platforms behave as quiet in waves as big ones".

The catamaran design makes a small boat behave like a much broader flat barge, waterwalker brings boyancy at the end of long legs.

Wave Pumps, Fresnel Lenses, and Steam Power?

JeffM — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:31:10 -0500

Inspiration for this idea is owed largely to forum user i_is_j_smith and his forum thread here.

If this idea is stupid, its because I'm an internet user with a keyboard and I know nothing about this sort of thing :P

I've been drawing up a few poor diagrams for a system which would use one or more large fresnel lenses to boil water to create steam.

Independence problems?

JLGARTIFICIALISLANDS — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:20:17 -0500

When we do make a massive seastead in international waters and declare it independent, what are the odds of a "land" nation recognizing our new land?

Who's excitement in TSI comes from an interest in SEASTEADING?

Altaica — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:05:12 -0500

What is "Seasteading"?
From TSI's intro:
Seasteading is creating permanent dwellings on the ocean - homesteading the high seas. A seastead, like in the picture to the right, is a structure meant for permanent occupation on the ocean.

Seastead University

Pauli — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:52:53 -0500

I couldn't decide which forum was best to post this, so I'll post it here.

I know that there has been some discussion at times about different options for different business ventures that could sustain a seastead. On the wiki there are a number of options such as a floating resort, casino, or medical community. However, one idea that I haven't seen mentioned is a floating college or university, something similar to the semester at sea program.

I think that there would be many advantages to targeting an initial seasteading venture as some sort of academic community.

Rogue wave kills two on Mediterranean cruise ship

Jeff Chan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:58:41 -0500

A 8+ meter rogue wave (a series of 3) killed 2 passengers on Louis Majesty during a Mediterranean cruise on 3 March 2010. They were probably killed by glass shards from broken windows. Others were injured. I expect that the rogue waves were driven by storm winds, which do occur in the Med. Rogue waves on the open ocean can reach 30 meters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_re_eu/eu_mediterranean_cruise_...

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2010/03/05/Deadly_wave_caught_on_f...

Greeting from an anarchocapitalistic engineering student.

Murray1776 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:01:37 -0500

I'm currently going to school for Nuclear Engineering. I also happen to consider myself an anarcho-capitalist after a six year conversion from libertarianism. I want the freedom to design my own stuff and sell it at a reasonable price. I have thought of simply moving somewhere, like Somalia actually, but for obvious reasons a nuclear engineer working in a stateless society raises a few eyebrows.

Farming at Sea

tomohern — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:30:07 -0400

Hi Everyone,

Been lurking for the last few weeks and fining all this very interesting. Particularly growing food at sea. I am a long time sailor and have been planning to go to sea fow a while now and have thought alot about growing my own food while cruising.

Large solar powered megayacht

bencoder — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:25:47 -0500

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20100222-25421.html

It looks nice. Expensive but would allow you to stay out there with a bit less reliance on the outside world.

A Commercial Opportunity for Seasteaders

hembergb — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:48:43 -0500

I have been doing some research around the problem of the "Great Pacific Garbage Dump", and realised that this would be great seasteading project to undertake.

A few points;

Patent and copyright protection

thebastidge — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:18:40 -0400

Will TSI be attempting to protect intellectual property?

"Waterworld" platform

J.L.Frusha — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:34:30 -0500

I no longer have the dvd with the structural developement of the floating atoll, but it was designed to withstand category 5 storms. I believe it was on a special feature disc. It uses multiple jointed segments to deal with wave action.

While it is an anchored floating platform, the basics of solar orientation are handled by anchor placement. That covers greenhouse and solar generation.

Career Question

Zach — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:55:53 -0500

Hello everyone. This is the first thread ive started here, and i thought id ask some questions concerning my future career. im still in highschool, and would like to go to college for a job that is applicable to seasteading. right now there are two major things in my mind: genetic engineering or mechanical engineering. Im leaning towards genetic engineering, but i dont know if that can really be used to help this project.

Thanks for the help,

Zach

poop

Anubisrising — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:28:59 -0400

haha, nasty issue, but, I'm wondering if you can use human poop for anything. I think if this idea of Seasteading is going to be pursued, we should gather all the best green builders and engineers and see what they can come up with for using everything.

metamaterials to protect structures on the sea

CrosiarCM — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:20:37 -0500

Has anyone seen this discussed:

news.softpedia.com/news/Hiding-Islands-and-Platforms-From-Tsunamis-Now-A-Possibility-94486.shtml

Oscillating Water Columns and Multi-Point Absorber

Altaica — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:56:53 -0500

I saw the episode of Planet Mechanics where they harness wave power.
They used a vertical pipe to harness wave power. which seems o be a perfect match to go well with a spar buoy for power generation out at sea. But has anyone found a solution to convert the alternating sucking/blowing of the air stream into useful form of power?
Thou I have a feeling it's "Don't ask someone that think planes fly because of the Venturi effect to design your turbine."

I didn't find anything on that deign of a OWC generator but did come across this:

The Sea Dollar

xnsdvd — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:24:44 -0400

I've been thinking about this lately, "How do you create a stable currency?"

As a sovereign nation, how do you ensure your currency is valued and won't fluctuate wildly? I'm familiar with the whole "Demand = Value" idea, but how does that translate into a relatively tiny economy like a Seastead of 10,000 people?

My initial thoughts are create a strong export and tourism market... create demand for our/your currency. But is that all there is to it? Thoughts? Ideas?

Anyone else inspired by the Moken?

Altaica — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:24:50 -0500

Hi. I did a search but didn't find any mention of the Moken here before.

A brief summery, The Moken are still nomadic people who roam the sea most of their lives in small hand-crafted wooden boats called kabang, which serve not just as transportation, but also as kitchen, bedroom, and living area; except during the monsoon season, when they occupy temporary huts while building additional boats.

I have been planning on seasteading since I saw a documentary about them in my early teens.

Anyone else inspired to seasteading by the Moken?

CoolEarth and Solar balloons

CrosiarCM — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:14:45 -0500

I haven't seen this discussed as a power generation option, so I thought I would bring it up. Here are some links that explain and show you what I'm talking about:

www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/cool_earth_gets.php

and

www.coolearthsolar.com

And here are some pics from the article and CoolEarth website:

Some ideas from a new member

daggath — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:21:21 -0500

Hi, My name is Oliver, I am interested in the idea of complete self sustainablility in a closed system (yes I know the ocean and the sun make it an open system. but its a start). Actually, I am interested in nearly everything :-) . I joined the forum because I wanted to share some of my ideas.

#Seasteading IRC Channel

anateus — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:43:00 -0400

Maybe it's just me, but I like IRC.

So, I'm at #seasteading on freenode. Come join me if you're interested!

Viva la revolution!

i_is_j_smith — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:42:44 -0500

So I finally got around to watching Jorge's talk from the 2009 Seasteading Conference and I gotta say...I'm pretty depressed. I find myself unfortunately agreeing with Jorge that there will be no sovereignity without land. And without true sovereignity I really don't see the point of seasteading. While flying a flag of convenience and getting "99% of what we want" might be okay for some, I had higher aspirations. It looks like, without some land to get our hands on, the whole idea of real seasteading is dead in the water.

How do I change my password on this site?

tallship — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:14:25 -0400

I'm looking for the link for my profile, and how to change my password, u/l my photo, etc., and I can't seem to find it, and the typical URLs for most forum software ends up not being there as well.

Anyway, I'm interested in volunteering so my email address is in my profile just in case you need me for something. In the meantime I'll be forgetting the password that was issued to me so I prolly won't be back for a while.

Long Term Purpose of Seasteading?

Shouri — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:21:03 -0500

Seasteading is something people are interested in because it might have commercial applications, it might offer the ideal society and freedom some people want to live in, it might be a limited solution to eco-crisis of the modern world etc. For me these are nothing but reasons for seasteading none of them are actually purpose, there is meaning to seasteading even if it isn't possible in near future, there is meaning to it even if it fails to satisfy some people since it might not be a eco-friendly, free or proftiable in the start phase, this doesn't mean people should give up.

Big Brother is watching (if you're in public school)

Melllvar — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:30:15 -0500

School used laptop webcams to spy on kids at home

I thought we had at least another 5 to 10 years before things got this bad, but I guess 9-11/Patriot Act/DHS accelerated things...

Dedicated Ephemerisle subforum /forum?

kulak — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:47:57 -0500

IT would be handy if there was either a separate sub forum, or a forum on the Ephemerisle website specifically for ephemerisle discussion. That way people who where going could see what kind of things were getting organized that they might want to be involved in, and wouldn't have to wade through unrelated posts.

I don't mind setting this up if no one else has the time.

oh, and if we could get polling options for this forum, we could see if anyone actually cares about this idea....

Ephemerisle - Group buys on building materials?

kulak — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:27:52 -0500

I'm looking forward very much to this years Ephemerisle. However since I'm going to be catching a flight from sunny old England, I'm going to be bringing little, if any tools or building supplies.

Anyway, I figure since alot of the stuff people are going to be building floats out of is fairly stock (timer, hardboard, barrels etc), that willing parties could get together and do a wholesale group buy on some of this stuff, which will put prices lower and hopefully lead to a more kick ass festival for everyone.

High density food production

Michael Hawkins — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:19:40 -0400

So I've been thinking about food production on a seastead. Ideally you could have a fully closed system that produces a balanced diet, all of this as small as possible. I've come up with
something, and I'd very much like some comments.

Flow chart can be found here

Intro

JTBarrieau — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:55:41 -0500

Hello all, my name is Jeffery Barrieau. I reside in New Brunswick, Canada and am currently in my 1st year at the University of New Brunswick. I am looking at doing a double major in economics and political science (very interested in both). I am heavily interested in this project and would definately move should one be set up (after university), as I am tired of all the corruption that leeches upon the world and I would like to start anew. I am a Libertarian and dream of a place where a man can be free to do as he wishes as long as it does not infringe another.

The Seasteading Duck

Shouri — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:27:08 -0500

Was just watching stuff in ted and i came accros http://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html and remembered the t-shirt and plastic duck TSI sent me.

Algae to oil breakthrough news.

OCEANOPOLIS — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:32:48 -0400

This just came in today from OOIL, otcbb traded company, http://www.originoil.com/. Interesting,...

Seascrapers (another concept at dvice.com)

Aeolius — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:10:22 -0500

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/02/most-of-the-ear.php

Yo...

Sov — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:17:16 -0400

This is an interesting site (rather snazzy design, btw). I've lurked and figured it was worth signing up here.

I'm with a movement with the goal of starting a new country and making it a success, but we're very much for building up land. Even so, there's a good deal of overlap with seasteaders when it comes right down to it; many of the same concerns and topics of interest.

Fab Lab Seastead

elspru — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:18:38 -0500

Self Replicating Fabrication Laboratory.

In a seastead,

perhaps an Octopod Seastead.

So now we don't need to "go to the store",

we just "go to the lab",

and make whatever it is we want.

Getting raw materials for the lab in bulk is relatively cheap,

Prefab floating homes...!!!!

Ailoo — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:16:09 -0400

I don't know about you guys, but seeing these made me giddy.
http://www.trendir.com/house-design/floating/

I think these designs help breathe new life into some old seastead designs, IMHO.

Seoul launches 'floating island'

Herman Pang — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:14:40 -0500

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100206/lf_afp/lifestyleskoreatourismleisur...

Wile E. Coyote Style Giant Gyroscope

cthulhujunior — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:51:40 -0400

Hi. I've had an idea to handle stability by basically building the platform on a giant gyroscope. I figure, if the inner platform can stay still despite the outer ring motions, then if the outermost ring is made into a hull the rings can take wave motion while the platform is stable. According to the mighty Wikipedia: "Since external torque is minimized by mounting the device in gimbals, its orientation remains nearly fixed, regardless of any motion of the platform on which it is mounted.

A sub they'll never look at

J.L.Frusha — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:45:57 -0500

You want a military sneak sub? Make this work, without the bubbles...http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/photogalleries/sharks_submarine_cousteau/

Lose the metal, too. Go with re-breathers and get as close as you dare. Fire your plastic torpedo and get the heck outta there, before they know what hit 'em. Watch out for that Bow-wave, prop-wash and wake, though!

Google finds seafaring internet solution

idanthology — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:30:44 -0500

You may already have heard of this, but it looks like Google is leading up to providing IT from the sea. Such data centers could provide a true independance from any country in the virtual sense: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/googles-search-goes-out-to-sea/

Symbolic democracy - a step towards escaping the democratic mythos?

ClaytonB — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:11:29 -0500

I originally posted this on the mises.org forum. Enjoy.

The queen of England is, de jure, the sovereign ruler of England. She retains almost all of the formal powers that the English monarchs have held since the establishment of parliamentary monarchy. In fact, however, her rule is mostly symbolic.

Helipads

thebastidge — Sat, 24 May 2008 06:28:31 -0400

I see military pilots landing in some pretty darn small LZs, some no wider than a two-lane street where large trucks have to slow to pass in opposite directions.

Simple Easy to Build, high capacity boat

elspru — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:57:33 -0500

So I've designed a very simple boat design.   

figured having a weighted keel is lugging dead weight 
and makes it sinkable 
so decided on a multi-maran with geometric balancing.

As a seasteader one has lots of stuff, 
and the boat should carry it, 
so decided on big hulls.

wanted a "perfect" boat, 
so made it based on the Phi ratio. 
It fits in a "water drop" shape.

Robert Ballard as an Ally

ben-abuya — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:36:35 -0400

Robert Ballard is one of the pioneers of underwater exploration. In his recently published TED talk, he ends his presentation with this:

"My final question: why are we not looking at moving out onto the sea," and shows this slide.

Entrepreneurial section?

ClaytonB — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:19:25 -0500

There's lots of details on engineering and so on but where is the section for entrepreneurial progress? If we think of a seastead as a kind of seagoing business park, shouldn't TSI be signing up businesses as early as possible to get continued funding? I have a few business ideas that could benefit from the unique legal position of residing on a seastead but what's the point of pursuing venture capital if no one else is? Who are the other people here who are interested in starting a business running on a seastead?

Clayton -

Those we DONT WANT IN SEA STEADS

Capt Nemo — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:20:24 -0400

For Safety & Security I urge Background Checks on these Before they apply to Sea Steads:

o Felons.

o Neo Nazis

o Terroists.

o pedophiles

o pervs.

o psychopaths

o sociopaths.

o Gang members.

o corrupt cops.

o ex pirates?

o Narco druglords.

o corrupt Govt officials: Judges, city councilmen, US Congress & Senate.

We dont need more Stress anyway.,

Less the Better.

BUT must have DNA samples & Complete Background check.

Esp IF seek positions in:

Finance

greetings

romanzick — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:04:03 -0500

greetings to all. im new here and im glad to join seasteading

Hi from sunny London

naemontex — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:25:18 -0500

What a fantastic concept!

Love the picture on the home page.

Just wanted to say hi and very interested to learn more

Firefighting/protection

Carl Pålsson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:22:39 -0400

If this has been up already I blame the forums´ lack of a search function.

I don´t have any fantastic ideas myself so I welcome suggestions and random speculation.
What kind of equipment is neccessary? Required? Fixed installations? Sprinklers? Personal firefighting gear?
How does the shape, design, location, materials or any other aspect of the seastead (with no particular type in mind) change the fire hazards and the firefighting possibilites?
Etc etc. Go nuts.

Why use concrete or steel?

ClaytonB — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:47:19 -0500

Assuming the seastead is relatively immobile (and assuming a spar-based design), it has no need for its submerged portions to be streamlined. Any concrete or steel hull design is susceptible to single point-of-failure (one crack, the whole shebang sinks) and is expensive. I suggest that airtight containers (use whatever's cheapest and meets the design requirements) be bundled together to create the buoyancy of the submerged spars. Inexpensive construction can be used to bundle the containers together, e.g. some kind of steel frame with mesh to create a cage or cages.

Laminated Concrete Under Water Domes

J.L.Frusha — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:15:42 -0500

Found this, if anyone is interested...

Design a Video Game that is so awesome to mainstreme your casue and build sustainable revenue

dawizkid — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:16:25 -0500

I like the idea but someting like building a new community requires multiple and sustaiable revenue streams, security, and ideas. You have to win hearts and minds to do so. Where else in the world can you easily tap into with CAREFUL PLANNING AND INGENUITY?

The Gaming Industry

- is a $100 Billion Doller Industry

- reaches a mass clientele

- a means to mainstream any idea

- a means to market

Floating Airport and Legal Claim to Ocean

admiral doty — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:23:15 -0500

http://www.oceanworksdevelopment.com/OW/ is a group proposing a floating airport near San Diego, California. Of particular interest this their posted legal claim in perpetuity to a particular area of ocean. An article on them is at http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/10/22/crazy-or-brilliant-plan-to-bu...

Kelp/Seawead/algae as fuel?

horton — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:00:09 -0400

There was an algae thread a while back, and there's a blog about cruise ships. One of the issues that keeps coming up is fuel. Fuel costs could definitely shut a cruise ship stead down, costing somewhere in the range of $4,000 per hour+ when traveling.

Good resources on offshore incorporation?

krypton1 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:32:43 -0500

Seasteading is progressing, but in the mean time does anyone know of some good resources to learn more about offshore incorporation?

I develop software, and the businesses I've built are 100% online, have customers all over the world, and I don't have offices in any particular region. So the idea of paying taxes in every region where I operate (or in every U.S. state, as I believe you are supposed to) seems outdated.

As an ex-pat, I'd prefer to incorporate somewhere that has...
* Low taxes
* Privacy
* Would allow me to circumvent paying US income tax

buoyancy injector - geo tissue and vegetation matrix islands - gradual building

ellmer — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:29:50 -0500

After studying the floating vegetation islands of the Uru tribe , the Bottle Island in Mexico, natural ocurring floating vegetation patches, and the modular island, i would like to postulate the principle of a "buoyancy injector" for floating island building, and suggest the need to investigate a machine that produces bouyancy in large amount in small

Bamboo-reinforced concrete

Sat, 24 May 2008 18:50:24 -0400

Has anyone considered using bamboo as a reinforcement bar, rather than steel?

Pros:

no corrosion
sourced from agriculture, not industry
lighter weight

Cons:

lower elastic modulus means some cracking under tensile loads
Only in use since 1960s: less-developed technology

More info, including design calculations and notes on selecting and preparing bamboo culms.

Modular idea

thesovereignman — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:47:01 -0500

First off, here's a picture of a seastead city. Sorry about the simple shapes, one of the blocks would probably be no more than 25' x25' In reality, they probably wouldn't be pointed at the ends, but this shape is easy to work with.

untitled indie seasteading video game

Brendon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:29:23 -0400

aawww, too bad its just a teaser... ;)

we're developing it right now, so get your thoughts and suggestions in soon, 'kay? what do you want the first seasteading video game to be like?

Why not just buy an oil rig?

thesovereignman — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:06:52 -0500

Here's one for $5,000,000

http://www.rigzone.com/market/Detail.aspx?aid=270

I'm sure you could make some of that back selling off bits of equipment, and how hard would it be to adapt it?

noticed a few website bugs...

krypton1 — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:16:57 -0500

Generally the site looks great. Just noticed a few things that you may already be aware of:

1. the "All Forums" link in the bottom right of the homepage (one of the 3 screens that scrolls by) is broken if you are logged out

3. When registerring for the forum it takes you to the homepage - a message here to the effect of "You're registered! Check your email..." would help non tech savvy users.

A suggestion?

thesovereignman — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:29:16 -0500

Hello,

This suggestion may have already been given, but I thought I'd give it anyways.

Taxes

thebastidge — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:36:42 -0400

Lots of chatter here about how great it'll be not to pay taxes.

Waterproofing Concrete

J.L.Frusha — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:37:00 -0500

I've seen a lot of speculation on using concrete, but little in the way of waterproofing/sealing it. For interior chambers, such as water tanks, methane digesters, I'd suggest bees-wax. It's quite effective and proven, in this capacity.

Spam Attack

i_is_j_smith — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:33:32 -0500

The forums got hit by a spam attack 5-6 hours ago. I deleted roughly 20-25 spam posts across multiple threads, all posted within minutes of each other. I think I got them all, but if anyone finds any that I missed just PM me or reply to this thread. Thanks!!

Impact of in-vitro meat on seasteading

Michael Keenan — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:46:16 -0500

H+ Magazine recently ran a feature on in-vitro meat, a possibly near-future technology enabling meat to be grown in a factory, rather than in an animal. This has interesting implications and benefits - it's likely to be cheaper, more efficient (in inputs like water, crops, labor, space and energy), less polluting, and less cruel to animals. The feature predicts commercial in-vitro meat within 3-10 years, though it wouldn't surprise me if that turns out to be very optimistic.

Sea Stead Waste?

Capt Nemo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:36:03 -0400

Sea Steads can do these with wastes:

o Human & food wastes to feed marine life FOR more aquaculture?

o Dump other wastes via ROV sub carriers into Mariana & PR Trenches.

These Drone subs would carry 100-800 tons of waste (non organic, food) into PR & Mariana Trench to dump waste into Trenches

These Drone subs would have these features:

o 3D sonar

o Carry 200 tons.

o Dive to 50K feet depth.

o Reusable

o use Mini Nuke reactor.

o GPS Nav.

& produced to 100 a year??

Greetings from Logan

Logan — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:22:48 -0500

Hi everyone I'm a guy aged 23, throughout my life my political viewpoint has shifted quite a bit, i started out as a democrat, because well...

most seasteads are semi-submersibles with poor space usage

Josh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:19:00 -0400

a semi-submersible is a boat in which the majority of its mass is under the waterline. this results in a craft with exteremly good stability because most of the ship is under the surface of the water. Spar and muti-spar seastead designs are basically semi-submersibles with a poor use of space. about 90% of the mass is under water as a ballast and 10% is used above the surface for a seastead. with a semi-submersible you have the 90% underwater, but it is in the general shape of a sub, not a spar and is used as living space, resulting in a cheaper more mobi

wiki: Making an Island

J.L.Frusha — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:35:11 -0500

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Making_an_Island

Several links, here, too, perhaps useful, in the discussions...

User content advisory: This may irritate some and venerate others...LMAO

J.L. Frusha

Practical Alternative: Buying an Island

JonBrush — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:53:57 -0500

No, it won't be a sovergn nation. Yes, the country's laws will still apply. But is it better than living in the suburbs? Of course. Probably been brought up from time to time, but I did a search of the forums and didn't see anything.

This site is pretty cool: http://www.privateislandsonline.com/

Small islands in tropical areas are super expensive, but cold areas (Pretty much all of Canada) are surprisingly cheap.

Seastead as Oasis for yachting nomads

ellmer — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:45:54 -0500

I was intrigued by michael´s comment in the OSDI thread that if seasteads would exist, he would travel from seastead to seastead. My market development manager part realized inmediatly that there exists a relativly large community of nomadic or seminomadic living yachties, so if a seastead could cover the function of an OASIS in this kind of lifestyle it would definitly work as a business.

Noah's Arcology.

wesley_Bruce — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:05:02 -0500

Most barges are not suitable for open ocean operations. There is one barge design that is known to be sea worthy however. Small and large barges have been discussed.

WaterWalker Hooch

cscoggin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:24:18 -0500

Not sure if this is the correct place but this is something that came to mind looking at vincecate's WaterWalker designs.

I was thinking that the shape was reminding me of something then I ralized it was the Hooch(link). It seemed to me that it would be a good match to be mated to a WaterWalker base for smaller structures. I don;t know about the stability of such a tall top, but attached is a quick mashup I did in SketchUp.

Hi

JeffM — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:01:31 -0500

Hi, I'm Jeff. I plan on going into engineering, and I really like the ideas and plans put forward by TSI.

Thats all there really is actually. I've been interested in the idea of the creation new nations, and this (TSI) has been the first, practical and organized effort I've ever seen.

hello!

lonewolf1221 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:05:11 -0500

Greetings from Sunny Ohio

CHamels — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:00:35 -0500

OK...It's not very sunny here. Actually 20 degrees and cold but I'm happy to join the Forum. I'll probably do more watching and learning for a month or so before I post.

I'm a self-employed business owner and enjoy golf, tennis and various water-related sports!

Need to connect seastead modules? Use velcro!

i_is_j_smith — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:17:20 -0400

Okay, well not exactly normal velcro. This stuff is made out of steel, and one square meter can support 35 metric tons!

www.gizmag.com/metaklett-steel-velcro/12824/

I could see attaching one side of the velcro to one seastead module, and the other side on another module. Then you just use a tug to push them together. Presto...connected modules!

I wonder what kind of ripping sound this makes when you tear them apart, though!

make seasteads "breakable" and "repairable"

ellmer — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:50:41 -0500

Following the wave research thread and the seastar platform thread i found that for the general cost of seasteading and the design strategy the question " for what waveheight do we design" is a key question.

GRID SEASTEADING - flexible platforms

ellmer — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:11:50 -0500

The concept of the seastar platform, the vegetation islands, the bottle island, the uru-settlements, and the discussion of buoyancy distribution on a platform (billswift) - lead me to the conclusion that we might be better off to let go the idea of a seastead as one single

Best Possible WORKABLE Solution

cardgame — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:43:13 -0500

So I have read many different topics on this site since finding it and although the overall idea is a good one, the solutions are constantly being debated because there is too many philisophical, technical and legal issue to overcome if the intent is to create something NEW. I have looked at the idea of creating a new country/social civilization for about 3 years now and in every case there is a major obstacle to a NEW country.

Durable materials, recycled materials

Jeff Chan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:00:12 -0500

One of the key criteria for seasteads is durability. Ideally they should be able to last for several decades on the open ocean without visiting a drydock. Concrete is one material proposed for reasons of durability and cost. Metal structures eventually corrode, though modern ship steels and aluminums like 5086 have improved corrosion resistance, so they may last longer than older alloys.

http://www.keytometals.com/Article99.htm

http://www.keytometals.com/Article100.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5086_aluminium

Comfort at sea - seasteading experiments -

ellmer — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:10:52 -0500

It is obvious that one of the core questions for seasteading is the question how to create "comfort at sea" - vince - said on the OSDI thread that "there has been very few practical experiments about this topic" - is this true ?

Can we have a update on experiments done and still to do for "creating comfort at sea" ... in general there has been efforts in the following directions:

A True Seastead Nation

cardgame — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:22:21 -0500

Many people here have many different reasons for establishing a seasteading metropolis, but in the end, if it is to just escape and hide, that can only last so long before the "Authorities" decide they have had enough of that. In the end the only way to truely have freedom is to have a nation that can protect it. Micronations have been a disaster in most cases because of funding issue, legal issues or down right ridiculous ideas. So the question is can you create a new nation, even if it is floating out in the middle of the ocean. Becuase if you don't, some

WHY- another yacht seastead for the super rich

bencoder — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:47:14 -0500

It has a "beach" area on the stern. The website's a bit of a pain to navigate but the concept is interesting.

http://www.why-yachts.com/

big guns

greyraven_r — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:16:00 -0500

I've noticed alot of due concern over the ability of a seastead to return "big guns" on a threatening vessel or nation.

I've read, with much amusement, the assumtions that many sea steads will be equiped with rockets, missles, and anti-ship/aircraft guns. This generally will NOT be the case, these weapons systems are typically expensive, difficult to aquire (functioning models), and draw unwanted scrutiny from many nations.

DOCKSTEAD

JLGARTIFICIALISLANDS — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:22:24 -0500

One way we can achive our goal of seasteading is by creating a DockStead. The the Dock would be massive, and also island-like. The first step would be to make a external dock. This dock will be used as a artificial water-breaker. The internal dock will be covered with concret and a layer of sod on top of that. The internal dock would also be used for human populantion. This could get the independence movment started. On my webite (on my profile) I have a simple plan. If you like this idea, or dislike it please feel free to leave a comment bellow.

Drug law limitations.

Aakno — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:38:39 -0400

I'm wondering what drugs will be legal on the Seastead. Will it only be "soft drugs" or will it include "hard drugs" like cocaine? Will it be legal to grow marijuana? Coca leaf? Heroine poppies?

SEASTEAD CURRENCY

JLGARTIFICIALISLANDS — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:46:15 -0400

If one of the seasteads we make becomes fully independent would we still use the American Currency or would the goverment of the Seastead make a new currency

http://coins.about.com/od/worldcoins/a/sealand_coins.htm

Gasification Power generation

Gojiro0 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:00:25 -0500

http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-basics/

http://www.gekgasifier.com/

Scale this up and use carbonaceous solids from any number of sources such as diverted refuse stream of the Seastead itself or tributary entities. Kelp farms would feed this process nicely. Gasification technology has been around for a long time and is fairly robust and low-tech--ideal for a scurvy collection of do-it-yourselfers.

just joined, glad to be here!

Thought crimes

Alan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:02:08 -0500

In light of laws in some countries such as the U.S.A. and the U.K. which criminalize unapproved thoughts, it is always good to keep up on the state-of-the-art in mind reading:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427323.500-brain-scanners-can-te...

Actually, it might be worth noting that the intelligence communities and military in these countries often have such technologies several years before they are announced to the public.

What are your seastead expectations?

David — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:26:28 -0500

People mention shopping malls and such being on the seastead, but I see this as more of a real pioneer environment where it will be harsh and unpleasant--there wont be any Starbucks--but the challenge never stops pioneers.

I'm curious what everyone's expectations are of a seastead are. Why do you think it will be that way?

BARGE ISLAND

JLGARTIFICIALISLANDS — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:37:25 -0400

Just wondering ,would it a good idea to create a Seastead that consist of a barge filled with soil ( To make it more land like) and if it is where would we put it ?

Airplane/weathervane house for 2

J.L.Frusha — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:19:39 -0500

Could put these on the buoy-spars... The Airplane or Swinging Beach house... Go ahead and make it free-swiveling and a bit more aerodynamic, for less stress on the buoy, with higher winds... Set a few out for rentals and take it from there. Have it locked into position, when folks are coming or going, then unlocked, while they are inside or gone.

http://books.google.com/books?id=79QDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA101&dq=Beach+house&lr...

Revenue generation

Quentin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:56:31 -0500

Would it be too crazy to consider providing services and activities that are generally outlawed on land? Such as organ transplants?

penrose tiling

admiral doty — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:17:58 -0500

Penrose tiling offers some possibilities for tiling seasteads in a more interesting layout than triangles or rectangles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_tiling

Defense (Really Important)

Firefool125 — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:04:53 -0400

Okay, i mean a seastead can basically be a considered a free state that has no ties to any of the currently existing worlds governments and so this raises some serious issues about the overall safety of a seastead community. The real issue that I have questions about is defense from currently existing world governments who decide to remove the potential "terrorist/criminal/god knows what else" threat that a seastead community might theoretically pose (a bunch of blarney if you ask me but hey people are by definition stupid and so the governments could probably get away with it).

Floating Pyramid

J.L.Frusha — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:05:00 -0500

Has anyone seen stuff on this?

A Swedish firm is planning on building these luxury floating island residences. The first one is due to be completed off Cancun in 2010.

Discovery Freedom Ship Video

admiral doty — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:14:55 -0500

A segment from Engineering the Impossible on the Discovery Channel has been posted in four parts with part 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lksZqkpkIPg . Animations were by Discovery and others. It also has scenes from the Venus Project in Florida. There are some nice animations of modular building at sea for both projects and interesting footage of conventional ship building.

The following are other animations of the ship I did for other shows.

Oceanic Pole of Inaccessiblity

Haraald — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:14:35 -0500

Anyone consider building their island in one of oceanic poles of inaccessiblity (points in the ocean farthest from land)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility It seems like that's the surest way to avoid sovereignty claims by other countries. The greatest pole, halfway between NZ and Chile, looks like it would be a bit chilly... the secondary one roughly halfway between Hawaii and Clipperton Island looks pretty good. None of these places unfortunately seem to have any seamounts or shallows in case one would want to build from the seafloor....

Farmsteads

jurisimprudent — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:11:16 -0400

I'll throw this out there:
If one could do it cheaply enough, there's no reason that platforms devoted exclusively to farming would have to be on spars.

Instead, you could construct hundreds if not thousands of little wooden planters that simply float on the water's surface.

I don't think it would take too huge an engineering feat to make even planters filled with dirt buoyant enough. If you lash these together, you could keep them near your seastead.

The Hungry Push the Frontiers - look at south american jungle mining - for pioneer reality

ellmer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:33:40 -0500

From a thread that brought up the importance of a store for seasteaders i realized that we have a lot of nice middleclass and intelectual talk about driving forces of pioneering - do we overlook how pioneering reality is today - and has always been in history?

Conflicting design goals regarding movement

Jeff Chan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:24:59 -0500

One of the concerns about the first MI&T design is the diesel fuel burn rate. In taking a step back from the problem, it seems that we have some conflicting design goals:

1. Seasteads are supposed to be mostly stationary. Having a city at sea to me means it would generally be in a stable location or at least not move around very much. For example, being able to tap into Silicon Valley resources would imply staying relatively near that area.

Tough Clear Polymer 1% the weight of glass

J.L.Frusha — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:31:33 -0500

Found this and thought it would be of use...

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mega-engineering-a-magic-dome-material.h...

Buckmster Fuller's Triton

J.L.Frusha — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:02:01 -0500

Has anyone looked at the support structure for the 'Triton?' I've read that there was a full-blown set of studies on cost and a Naval study on the design...

http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/2009/04/buckminster-fullers-40-year...

Sure, it's a 1960's design, but it's one that even H.U.D. was serious about, at the time.

practical ocean land

will jansen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:44:29 -0400

this is a link tomy blog about building inexpensive ocean land

http://oceanislands.blogspot.com/

James asked me to post it on this forum and how it would handle the wave problem

Hi James,

Ferro-Cement boat stats and new country projects

vincecate — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:09:39 -0400

At http://portlandyachts.org/portlandyachts/portlandyachts_3.html you can search 57,000 boats for sale. Of these 33 are Ferro-cement. All of the ferro-cement boats were built prior to 2000.

New country projects seem to often like ferro-cement or seacrete. But real boat builders don't seem to. I advise caution. My own experience with cement is that it cracks. Cement cracks in boats are a much bigger problem than cement cracks in driveways or buildings.

Profitable Investments

Larson — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:38:48 -0500

With the entire world seeking energy, the need for more fossil fuels is apparent. This has led to huge interest among the investors in the oil and natural gas sector. The sector today stands strongest as compared to the past 50 years. The investment in the sector promises returns to the tune of 650% or even higher, which is too good for any profit seeking investor to resist.

More geopolymer concrete news

i_is_j_smith — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:52:33 -0400

www.thenewsstar.com/article/20091005/NEWS01/910050309

Some research out of Louisiana Tech on Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) which is made using fly ash and is being developed as a substitute for Portland cement. They say GPC has " greater resistance to corrosion, more fire resistance, greater strength and less shrinkage" although I haven't seen any numbers.

DRP #3: Surface area trade-offs

Wayne Gramlich — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:31:04 -0500

Surface area on a seastead is going to be at a premium. The question arises what are the right trade-offs on surface area usage? We can use surface area for 1) recreation, 2) agriculture, 3) solar-voltaic, 4) wind energy collection, 5) solar heating, 6) solar distilling, 7) light collection to be sent to the interior of the seastead, and surely a some others that I have not thought of.

Physalia Amphibious Garden

J.L.Frusha — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:21:23 -0500

http://vincent.callebaut.org/planche-physalia_pl10.html

Found this, while looking for floating farms. It has a lot of potential...

Howdy, from Texas

J.L.Frusha — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:19:15 -0500

Howdy, ya'll!

I'm Jeff, a 47yo Army Veteran, in Texas. I have many practical ideas that are applicable to Seasteading. I have studied small-acreage farming and am trying to put it into practice. Once I get that going, I'll have a better idea of how to plug things in, for Seasteading, though some things are already of obvious use.

steasteading pioneer starter kit - TSI to supply it - to optimize it

ellmer — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 10:14:05 -0500

The pioneers on the american continent had certain things they took with them - among those a rifle, a horse, a tent, a wagon, non perishable food, hand tools, - one of the central rols for pioneering where in the trading companies that supplied those goods - maybe TSI could define its role more as a "general water pioneer goods provider" than a "patented turn key solution provider".

Seasteads and Their Economies

JeffM — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:47:17 -0500

I was thinking (again :P) recently, and I came to a few conclusions about seasteads.

1. They have to be able to compete, which means they need to be self-reliant (i.e self-sufficient) and have the capacities to sustain/provide for all workers on a seastead, and if possible contribute towards generating profit for the seastead (e.g fresh water production).

So naturally there will be several sectors in a seastead's economy.

Electricity: The Seastead Advantage

KyleVarner — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:51:40 -0500

For seasteading to really take off, it has to be profitable. I've thought a lot about it, and it seems like a seastead would be able to generate electricity at rates far cheaper than it is available on land. I've seen advertisements for ocean-powered generators that can generate electricity for 2.5 cents per kwh. That is roughly half of what electricit costs on land. Of course, a seastead can't practically sell its electricity directly to land, but I think that a feasable business plan might involve building a generator at sea and then basing some sort of industry on

DRP #4: Breakwaters

Wayne Gramlich — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:53:46 -0500

A free floating breakwater would allow people to float less sea worthy structures on the inside without having to worry about extremely harsh ocean weather. Are large free floating breakwaters economically feasible?

Given the approaching holidays, this topic will be two weeks long.

openseamap.org

allancph — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:43:01 -0500

Here's some German that have started an interesting new project

http://openseamap.org/

I'm sure they could you some programmers/GIS experts to help..

mass production of floating family units - concrete shell seasteading

ellmer — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:30:38 -0500

A floating family housing unit - massproduction of concrete shells as a way to make "open sea housing" available for family budgets. - enjoy the artists vision...

We can build it at average housing prices, and we already have built floating concrete shell structures at building costs of 331 Euro / ton.

The full vision in a youtube video...

Project Redsand (or "the other Sealands" Project)

anthonyling — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:50:15 -0500

This project aims to reoccupy british defensive structures built during WWII (Sealand was one of these structures).
It seemed to me like and existing seastead reference, which I haven't yet heard or read about with the Seasteading Institute (Sealand usually gets all of the attention).

Obstacles equal opportunities

thebastidge — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:41:16 -0500

This weekend while doing some looking into a job opportunity presented to me, I found that there is an incredibly long waiting list to get long term docking at marinas in Hawaii, due to the limited number of State or Privately owned marinas being limited by law. No new development in years, as I understand.

I was looking into this job as an opportunity to get a liveaboard boat, perhaps even fix one up for myself, but this lack of slips is a real problem for that plan.

Ship repair as a form of income

JeffM — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:14:31 -0500

Point 1: Seasteads will usually be hanging out off of coastal areas right? Lots of ships get expensive repairs done every day.

Point 2: Seasteads will be high-maintenance environments, so there is bound to be an abundance of engineering expertise on any one seastead.

Point 3: Seasteads could offer cheaper ship repairs/maintenance. Of course the scale of these repairs would be relative to the level of a seastead's development.

Point 4: Perhaps seasteads could trade engineering services for extra materials as well as cash?

Thoughts?

Second Life Seastead Experiment

ssawtell — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:24:35 -0400

I know that if this is going to start out as a business venture you will need to have a detailed prototype. But as I was brainstorming about how putting these modules together into communities would work, I realized that I was doing what so many people before me have done: assuming that my central planning would somehow work better than all the other failed central plans. So, I propose that we create a second life seastead experiment that will harness the virtual free market and creativity forces in second life to explore innovations in seasteading. I expect that given a l

Wave Height Research

sda1950 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:59:21 -0500

I've read with interest the concerns about building seasteads that are tough enough to withstand 15 to 30 M waves. It appeared that this was considered to be normal in blue water. I am concerned that "we" may be designing to too high a standard, so I was hoping to get some diffinative answers about what the norm is for wave size. There will of course have to be consideration for rogue waves, but if we can determine if these are limitted to certain areas, this could make seasteading much less expensive. I did a quick search for wave heights and this is what

Island Hub Seasteads?

JeffM — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:46:41 -0500

Take everything I say in this post with a large helping of salt, because I'm unqualified to really propose this, but also take that fact into account while you write up a sharp critique :P

Natural breakwaters / avoiding waves with geography

Patri — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:28:20 -0400

I'm thinking that perhaps we should expand our current "Breakwater Research" initiative to include other methods of wave mitigation, like locating places that don't have big waves. I have been thinking lately that we have been under-exploring this area. It has long-term disadvantages, because it just gets us one (or a few) spots, rather than the whole "turnkey infrastructure for new countries", but it will be much easier to start. Examples of what I'm thinking of are:

The Doldrums. Just how much smaller are the waves? I hear they still get occasional storms.
Protected seas.

usefullness is the key to independance

greyraven_r — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:53:58 -0500

I still believe that the best way to establish initial independance without undue harrassment is to be more usefull than harmful to your neighbors. If a seastead or micro-nations provides valuable goods and/or services to it's sovereign neighbors, they might forgive it's allusions of grandure.

small "snap-fit" parts for easy seastead construction

livefreeortry — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:36:26 -0500

Just occured to me, how about TSI make a few types of small (3-5 feet diameter, 6 feet length) reinforced ferrocement parts with a simple means of joining the ends together (nuts and bolts or welding etc??). I'm thinking of something like the current PVC pipe industry. We could have L and T shapes, connectors for 2 different diameters etc. In our case though, we might be better off with closed ends rather than open like in PVC.

Baltic Seasteading

Steffen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:54:44 -0400

Lasse and I have started a little regional Seasteading initiative called Baltic Seasteading.

Lasse has made a nice web site, http://www.balticseasteading.com/, and as you can read on the web site we have also set up a mailing list and will have our first meeting in Copenhagen on September 19. I am primarily in it for the meetings since I guess it will be a nice way to get to know potential Seasteading partners.

Is this a joke?

seanohara — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:38:28 -0400

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but that is all it seems to be, the failure rate for these ventures is probably a million to one. Especially if resources are wasted in the beginning.

1. Forget reality TV shows, missile defense systems, condos, casinos and pretty much every other idea in the general chat area.

Save the date for next Ephemerisle (when?)

zoecarolmiller — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:16:51 -0500

Would you organizers please post dates to save.

And, please would they not include July 9-13?

Paper or plastic?..why not both.

greyraven_r — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:43:16 -0500

Has anyone discussed a "plastisized paper" solid material instead of concrete/cement/steel? I don't even know if it would be viable, but if based off of post-consumer paper and thermo plastic, it could in effect be a free material. Assuming the base materials are aquired by you as a contract waste handler, the fees paid to you for said handling could offset the reprocessing costs of making the new plastisized paper material.

Just a though from the ether, input is well appreciated. I'm never sure if I'm crazy, insightful, or just deluded.

A Sea Stead Confederation Constitution project?

greyraven_r — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:04:23 -0500

As I and others have offered Constitutions specified to our various visions of our ideal nation, non of these actually suit the reality of the Sea Stead concept. I have not noticed that there has yet been a group effort to put forward a suitable Constitution for this Sea Stead movement (please point in the right direction if I missed it. I propose we draft one that would comply with the minimal needs of "Statehood" for a loose confederation of Sea Steads.

Breaking up Cali to lower barriers to exit.

Ailoo — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:17:00 -0400

Found this post on the Volokh Conspiracy blog: Promoting better political structures by breaking California into smaller states-
volokh.com/posts/1247553310.shtml

Unfortunetely, like many on this forum probably agree, even the state of California is easy to exit in comparison with the country as a whole... But I think this poster has the right idea.

eRepublik - The New World

Mr. Awesome — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:12:39 -0400

If you're interested in politics and real world sims, then eRepublik is the game for you. It takes place in real time and their are over 160,000 players signed up. It uses real country boundaries, but their are also wars that go on that allow countries to fight and conquest (Indonesia, Russia, and France are currently invading the US and Canada) which is totally epic.

Small concrete platform, what would be the cost ?

Baltic — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:33:41 -0500

Hello,

this is my first post here so, although I tried to read as much as I could, if I'm asking questions that have already been answered, please just give me a link :)

I was thinking about a sea platforf similiar to Sealand, but slightly bigger.

Why not to build with water

AlainD — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:57:28 -0400

Water as a building material for an island is far from being a joke.

Human can survive anywhere provided there is enough water. Furthermore, fresh water is lighter than sea water. Such mass of fresh water "floating" on the sea are known as Ghyben-Herzberg lens.

I just added this new material, with a picture and references in the wiki (Structure Designs/Materials/Water).

Efficient Thrusters

vincecate — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:06:58 -0400

I contacted Cliff Goudey about the thruster he used in his mobile aquaculture experiment because it was very efficient. He told me these are off the shelf mixers used in the waste-water treatment industry and cost about $20,000 each. On just 6.2 hp these 8 foot diameter propellers get 760 lbs of thrust. I setup a wiki page with more info and links to info on his experiments and fun underwater video.

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/Thrusters

Why not live on a floating pile of trash?

Aakno — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:36:38 -0400

With enough free to low-cost floatable mass, a seastead may be fairly cheap to produce or even profitable on a per square foot basis if we can be paid to take usable trash.

Submarine concept of seasteads

dewanand — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:21:11 -0400

hello all,

I find the idea of seasteads fantastic. The biggest danger of a seasteads is that it will sink to the bottom of the ocean and then the story ends.

To avoid sinking it could be better to construct a seastead as a submarine ship, which can go completely under water. One other benefittance of this concept is that the whole seastead can go under water when a storm or a typhoon develops on sea. Then no damage can be done to the part above the sea level.

We need some more girls in here!

thief — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:49:07 -0400

It occurs that we're gonna need some females on these here Seasteads, and we don't have many (if any) around right now.

This raises a huge plethora of questions about the nature of Seasteading, and about the nature of both males and females. But I'm about to go to sleep, so rather than write out this huge list of questions, I'll leave the topic open for you guys to pipe up.

The one I will ask, however, is "Does anybody have any ideas about how to attract more females to the cause?".

Fashion on the High Seas

ernie_the_emo_emu — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:51:24 -0400

Sorry, guys. When naming the topic I thought, "How would nemo name this" and was even half tempt to post a random list.

Parlay?

thief — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:16:22 -0400

A small consideration, but what do we think of the rule of Parlay? Should it go under the seasteading constitution? (The barebones one that includes no murdering, no slavery etc.). Should it have to be spoken? Or should it be automatic for anyone believed to be a criminal?

Dealing with criminals

jurisimprudent — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:28:18 -0400

I'll just throw this out there, having not given the matter much thought myself:
Is a functioning criminal justice system scalable?

I understand that the anarco-cap answer to criminal justice would all be based on an existing contractual understanding, and I find some of David Friedman's writing on polycentric, market-driven police/defense forces as a means of enforcing criminal law compelling.

Making group decisions - VOTING

brokenladder — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:06:33 -0400

Hello everyone. This is my first post, and I'd like to briefly touch on what I consider to be the most important central pillar of any society - considering a group of people living together like this would constitute a society.

The issue is how we make group decisions. And that involves leadership. And leadership means selecting leaders, aka "voting".

A universal Flag only needs a movement?

Dannarchy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:01:48 -0400

My premise is to have a federation of independent yet like minded micronations, which are in my vision are floating (sailing / etc) barges and artificial islands. Meaning each person, family or small group are generally sovereign in their 'vessel'. But my ideal for the Flag issue is for there to be a [i]movement[/i] of such, meaning in loose terms messing with one would cause a rally cry of the others.

The Constitution of the United Federation of Neonesian States.

greyraven_r — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:18:24 -0500

The Constitution of the United Federation of Neonesian States

Bringing It All Together.

OCEANOPOLIS — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:37:55 -0500

On an introspective, philosophical (?) note.

The Citadel: Europes 1st Floating Apartment Complex

sms — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:02:46 -0400

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/29/the-citadel-europes-first-floating-apartment-complex/

Valence to supply marine battery systems

i_is_j_smith — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:39:55 -0400

news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10257003-54.html

This is great news for me. I plan on creating a 100% electric economy on my seastead, which means even the boats would be run by fuel cell or battery tech. I've been watching Valence for a while, and this news about boat batteries is pretty cool. And the Siemens drives are already very cool.

Many rich people leaving US to live on boats or in other countries

vincecate — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:18:19 -0400

"Because of this, many ultra-wealthy individuals who have chosen to become stateless now cruise outside coastal waters in their mega-yachts in the belief that if they stay on the move, tax authorities will not be able to catch up with them. One analyst who did not want to be named, has estimated the number of stateless tax evaders amounted to a few thousand."

Profitable SeaSteading Components

cthulhujunior — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:48:08 -0500

Hey. It occured to me that some of the individual parts of a seastead have profitable land uses. For instance, a decent water recycling system would be great in rural areas without lots of rain. Likewise, the independent power generation system would be great for areas prone to blackouts. And there are bound to be people who'd pay to grow their own food, even without growing it at sea. I'm mostly thinking about parts of single-family 'steads, but the bigsteads also have viable components- how many skyscrapers would love to have their own built-in integrated pow

Community Involvement

thebastidge — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:14:59 -0500

"Learn by doing" is a proven, effective method of gaining skills.

There may be some info here that you find of use:

http://training.fema.gov/IS/crslist.asp

If you happen to use it now, on land, rather than at some nebulous future seasteasd, so be it. I think that improving oneself is at least as impostant as improving on one's ideas for a floating structure.

Homesteading on a Giant Iceberg

JLMadrigal — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:41:13 -0500

Has anyone ever homesteaded a giant iceberg? Iceberg B-15 was bigger than Jamaica.

UK Seasteaders Headcount

kulak — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:08:07 -0400

I'm fairly new to being active in the seasteading community, so I just thought I'd get a feel for how many active UK people are knocking about on this forum.

I've not really bothered getting involved in libertarian movements in the past, since britain is a sinking ship in terms of liberty, so as far as im concerned theres not much talk about besides when to leave the country.

floating prisons - exploiting NIMBYism

DanB — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:13:28 -0400

So this post is meant as merely a proposal and not something I am seriously advocating, but consider the natural synergy between the prison industry and seasteading:

Baseline Design Question -- What is the acceptable risk and participation

bkemper — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:13:20 -0400

Before the engineering numbers can be crunched, the underlying assumptions needed to be agreed upon.

biofouling or biogardening?

elspru — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:05:26 -0500

In some places barnacles are considered a delicacy.

Kelp and algea are a highly nutritious resource.

Easy to solve a problem,
when you see it as a potential solution.
In this instance,
it is a source of food,
and construction materials.

Shells crushed,
make calcium carbonate,
the main component of cement.

For ferrocement,
the plant life, such as kelp or algea, 
can be used as the reinforcing material.

Addressing statements from the book:

"Biofouling has a number of negative consequences. Barnacles increase

Newsweek looking for green / sustainable oriented seasteaders

Patri — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:50:19 -0400

If you have a green / sustainable / eco take on seasteading, drop me an email (patri-at-seasteading-dot-org) and I'll pass your info on to a writer from Newsweek.com who is doing a story on us.

Man Made Floating Island Project

Solid_Choke — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:04:42 -0400

This project used plastic bottles to keep the island floating. Picture and videos can be found here.

Whatever happened to shipping containers?

saumanahaii — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:03:18 -0500

I have seen Vince's work with scale models and even seen the community's willing to donate cash. I also remember reading about the use of shipping containers as housing. This seems like a good idea, but I can't find much discussion on it. They are quite cheap: I found a 40' one on ebay for 1,500$ US on Ebay and slightly higher prices elsewhere. Given how much has been donated towards Vince's models, that seems to be within the community's reach. The closest scale test seems to be the short fat pipe spar, which looked ok. Has anyone else experimented with

How long does it take to build a boat from scratch, I mean, really, how long?

Thorizan — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:39:52 -0400

This guy spent 33 years working on it during the weekends.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/05/30/wa.setting.sail.king

One person working full-time would take years.

Just thought I'd try to toss these type of projects into a little bit of perspective.

Thoughts?

deep sea seasteading VENT BASE ALPHA

ellmer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:43:49 -0500

I was wondering if Phil Nuytten´s Vision of a advanced deepsea base mining the resources of a submarine volcano vent - called VENT BASE ALPHA can be a option for seasteading -

I have research that indicates that such a base could be made out of concrete spheres.

Anybody interested in discussing that?

Boat community

Witsend — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:06:49 -0400

A single large stationary structure seems counter intuitive for ocean living. A modular boat community that's networked together seems much more feasible, flexible, and scalable.

We should take hints from the boat communities that exist in the Southeast Asian Island chains, where sustainable human ocean existence has existed for centuries.

Feeding chickens with fly maggots at sea?

Michael Hawkins — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:56:08 -0400

A little tought on feeding chickens, a tried and true way of getting protein into chickens is the use of a maggot bucket. (google if unknown)

scraps of meat go into the bucket
flies lay their eggs on the meat
maggots grow
maggots crawl through holes in the side of the bucket
maggots fall down into chicken coop and are promptly eaten

Gyre Island

Jeff Chan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:09:40 -0400

The Environmental Cleanup Coalition proposes building a permanent island called Gyre Island

http://www.gyrecleanup.org/cleanup.html

in the North Pacific Gyre to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Details of how they would do it are less than clear.

BTW plastic waste can be turned back into bio-oil using pyrolysis. Biomass in general can be used to do this. The process is like a pressure cooker, but at higher temperatures, etc.

Floating Breakwater : Cost?

Ailoo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:56:42 -0400

Hey all, does anyone have some idea of the cost structure behind floating breakwaters? I was looking around but couldn't seem to find any decent estimates... Ideally some sort of formula that tells you the cost per meter of a breakwater with an effectiveness of [x] would be great!

Constitution of The Monarchy of Logos Section 1.

xnsdvd — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:15:41 -0400

Critique and Loophole abuse please?

Preliminary: Interpretation.

"Right" means a provision in Section 1 this Constitution.

Movie: Pirate Radio, Palo Alto Square, Wednesday November 17th, 7:15 pm

Jeff Chan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:05:10 -0500

A new movie is opening this Friday called Pirate Radio.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131729/

Micronation section

acehigh — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:20:47 -0500

I have an idea which may help gain more publicity to this site. I'm sure many of you look to the seasteading idea as an opportunity to have your own claim of soverign land, free from laws of other countries. But, in the absense of laws, you would need to create new ones (unless you're an anarchy), as well as a form of government. You may have heard of http://www.nationstates.net/ ,or http://www.micronations.net, which is similar to what i'm proposing. Create a section of the site dedicated this idea and give users the ability to create their own micronations c

Conference / Ephemerisle 2010 scheduling

jhogan — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:38:11 -0500

A number of people suggested that we host the conference and Ephemerisle earlier in the year -- perhaps in the summer, rather than October. I wanted to see what feedback y'all had on this...

Off the top of my head:

Advantages for July:
- Easier for most students to attend
- Ephemerisle gets to happen 1-2 months before Burning Man, instead of after
- Easier to get participation at Ephemerisle (many BM attendees are burned out after the event)
- Easier for TSI staff to plan (many of us attend Burning Man)
- No schedule conflict with Singularity Summit

Advantages for October:

Someone from Singapore

xnsdvd — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:27:21 -0400

Greetings! I come from a tiny island on the equator that's highly susceptable to rising sealevels called Singapore.

I'm a financial consultant, artist and environmentalist who's yet to be able to afford his own hime :p and so lives with his parents, girlfriend and 2 dogs.
I've been sailing since the age of 10 and completed my 2 years of national service as an artillery gunner/Recce and patrol specialist.

Not much else to me is there? That aside, I wanted to ask, is there a facebook group? If not.. perhaps we should create one?

Freedom.

Pastor_Jason — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:54:49 -0500

Why do we feel that we have the right to control our own destiny? Where does this idea come from?

Associating with the United States

thebastidge — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:25:04 -0500

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=913065

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1015596

Moral philosopy and libertarianism

Andrewdblevins — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:58:58 -0400

Secular Society

Chapel_Perilous — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:15:24 -0400

I have always been interested in how it would be to live in a Secular Society, or in other words a society that is not mosque, church, or synagogue affiliated. Some of the best affirmations I have read for this kind of society that I have seen were created by Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism. Below is this list:

Quote:

Constitution for Aquia Ocean Communities

JLMadrigal — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:14:41 -0400

I would like to know what the general feelings are among this group regarding a purely capitalist constitution that serves as an umbrella for a "nation" encompasing a wide range of ocean communities. The following is my proposed constitution:

Constitution of the Autonomous Freezone of Aquia

Resource Based Economy/Venus Project/Zeitgeist Movement

ilaksh — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:12:34 -0500

Anyone here familiar with or consider engaging with some of the radical ideas proposed by Jacque Frescoe and his Venus Project? I mentioned Seasteading on their forum recently and encouraged them to try to sell their ideas here.

One of the Zeitgeist movement proponents broke down how he perceives Seasteading to be related to the Venus Project:

Defining and Measuring Freedom

Ailoo — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:21:21 -0400

There have been a string of posts recently on the popular econo-libertarian blogs out there.Will Wilkinson and Arnold Kling were going back and fourth for a bit, and now its growing into a full on

New biodiesel deal with PetroAlgae

i_is_j_smith — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:04:22 -0500

Just saw this over at CNET News:

PetroAlgae signs deal with Indian Oil

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10391335-54.html

It's just for a test facility, but interesting anyway.

Your Ideal SeaStead Community

Shouri — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:28:57 -0400

Share your dreams with us about mobile/immobile-permanent seasteads and artifical island colonies dont just say i wanna live in some place where i can be myself true to my instincts or so though, define it, give us examples what the life, society, economy, defence...everything will be like in your seastead. For myself; my political views are weird i know i am not a libertarian or an anarchist that is for sure but i don't even know what my ideaology is called but i like to call it 'innovative representation'.

Plentiful, cheap acreage (a pretty picture I drew)

jurisimprudent — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:48:53 -0400

If seasteads are to be more than disaster-resistant house-boats, I think some engineering effort should be focused on ways to create plentiful, cheap sea-acreage.

To this end, I brainstormed the following: (copy and paste in address bar) http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/4351/spar1wp1.png

I'm no engineer, but I've seen an architect demonstrate how support beams converging in a V shape downward to a point can hold enormous amounts of weight. And the same is said to be true of suspension-cable designs radiating out from a point.

Gallup poll: Millions worldwide would like to switch countries

Jeff Chan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:30:06 -0500

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091103/lf_afp/migrationusafricaasiaeurope

Millions worldwide would like to switch countries: study AFP

Tue Nov 3, 2:00 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country, a poll showed Tuesday.

Exporting Healthcare?

cthulhujunior — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:15:40 -0500

Hey. So, the US is looking to nationalize healthcare, and as I understand it most other places around the world already have. Now, it used to be that everyone dissatisfied with their own national health care got the private sort from the US. It occured to me to ask the possibility of using seasteads as floating private hospitals. People have suggested using 'steads for gambling, pot, etc., and the usual feedback is that these aren't enough to run an economy. Healthcare, on the other hand, privately owned and operated apart from the mainland would

Ho.

Shouri — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:25:47 -0400

Hi guys...

Seasteading Outpost: Belize

Pastor_Jason — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:32:36 -0400

Seems Patri took an interest in Dan B.'s thread about basesteading. So much so that a new strategy around that same concept has been formed on the wiki page and dubbed: Seasteading Outposts. A few of us from the original thread thought Belize would make an ideal location and thought a little "fleshing out" of the idea would be to our benefit as we weigh the pros and cons of taking this step sooner rather than later. If you wish to comment on the idea of basesteading or Seasteading Outposts, please do so on the relavent thread or wiki.

Location, Location, Location:

PVC pipes swath

Al3x — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:28:13 -0500

here's my first attempt at designing a sea platform, 6" PVC pipes + clear perspex sheet(s) on top

Defense of this web site against blog spam

Jeff Chan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:20:40 -0400

I've been granted moderator privileges on this site so that I may delete blog spam and disable blog spam accounts. I've found and deleted a few already, but if you spot any, then please send me a private message with a link to the message and I'll delete the spams and disable the accounts used to post them.

Some comments:

Libertarian Investing

vincecate — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:53:33 -0400

The more money we have the easier it will be to fund seasteads. So investing wisely is important. I think the following should be interesting to Libertarian types:

http://pair.offshore.ai/38yearcycle/

I mostly wrote it. Please share with anyone else you think might be interested.

-- Vince

Seasteading School

xnsdvd — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:39:38 -0400

Hey all, seasteading progress is going along at an incredible rate in Singapore, so I was wondering, how many of you would be interested in a "Seasteading School" where you learn things like:

Mariculture

Agriculture

Animal Husbandry

Waste Processing

Biology

Chemistry

Navigation

Electronics

Engineering

Construction

Sailing

Unarmed Combat

Armed Combat

A New Economic Order

Dan Hurwitz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:40:39 -0400

Cost punchlist for key elements in such craft

Dannarchy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:14:32 -0400

My vision is in 'mobile' fortress barges and artificial islands (that you could travel the world with), while alot of these same things would be relevent in a platform.

But my punchlist I hope to get some insights on expected costs is:

Waterpods

acehigh — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:44:55 -0400

I haven't been to this site much lately, although I do check in now and then to see any major changes. I recently stumbled along a site I couldn't find in the refrences or forum. http://www.thewaterpod.org/concept.html Apparently in NY researchers created a self-sufficient water based pod where 6 members of a team liveaboard. This is a visual arts project, but I think it could create some concept for our own seasteading project.

Will be travelling around the world - where should I go?

Alan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:31:51 -0400

I'm scheduled to leave the ice next week (weather permitting) and plan to do some traveling on the way home. I'll definitely be going through New Zealand, probably Australia and parts of southern Asia (thinking Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal or Bhutan, maybe others), South America (Paraguay fascinates me because of the Jesuit War and the War of the Triple Alliance, and Guyana looks interesting and they speak English), and maybe even a couple stops in North America (I keep running into folks from Montreal, and I'm thinking I should finally check it out).

Consensualism?

horton — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:50:05 -0400

I'm wondering if there's a better term than libertarianism for what people in their various steading ideas are trying to accomplish. I wouldn't go as far as to try to peg people in what they're trying to do. I'm just sort of thinking out loud about the limits of the label of libertarian.

Libertarian is a complex term. Glen Beck claims to be a libertarian, lol.

DIY resources

thebastidge — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:05:17 -0400

Where there is no dentist:

http://www.hesperian.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=HB&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=B030

National law against freedom of the seas - maybe your country has something like it?

Lasse Birk Olesen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:38:55 -0400

This is regarding a Danish law, but since one country has something like this, there's a chance others do too.

Lately I have been researching the possibility of starting a venture on a ship in the contiguous zone or EEZ of the Baltic sea with relatively low capital. This lead me to consider recreational and medical drug use as the most promising activity. However, when I had a lawyer analyze the Danish law, he found something that seems it will, at least for now, prevent me from making this business happen.

The criminal law states (my translation):

Comedy About Ship-Based Pirate Radio Premiering Next Month

joffemd — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:18:47 -0400

I saw a trailer for this over the weekend and am wondering whether this film might create wanted (and unwanted) publicity opportunities for TSI. I copied a s

Locations

thebastidge — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:50:36 -0400

Does anyone have URLs for information like ocean depth maps, ocean current maps, and meterological info for open ocean locations? Also useful might be navigational hazard locations: while these areas of submerged hazards are a danger for commercial shipping, they could prove to ideal location for siting and anchoring a habitat.

Internet

ernie_the_emo_emu — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:25:54 -0400

I was thinking about some ideas I could or should contribute and decided the best place for me to start was internet distribution. I am not well versed on internet providers which cater to ships or sea platforms so I'll be discussing after-the-fact options and ask anyone more familiar with these things to research our best options for oceanic isp's. The following is merely suggestions and brainstorming from myself and a few members of my local "brain trust" feel free to chip in with anything you want. I'll try my best to keep my thoughts on this organized.<

Deny Sovereignty

xnsdvd — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:00:36 -0400

Here's an interesting way to lay claim to a part of the sea and prevent a mauritius/tonga annexation:

1) Go to the location you wish to claim(Obviously, this must be OUTSIDE their established EEZ)

2) Radio the potentially problematic country,

3) Explain that you've been hailed by a vessel claiming to be of their navy, asked to power down engines/ lower said, and told to hand pay border fees of an exorbitant amount. Ask if you are in their EEZ.

4) Have them explicitly state that you are NOT within their waters.

What do you think of military, police, firefighters?

horton — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:48:34 -0400

This is a question that I'm increasingly wondering about. It's relavent to TSI, I think, because it has to do with how the State uses propoganda against movements that threaten its interests. For some reason it's become taboo to criticize military, police and firefighting personell in America. Has anybody else noticed?

Bye Bye Maldives

i_is_j_smith — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:37:06 -0400

Somebody is nervous about their land going away...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091017/wl_sthasia_afp/climatewarmingunmald...

Methinks I see some of the first people who will need seasteads!

Forum upgrade is live!

jhogan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:56:12 -0500

As you've probably noticed, our forum upgrade is live! A list of changes is below; please let us know if you notice any problems or additional suggestions.

Modular living quarters / shipping containers etc.

Alan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:01:50 -0400

I was glad to see that the issue of using shipping containers for housing has already been addressed. I am only starting this as a separate thread because the previous thread was a confusing patchwork of posts about containers for housing and containers as building materials.

Previous posters have given some good links to information about homes being constructed from shipping containers, and some great ideas. I just wanted to add a few considerations.

French Floating Legion

Michael — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:34:33 -0400

This is definitely a way-out wacky idea, thus I posted it here.

Howzabout, once it's up and running, the seasteading nation(s) think about offering citizenship--and even a new identity--after a term of voluntary apprenticeship? Kind of like the French Foreign Legion idea, offering citizenship in exchange for service.

Forum Overhaul?

kulak — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:31:37 -0400

On my screen of 1024x768 (the most common screen resolution), everything is terribly squashed in compared to other forums I've seen.

There seems to be an awful lot spacing and non critical tables taking up space that would be better left for text, and the forum itself seems awfully sluggish, though this might just be the hosting.

The interface in general seems clunky, and I don't appear to even be able to make a poll to see whether people like the current forum software or not.

Seadrome

Jeff Chan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:04:57 -0400

I've added a wiki entry for proposed structures for Seadrome, which was a proposal by Edward R. Armstrong in 1927 for a series of floating aircraft runways at sea in order to enable trans-Atlantic flight before long distance air travel was possible:

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/User:Jeff_Chan/Seadrome

Island of the Alphas

SeanusAurelius — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:27:18 -0400

Hi everyone,
I love the general idea of seasteading and very much appreciate the idea of small ocean communities as sort of social laboratories or competitive government models. I was pretty impressed by Patri on Radio New Zealand.

I have two questions which a quick look and a few searches failed to answer. They both stem from concerns about protoype seasteads, and how they could potentially prejudice people against further seasteads if they fail:

Here goes:

Building a nation at or near the Equator...

Lord_Scorpio1969 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:25:39 -0400

I don't know if I'm just missing the topic here or if it hasn't been broached before now. I am curious about placing ourselves at or above/below (50-100 nm) the Equator. I know about some of the good and some of the bad.

Good: calm waters most year round; can build almost down to the water level without fear of being 'flooded out'; mostly out of the way of trade routes; good weather for both solar and wind turbines;

Habitat

thebastidge — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:25:15 -0400

If Sea Steaders are going to create a sustainable, complete lifestyle, some thought must be given to not only engineering, of mechanical systems, of setting up a biological system alongside it that allows for growing food, and maintaining physical and mental health. there are several categories to the habitat:

terrestiral plants
terrestrial animals
aquaculture- marine plants
Marine animals
Avian life

Wiki suggestion - Water Jurisdiction (working title)

kulak — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:12:35 -0400

Long term watcher, first time poster.

I'm not sure if there is already a page on the wiki covering this, but I had a look and couldn't find anything, so I whipped up an outline here.

wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/Water_Jurisdiction

^{Mock up of authoirty heat map (real version would need more detail/local variation)}

Make it work before worrying about societies

bkemper — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:29:54 -0400

Simply a modest proposal -- We have a huge amount of technical hurdles to leap. If it was simple, it would already be done.

New donor-members forum section now open

stuntpeople — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:57:44 -0400

Dear TSI Members,

We've granted all donor-members special access to our new TSI Member Only section of our online community forum. The forum is a place for members to discuss any subjects related or unrelated to Seasteading. We apologize for the delay in creating the forum, and we hope to see you there. The direct link to the forum is http://seasteading.org/forums/community/tsi-members.

Eric Jacobus

Reward ideas and other input which significantly advances seasteading

Steffen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:49:38 -0500

Based on what Patri wrote places like here and here it is still very desirable if more seasteading ideas are developed. For example ideas which could minimize the cost of small seasteads.

Monster Island

thebastidge — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:51:31 -0400

Since this IS the crazy ideas forum, after all:

Assuming one could get the floating/artificial island set up in the first place, sport-tourism could be one way to bring in hard cash.

Bloodsports: cage matches, martial arts competitions, dueling.

Clubstead is a failure - what went wrong and what can bo done to avoid new failures?

Steffen — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:56:58 -0500

A seastead is a new kind of product which is intended to be used for a new way of life. That gives a lot of uncertainty and it seems obvious that experimenting is needed in developing appropriate seasteads. It does not seem smart to start experimenting with an unnecessary large and costly product. And it will naturally be much more costly and risky to experiment with a 200+ people seastead than with a seastead for a single family or a single person.

How much would you pay for a seastead delivered next summer?

Green Porcupine — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:48:49 -0400

Who would be ready and willing to pay for one is built next summer? How much can you pay? I guess I'm most interested in how much you would pay total, and what square footage you would need for you home. What is the smallest yard/public park space you'd want but how much are you hoping for?

Creating Sustainable Free Range Aquatic Ecosystems in The Oceanic Deserts via (Re)Use of Landbound Society Waste Products

Praxis — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:00:10 -0500

This is my first post here, and I've quietly had this idea for several years, but not felt where to share it.

Back in my Environmental Studies/Health BA/BS days, I read about (1) deep ocean currents causing nutrient upwelling along certain coasts--nutrients that sustain entire ecosystems, and (2) vast areas of the ocean relatively devoid of nutrients and thus devoid of ecosystems and all but migrating fish..

I also studied about how much the consumer societies discard, and the challenges of finding enough landfill space.

Potential Protein Source

AMW — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:28:06 -0400

I'd like to recommend a research project looking into the viability of raising Guinea Pigs as a source of protein.

Potential Pros

Floating Intercontinental Bridge

admiral doty — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:42:41 -0400

I'm thinking in terms of combining the two concepts, the flat casting of Pelagic, http://pelagic.wavyhill.xsmail.com/ , with the submerged floatation of Seastead, http://www.seastead.org/ , to build a bridge along the equator to connect the continents out of sections connected like vertebrae.

Seasteading motivations

DanB — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:07:05 -0400

Most of the people interested in seasteading seem to be libertarians (as I am). However, there are many other possible motivations for wishing to construct a seastead. Since the libertarian philosophy is not exactly popular, it may be a good idea to try to broaden the appeal of the seastead to a wider audience. Off the top of my head, I can come up with several alternate motivations for constructing a seastead, which could be compelling to people who have no political common ground with libertarians.

Seasteading cocktail

Arthur B. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:47:02 -0400

I don't think it's been suggested so here goes. This is a cheap marketing idea, it's a long shot but it's very cheap.

Step 1: create a cocktail called "the seastead". It can be anything, but it has to be original, and it should reflect seasteading in some way. Possible ways to reflect seasteading could be

- have something floating in the cocktail... maybe a slice of lime, possibly cut in an hexagon, or simply an olive buoy

- include some rum because pirates like rum

Copyright Law

thief — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:51:28 -0400

I'm curious to hear if anyone here knows what copyright law will be like on the steads.

Some of you may know I'm planning to set up a Dutch-style coffee shop, and 'd like to be able to play movies and Dr Who boxsets in the corner. :P So I want to make sure I can't be hunted down for it.

- Nick

Vince's conference talk

vincecate — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:02:04 -0400

I was not at the conference but sent a video to be played. I have a couple experiments and a new proposal with some fun animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4icNUDqNIg

-- Vince

Sponge, Module Ark / Sponge Architects

anthonyling — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:51:48 -0400

"The MODULE ARK, by Sponge Architects, is a design for an autarkic (=self-sufficient) ark to live and/or work on. The design is modern, modular and sustainable. Surrounding the ark with glass facades ensures a maximal openness. Despite of these big glass surfaces, the MODULE ARK stays sustainable because of the low energy consumption, realized by means of a simple mechanical principle consisting of individual façade parts that can be closed and opened separately."

Hey, X

OCEANOPOLIS — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:12:56 -0400

How are you holding there body? Hope that all its well after this tragic earthqakes in the region there.

powersolution - Sterling

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:20:09 -0400

hey iv been thinking how about putting a sterling engine on the seastead. Swedish submarines use sterling engines they don't require much to work. the power output is poor but its really cheap to keep going. we could use the wasted heat from solar panels and cooling from the ocean to keep a sterling engine running pretty much all day long powering the ship and charging the batteries. also. batteries are heavy. how about putting a maintenance tunnel down bellow sea surface and put a large battery farm down there. during daytime solarpower and the sterling would reacharge the batteries.

Online Conference Talks

whysean — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:30:01 -0400

When do the videos from the recent 2009 Seasteading Conference go up online?

I really wanted to see if the talk by Sean Hastings was any good, but I got drunk right before hand and don't remember it very well.

Florida

Snow — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:16:57 -0400

Are there any of you based on Florida, who might be interested in meeting?

SingleSpar/MultiSpar-Hybrid Design - PEACH (Please Examine And Critique Honestly)

Thorizan — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:45:27 -0400

We've seen the VersaBuoy videos, and also those of Vince's Multispar design. They impressively demonstrate how multiple ballasted spars moving independantly keep a structure horizontal even in large waves. However, they don't do much for the vertical motions caused by these waves.

We've seen how a single ballasted spar, with a large heave plate, do a great job lessening these vertical motions, but without multiple spars working independantly, it doesn't stay horizontal well, and, in severe weather, can capsize.

Hello from Tennessee!

GoldfishAuthor — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:45:16 -0400

Hello everyone! First of all I'd like to say I'm incredibly excited at the prospect of seasteading and hope my skills will be able to help the cause in the coming years. To tell everyone a little about myself I am a 23 year old college student working on a bachelors in English. Currently I am an administrative assistant/data entry assistant for a major cell phone company's call center. I hope to be able to, while on a seastead, teach while working on my writing. Not much else to say, I lead a relatively boring life, but the concept of seasteading has me all a twitter!

Howdy from Simon Forman (calroc)

calroc — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:35:37 -0500

Hey folks,

I just heard about this project a few days ago when a friend of mine forwarded me a link to the Wired article because he knew I am planning to "seastead" myself.

I'm glad that other people are taking the idea of living on the ocean fulltime seriously.

Not ferro, but fiberglass cement

xoid — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:31:40 -0400

Iron armature stains and expensive, while fiberglass is cheap, lite and ethernal. Fiberglass for now is widely used for armaturing concrete

Iron is obsolite!

Possible Solution of UN recognition

xnsdvd — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:17:15 -0400

We all know the problem with international law is that it was never designed to allow a new sovereignty to come into existence. But what would happen if we take a media/human interest favorite like the Tibetian government and put them on the first Seastead? Then helped them gain international recognition?

In my mind this solves 2 problems;

1) International Recognition

2) Funding. There would literally be millions of individuals willing to contribute towards seeing their dream of nationhood re-realized.

Any thoughts?

House On Water

anthonyling — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:16:08 -0400

Just saw this on an architecture blog, looked interesting:

"Our friends from formodesign sent us House on the Water, a self-sufficient house for nomadic life offshore. Designed as a rental house for people who want to be independent it’s available only through water. It is located by Navagio beach, NW coast of the Greek Zante island."

Room Sharing for Conference

livefreeortry — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:15:22 -0400

Hey all, I've booked a room in the Cathedral Hill hotel from the night of the 26th to noon on the 30th for the conference and I'm looking for a fellow attendee to share the cost (on a pro-rata basis). Any takers?? I don't snore, if you're wondering.

Hola, me llama Ionnukestorm

Ionnukestorm — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:51:16 -0400

hi im <insert subject name here> and im from <subject hometown here> and I, <insert subject name here> have recently been interested in seasteading. I plan to attend ephimirisle in 2012 or 2013 after i graduate from <insert High School name here> im a big fan of portal and like rubbing my face all over raw sewage containers. My hobbies include things like video games things to do with video game, and of course video games themselves. Also, i like messsing around qwith 3D modeling programs like blender.

Salvaging Ships

David Walen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:25:56 -0400

Here is another discussion on this http://intentionalcommunity.tribe.net/thread/f4993023-748c-41d7-b8a7-1827a0732418

I am reesarching this and looking into location of ships that are useable for rafts..

See James River "Ghost Fleet".

Geothermal

sms — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:34:26 -0400

http://fatknowledge.blogspot.com/2008/01/geothermal-power-in-alaska.html

Those are two interesting articles about a community that is powered by geothermal power and is isolated (completely off the grid, like a seastead). They also use the geothermal power to power the grow lights in their greenhouse making this one of the few (maybe only) examples of an agricultural use of geothermal which is also relevant because seasteads have to produce their own food.

Redundant Ministries?

xnsdvd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:01:24 -0400

Seeing as how my entire company's future hinges on a government employed dockmaster who can't seem to answer his E-mails or pick up the phone, I'm starting to wonder; Which branches of government are redundant? I've thought about this occasionally in the past, but the only one that sticks out as jarringly "useless" is a "Ministry of Arts"

Different types of libertarians?

idanthology — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:46:52 -0500

I’ve been doing some more reading on political philosophies out of interest in some of the really thought-provoking ideas that people put up here, mostly in order to be able to put a label to my own thoughts on things…hard to pin it down like that for me, though.

Gravity battery energy storage

Carl Pålsson — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:49:14 -0400

Inspired by http://seasteading.org/interact/forums/engineering/infrastructure/whole-... I propose the gravity battery for storing energy from unreliable energy sources like wind and solar:
You hang a weight in a cable under the seastead.
The cable runs from a winch in the bottom of the seastead with an electric motor/generator attached to it.
To store energy, you run the motor and hoist the weight up.
To use energy you let the weight drop and the generator produces electricity.
+If the ocean is deep you might be able to store a

read more

Robert Ballard?

ThePolymath — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:10:04 -0400

Check out this TED video on Robert Ballard: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_ballard_on_exploring_the_oceans.html

What about artificial islands?

Mr. Awesome — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:58:31 -0400

I have yet to take an idea over to the engineering forum concerning this, but what if an artificial island were constructed on the high seas with concrete pylons holding it firmly in one geographic area. I have read through the politics section of the online book and found that it never talks about the rights of artificial islands that are on the high seas. It clearly states rules about flags and flagless ships, but an island is clearly not a ship.

Long-term anchorage legality

xnsdvd — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:14:40 -0400

Hello People,

I've got a floating island design that I'm attempting to prototype and test in Singapore. But assuming I get stonewalled by the government I'd like to ask the lawyers in the forum,

If I anchor the island outside the territorial waters of a country(probably Malaysia), but WITHIN their EEZ am I breaking any laws if I don't remove anything from the seabed or fish from the sea?

Hail from an engineer and artist!

dudecon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:19:10 -0400

Hi all!

I've been poking at the idea of Seasteading for around ten years now. Contacted Wayne a number of years ago (way back in the "2L bottle float" days) and have been off and on involved with the various projects and ideas floating around. I hope to eventually live on the ocean, mostly for libertarian reasons.

Hywind floating wind turbine launched

Carl Pålsson — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:21:06 -0400

2.3MW, looks like a spar buoy, but it has three tethers to the sea floor.

Could be interesting if it can operate floating free as well.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8085551.stm

http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/TechnologyInnovation/NewEnergy/RenewableP...

Of course, with oil companies you never know if it's just a PR stunt. Naturally something like this is bound to be a lot more expensive than a regular windmill on land. And those are not exactly über-profitable.

The Babystead

Aakno — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:33:45 -0400

Here is a link to what I call the babystead:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/galleries/view/781/12680

My thoughts are that such a design is highly impractical but very easy to make, requiring just one seed. On a more serious note though, I bet at some point in the not-too-distant fugure it really will be possible to basically grow a seastead though the magic of genetic engineering or possibly even though ordinary selective breeding.

VersBuoy Video

Wayne Gramlich — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:57:50 -0500

All:

Steve Khachturian of VersaBuoy sent me the following YouTube link:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xkdL0EdOA

Legal problem with the whole seasteading concept

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:44:25 -0400

here's an explainination regarding the laws governing sea vessels:

"Second, while it is true that, under a customary rule of international law, “the high seas are open to all states, and no state may validly subject any part of them to its sovereignty”, the high seas are not a no man’s land. The general rule is that ships on the high seas are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the state whose flag they fly."

...

Heathian anarchism a better fit for Seasteading than anarcho-capitalism?

Jeff Chan — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:19:31 -0400

Heathian anarchism, where properties are leased (rented) instead of sold and "public" services like police, fire, courts, etc., are provided by the lessor (property owner) seems like it may be a better fit for seasteads than anarcho-capitalism. According to the wikipedia entry, the main differentiator is that under ancap there would be competing defense/security agencies versus a single one belonging to the property owner under Heath. In essence t

possible platform structure ?( UK company example)

calin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:45:12 -0400

Hi everyone, please check out the link below, could this be used for a safe oceanic platform ?

http://www.pontoonworks.co.uk/index.php

I would like to join the community and start a members list for everyone who is willing, able and ready to join a floating raft and leave everything behind at short notice, with the following basic steps to be undertaken:

1. If you are interested and serious, please add your name to the list

Freak Wave Hotspots Identified

Gilpatric — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:01:39 -0400

From the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8188550.stm

Artificial Islands?

xnsdvd — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:03:42 -0400

Pardon my ignorance in case someone's asked before, but how feasible would it be to create an artificial island by dumping large amounts of rock on existing seamounts? There are several locations south of the andaman sea and between Christmas island and mainland australia that seem suitable. All outside EEZs.

As I see it this solves many of the problems associated with building pillared/floating platforms. And if they're built high enough, quite immune to large waves and tropical storms.

Methods to Advance Seasteading Cause

vincecate — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:58:12 -0400

I am trying to organize a wiki page with the different visions for advancing seasteading. Some of the pages that this first page points too are still small and need to be fleshed out. Many of the sub-pages have "arguments in favor" and "arguments against" sections that could be expanded. Any help appreciated. Have I missed any major ideas for how to move things forward?

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/Seastead

Interesting comparison

AlexCrafter — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:38:43 -0400

Just noticed this when I had the burning man website and this one open side by side:

Bootstrap floating concrete, personal plan

Chris_Day — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:45:18 -0400

Here is my personal to do list / plan to move to the open ocean. It
is a sketch, a work in progress, and I would love your feedback about
it. The very short buzz-wordish description is to boot-strap my way
from land, through various levels of protected waters, building and
selling floating concrete structures.

buy diesel work/tow truck with winch

buy/build a-to-b diesel boat (fits in truck bed?) get training

buy scuba gear (eventually compressor) and training

Aerial lifts to move between adjacent seasteads

Arthur B. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:54:07 -0400

Title says it all. It's probably been suggested before but I couldn't find it in the forum search.

Adjacent seasteads may move relative to each other, making bridges potentially unpractical. A bridge can have some degrees of freedom, and the more still the seasteads are relative to each other, the easier it is to build bridges. However, it's relatively straightforward to build aerial lifts, and let's face it, they have a cool factor.

DRP #5: Waste Disposal

Wayne Gramlich — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:26:51 -0500

What are our options for disposing of waste? What do existing boats do with their waste stream? Over the side? Store in containers and dispose in the next port? Incenerate? Can we be more innovative? Use it to grow food? We are interested in solutions from small to large.

Fuel from sea water via SynGas methods(Fischer-Tropsch Reaction)

12nm — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:29:22 -0400

I ran across this article on Reddit the other day. I was already interested and moderately well read in home SynGas production so this caught my eye as an easy fuel source for Ocean applications.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17632-how-to-turn-seawater-into-jet-fuel.html

Some cool designs

OCEANOPOLIS — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:46:02 -0400

http://www.sub-find.com/trilobis65.htm, http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/Hydropolis/, http://www.orbitalvector.com/Aquatic/Sea%20Orbiter/SEA%20ORBITER.htm

Restitution-based legal system

JLMadrigal — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:06:10 -0400

I have added a wiki page detailing my restitution-based private legal system.

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/Restitution_Transfer_and_Recoupment

I would like your input on the discussion page and/or below.

Whale Wars

Carl Pålsson — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:24:04 -0400

Interesting show set on the ocean regardless of what you think of any of the combatants.

What happens when you fill a boat with mostly untrained volunteers and go to the Southern Ocean off Antarctica to try to stop the whaling fleet?

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/whale-wars/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_Wars

TSI engineering

Eelco — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:15:36 -0400

Hello all,

As has been recently announced, the plan is for me to go work as an engineer for TSI, so I thought id tell you a little bit more about that.

As for myself: I have a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, and im crunching my way towards a masters in engineering fluid dynamincs at the moment. My tasks at TSI will include reviewing external contractors and grant applications, but I hope to be able to devote a lot of energy to small scale seastead design.

Yet another small reactor design

libertariandoc — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:21:12 -0400

While 40kw is small for a seastead this technology, once implemented, will be useful for terrestrial apps as well

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23247/page2/

WAVELAND MICRONATION.

OCEANOPOLIS — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:43:03 -0400

Hoping that the following its not too "crazy" for this forum, I will submit it for your consideration, feedback and criticism,...

Possible solution to wave motion in deep water

Richard — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:55:25 -0400

Hi,

I'm new to the community so I don't know what ideas have already been proposed.

This is an idea I had for counterbalancing wave motion. I'm not an engineer, and I've only taken newtonian physics in highschool, so feel free to point out if I've done something stupid. And: for all I know this idea is already used in the real world.

NYTimes article on floating community / art project

JonathLee — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:04:40 -0400

I ran across this article on an ongoing art project involving several artists living on a barge around New York City.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/arts/design/13barge.html

They are growing their own food and doing all of the maintenance needed to keep everything going.

I was wondering if a similar barge might be used as the base for Ephemerisle?

Jonathan

Lurker

David Walen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:33:58 -0400

Hello Seasteaders!

I have been lurking for a while... Sorry, but I am finally determining to emerge!

In fact, I was going to write more, but the reason I have been lurking has awakened again after I laid her down to sleep...

Peter Thiel is taking heat for his support of Seasteading.

Carl Pålsson — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:21:50 -0400

http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/08/how-independent-could-seastead-or.html

The commenter "kurt9" has the right idea. In a nutshell, people hostile to freedom are afraid and annoyed that people are contemplating escaping from their nanny state paradises.

Ideas

kclace — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:06:29 -0400

1. Step 1. Getting Your 'Stead'

EXISTING OFF SHORE OIL RIGS THAT ARE BEING ABANDONED

Kite powered cruise ship timeshare on migratory route

vincecate — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:10:37 -0400

One big problem with a cruise ship timeshare is the ongoing costs. If we used the migration route and kite power, the ongoing costs could be reduced. It would still use engines to get in/out of port, just when out at sea use a big kite. Much of the travel market is retired people who have plenty of time for long trips.

http://easycruise.com/

Island Fever

Gilpatric — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:02:34 -0400

A potential problem with the Seasteading concept is the effect that living in a very small, isolated space will have on the inhabitants. Even a huge Seastead project, like Oceania (160 acres), would seem very, very small after one lived there for awhile. Anyone who has lived at sea for six months or so will tell you that the ship really 'closes in.' People experience the same feeling on small islands.

Algae

thebastidge — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:24:46 -0400

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/?action=view&current=Vertigro.flv

Floating nuclear power plants

sms — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:13:56 -0400

Here's an article of interest, post links to original NYT article:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/russia-building-another-floating-nuclear-power-plant.php

Broken Link

thief — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:59:36 -0400

The "forum" link in the community dropdown menu on the front page has started directing me to the front page (where I already am).

Thought you ought to know.

- Nick

Vivace: A device that can harness energy from slow-moving ocean currents.

idanthology — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:06:47 -0500

The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.

Ephemerisle press release is up, registration is open

Patri — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:29:05 -0400

The Seasteading Institute Announces the First Annual Ephemerisle Festival of Politics, Community, and Art

Semi-Submersible ??

Josh — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:18:58 -0400

Is there a reason Semi-Submersibles are not being considered? Drug runners have been usinging homemade ones to get past the Coast Guard. They are being made out of fiberglass and wood in mexico and south american often in the treeline on remote beaches and then being heavly loaded with cargo (coke, ect), navigated in coastal waters and the open ocean. It seems that they would satify all needs for a seastead; mobile, stable in rough seas, easy to build using the same technics used to build sailboats, and I am sure they could be made modular (perhaps set up in a

Greetings from Antarctica

Alan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:26:08 -0400

I'm really more interested in colonization of Antarctica (and am currently on Ross Island), or off-planet, but the seasteading concept is interesting too, and has a fair amount in common - like how to be taken seriously by those who currently have power and don't want to compete when they can simply use force.

general supply lines (e.g. parts)

Alan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:41:02 -0400

I've recently been searching for parts here on Ross Island, only to find we might not have them (it has to work its way through the system before I know for sure), but it reminds me of something I have observed before: It is important to standardize essential equipment, and useful to standardize other equipment.

Growing Food at sea

Ekras — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:06:22 -0400

So i've been doing a lot of reading on the subject and think I have found a pretty good solution to the food problem. Well at least the start of a solution. Alright an idea for the start of a solution in any case.

The following article (on this forum!) shows a pretty good proposal to make floating blocks which could support a decent ammount of weight.

Floating Hydroponic NFS System

jgpeyer — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:11:44 -0400

You guys from SOBIZ may recall that I had some plans for making a solar-powered energy efficient hydroponics unit that would run using a modified version of NFS (Nutrient Flow System) that uses no pump, instead rotating two counterbalanced trays using a wheel to allow for the recirculation and flow of water over the roots of the plants. I haven't had the opportunity to build one of these babies yet, but a good design would probably be a cylinder about as long as a big propane tank, cylindrical.

Using a mini WaterWalker / coaststead not only as a smaller prototype but as a real product to reduce cost, ...

Steffen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:18:14 -0500

... reduce time to market, go for a bigger market, and generally do things incrementally. But what about upgrade path?

Discovery's "The Colony"

Aeolius — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:55:23 -0400

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/colony/about/colony.html

"The Dome" seastead idea

Ailoo — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:17:44 -0400

This was inspired by Mellvar's recent post on using "bunkers" to weather a storm, except I sorta took the bunker idea
and went somewhere else with it so I'm creating a new thread.

What if we took the idea of having a "storm bunker" and went all-the-way with it? Take a giant sphere made of clear
plastic and slice it in two, then place the sphere on the water (so like a "hat" on the water). Then place a flooring on it,

Personal contract as an alternative to social contract

Jeff Chan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:31:01 -0400

As an alternative to an (implied) social contract which has been the norm for democratic political systems of the past few centuries, perhaps anarchocapitalist-aware people would be more comforable with an explicit personal contract to be agreed to as a condition of joining an ancap-style stead as an adult. How does the following sound?

Bunkers for temporary inhabitance

Melllvar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:25:15 -0400

I couldn't find where this had been seriously suggested before, so I'm going to propose it. Here's my idea:

Power Of the Ocean

Bounds — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:29:07 -0400

Happy Neptune Day!

nagydani — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:11:51 -0400

IIRC, July 26 is Neptune Day, an annual celebration of the ancient Roman sea-god.

Cheers!

Doug Casey's plan to privatize a small country and take it public on the NYSE

Drew — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:31:51 -0400

From today's updated FreedomFest 2009 main page

The T-Shirt Ideal

Brendon — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:28:33 -0400

T-Shirts are great. Its easy to design a logo and pay someone to make T-shirts, then sell those T-shirts to your consumers. Not only is this profitable in the long-term, people pay you to become walking advertisements.

Ari Takalo

ajtaka — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:10:24 -0400

I stunbled upon idea of seasteading some five years ago, followed the devolopmend since then. Looks like idea is taking some air, with funding and founding institute. glad to hear that.

Some personal info:
-I'am 20-years old and live in Finland. So i won't be able to accommodate or do manual laboron first seastead.

Arcosanti.

OCEANOPOLIS — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:05:47 -0400

22 years ago I had the opportunity of spending some time in Arcosanti on a Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation scholarship. It was an experience that in my view now, has a lot to do with the whole seasteading concept. Paolo Soleri's (http://www.arcosanti.org/project/background/soleri/main.html) concept of arcology(http://www.arcosanti.org/theory/arcology/intro.html) has many usefull aplications when considering a seastead design.

Breakdown on construction costs for small boats?

vincecate — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:30:20 -0400

I think it would help with the realism of SFS if we knew the construction cost breakdowns of some sailboats, motorboats, and yachts. Things like how much money goes to kitchen stuff, how much to furniture, how much to engines, how much to electronics, to stabilizers, thrusters, structure, windows, etc. If we understood what goes into a $1 million sailboat or a $4 million yacht, we might be better able to understand the potential savings areas and what real costs are.

Why not just ...

horton — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:33:18 -0400

I think this idea is very cool. However, thinking about it I tend to believe that there are better approaches to what you're trying to accomplish.

For instance

1. Why not just create a floatila of boats? People have been living on the sea for thousands of years. Why do you need to go through all the trouble of a special structural design, at least in the beginning?

METHANE HYDRATES

sms — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:25:08 -0400

While this was briefly mentioned in http://seasteading.org/interact/forums/engineering/infrastructure/new-ted-video-shows-promise-ocean.

Found this online.

OCEANOPOLIS — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:21:25 -0400

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/pontoon-city.html. Pretty cool.

Hi there friends

amylene — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:09:17 -0400

I am glad I read that article in Reason that led me to the Seasteading Institute! Since I was a young child I have read everything I could about homesteading. I had never considered the possibility that there was a modern version that might actually happen in my lifetime. I feel like I was born to homestead. And since I don’t really look that good in a bonnet anyway, I am ready to be a Seasteader.

Undersea cables for power and communications?

Ailoo — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:51:17 -0400

I get the impression that there are two problems with the power issue.

1) The infrastructure necessary to create electricity on the ocean has either high fixed costs, variable costs, or both.

2) The usual solution to this problem is either "find ways to use less" or "come up with super cool new electricity generating tech".

We Have a Problem

cthulhujunior — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:59:04 -0400

"Governments trying to reel in 'ocean sprawl'"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/07/15/ocean.planning/index.html

ferrocement boats

albar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:29:09 -0500

i live on the eastern shore surrounded by rivers and next to the chesapeake bay. i am highly skilled with concrete art and construction and i use ferrocement in sculptures.

Speakers for The '09 Seasteading Conference

ipsafictura — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:10:55 -0400

In preparation for the second annual Seasteading conference this September, The Seasteading Institute is reaching out to find interesting, dynamic experts to speak on a variety of subjects. We're researching possible speakers, and have already invited a few exciting people to speak. Ultimately, our goal is to provide an educational and compelling conference for our community, and so we wanted to reach out to all of our supporters for suggestions on speakers and topics they would like to see at the Seasteading '09 conference.

Here are some of the topics for which we are seeking speakers:

Anchoring to the ocean floor

trodoel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:56:11 -0400

In a more or less shallow ocean, how would one go about anchoring something to the ocean floor? To reduce the amount of weight with traditional anchoring, I was wondering if drilling a hole and sticking in an iron rod or something like that would be a good idea? I am somewhat in the mindset of anchoring to have a more or less fixed position.

Ahoy dare' matey!

Ailoo — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:18:08 -0400

Greetings & Salutations fellow (potential) steadmates!

My name is Max, and I have been interested in seasteading since listening to Patri on Econtalk . I've been following the movement closely and have been hoping to get involved in it in a big way now that I've finished my MBA a month and change ago from the University of Miami. I'm an econ-nerd, gamer, transhumanist, rationalist (*wave to lesswrong/OB fans*) and a diehard capitalist... I also enjoy long walks on the beach.

High Altitude Wind Turbines

dArtagnan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:32:42 -0400

Computerworld has an article about some research being done at Stanford on high altitude wind turbines. It also mentions recent advances in solar power. Thought it might be of interest to the forum. If anyone has additional info, please post. Thanks.

dArt

Moon pools

NiccoloA — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:07:25 -0400

Got this idea while watching the third season of LOST.

What about using moon pools to facilitate or build off sea steads from? It seems like a much cheaper and easier starting point. Don't know if it has been suggested before.

UAVs as part of Seasteading Infrastructure

vincecate — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:30:07 -0500

I think UAVs will make life easier on single family seasteads where you might be far from a pharmacy or need to get a replacement part in a hurry. I don't think we need them to start (so not on critical path) but I think in the long run we will have them. I started a page on this.

http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/UAVs

Graphene

cthulhujunior — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:53:40 -0400

Hi. I know it's usually not a good idea to pull out a rare super-material and ask "Hey, what can we do with this?" However, I, uh, found an article on advancements in a rare, uh, super material that I think y'all might like anyway. It's graphene, which is about an atom thick, harder than diamonds, flexible, and really, really conductive of electricity. It's the "harder than diamonds" bit that has me thinking it might make for a decent outer shell, much like ferrocement. Here's the article:

Border security laws.

Aakno — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:42:53 -0400

Will imports or exports on the Seastead be subject to search? Will they be subject to any tariffs, taxes, fees, etc? Will there be rules about what can and cannot be brought onto a Seastead? For example, say someone decides to start up a thermonuclear weapons trading post on the seastead. Do we allow them to sell thermonuclear weapons on the open market and import/export at will?

Hello

Ken Sims — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:34:42 -0400

Greetings from sunny and warm (triple digits) southern Nevada.

A little over a week ago I read the "20,000 Nations Above the Sea" article in the July issue of "reason" magazine and that got me intrigued with the whole concept.

Personally I'd really like to see "spacesteads", but this is a good step on the way.

Ken

Desalination Technology

Wayne Gramlich — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:29:30 -0400

Does anybody know what the current state-of-the art for fresh water extraction is for sea going boats. For example, if you own an ocean going sail boat, is there some sort of reverse osmosis or vacuum desalination technology that you buy to help top off the fresh water tanks. How about for cargo ships? Do that just have large fresh water tanks that they fill up at port, or do they have some sea water to fresh water technology that they use. Are there off-the-shelf desalination solutions that can be purchased that are sized appropriate to a boat?

Rights of SeaSteads, Dependence on SeaSteads

JLMadrigal — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:35:52 -0400

Tholan brought up two important questions that need to be discussed:

1) How to legally insure that the right to exist of seasteads (either under a flag of conveyence or sovereign) is maintained.

2) How to ensure that a seastead will be able to provide a service that Land dwellers can not live without?

How do we legally insure that the right to exist of seasteads (either under a flag of conveyence or sovereign) is maintained?

New York City Meet Up

Republic6 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:35:15 -0500

Hey guys! Would anyone in New York be willing to get together and discussing creating a seastead and/or boatstead? My interest is in discovering ways in which individuals or families can cheaply and quickly establish themselves on the water today. I have no technical background ( I was a philosophy major), but I think that as this little movement is starting up, it would be ideal to establish a way for anyone, from any background to get out there. That would make it easier for the movement to grow. But hey, I'm willing to help out on any project, so let me know. Thank you.

Redonda, or the like for basesteading

pyotrbee — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:13:35 -0400

There are many candidates for remote "useless" islands, but the major obstacle seems to be governments want to hang on to them in case oil or the next great natural or other resource is discovered there. A few thoughts for dicussion:

Redonda - disputed a bit, but generally considered part of Antigua. 500 foot tall would make a solid rock to attach too... Antigua might let go of it for the right price.... There doesn't seem much economic value to Antigua holding on to it.

Tennesee gtg?

GoldfishAuthor — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:54:17 -0400

I haven't seen anyone else from lonely old Tennessee, but if anyone out there wants to meet up I would like to find other Seasteaders in my area! I'm currently in Clarksville, a ways outside of Nashville, but just knowing I'm not the only seasteader in the state would be nice.

New Yacht concepts...

Thorizan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:58:32 -0400

http://www.baekdal.com/design/architecture/yacht-concept-design/

Interesting designs. I think these came out at the exact wrong macroeconomic timeframe, though.

Thoughts?

Plastiki- The plastik bottles boat

PatricioRocketon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:27:29 -0400

Plastiki is a boat made out of recycled plastic bottles. It´s small yet the plan is to grow some of the food in it. http://www.adventureecology.com/theplastiki/main.html

General Purpose

dadada7c83 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:26:09 -0400

First off, i have long thought about the creation of a micronation, and one of the first ideas i came to was the creation of an island to house it. I have nothing wrong with the idea itself. It has occurred to me however, that in the interest of the overall progression of the human race, separating into hundreds of individual micronations on top of the hundreds of nations already in existence, simply isn't the best way.

alternative untitled indie seasteading video game

bencoder — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:42:19 -0400

OK, so on the other thread I posted:

bencoder wrote:

Physics games maybe... design a seastead to take on worse and worse conditions? that'd be quite interesting...

Actually I liked this idea so I started work on a little demo last night.

First version here:

~~http://www.bencoder.com/seastead-0.1.zip~~

Second Version:

http://www.bencoder.com/seastead-0.2.zip

Unzip and run the Buoyancy/main.exe file.

Plankton powered robotic subs set to uncover ocean's mysteries...

Thorizan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:34:32 -0400

Besides just cool technology and application, a seastead would be a logical jumping off point for these.

(You will need a subscription to see the entire article, but even the first few paragraphs get the mind a-racing.)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125715.900-plankton-could-power-robotic-submarines.html

Philosophy/Legal/Sociology section

DanB — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:13:36 -0400

I think there should be a forum section for discussion of philosophical, legal, and sociological issues that arise in connection to the Seastead.

I think that while the engineering difficulties may now seem very substantial from our current perspective, ultimately they are resolvable.

The fate of the Seastead will be decided by our ability to answer less tangible questions. Will the Big Countries try to shut us down? Do we really want to allow guns? How can we convince people to join? Will we allow *anyone* to join? How will decisions actually get made?

Dan

Sealand Tower

trodoel — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:47:19 -0400

I really like the sealand tower. Well, they have two towers. but assume I was to build just one tower x feet thick, hollow inside to use the space. How would I calculate or estimate how large a tower to build to withstand the force of the waves? Up to what depth would such a tower design be doable? Does anyone have any ideas? If the water pressure gets too big when going deep, maybe the tower could be filled with sand or even water and only be howwlow and usabe a short section towards the top?

Upper structure idea: octagonal ring built from shipping containers

Michael Hawkins — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:04:00 -0400

I've been playing around with an idea that would be easy to assemble with cheap materials and which would offer a lot of space.

An octagonal platform constructed out of steel grirders and aluminium plating is placed on top of a floatation structure with pillars, the pillars will be at the air/water border to minimize the effects of waves.

On this platform, a two story building constructed out of shipping containers is built:

(all pictures rendered with "the sims 3")

Outside view

Diminishing waves with a windbreak?

Melllvar — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:01:09 -0400

This seems like a very crazy idea, and I don't have much hope for it, but on the off chance it might glean something useful, here goes:

Innovations In New Governments

montgomery — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:59:16 -0400

Hi all,

I just wanted to pass on a link to a discussion by Paul Romer on the process of how innovations in government came about through new entrants into the market (for government) creating better rules and institutions. This process has largely stopped now as all lands have been discovered and there is no longer much innovation in forms of government. Since Seasteading's main goal is to address this lack of innovation, i thought some people might find it interesting.

(The relevant part of the discussion starts around Chapter 12)

Second Life

JLMadrigal — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:44:12 -0400

I believe that Second Life should be used for research and development in real life seasteading communities.

Are the most seasteading concepts pie in the sky to begin with?

nx2059 — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:22:09 -0400

I'm starting to believe that most of the seasteading concepts are pie in the sky based on fact that they are so novel, and require so much upfront capital. We're talking millions of dollars here. Even if these structures are built we're left with the much more difficult problem of getting libertarians in a closed environment to get along. I've been to small meetings of libs, and i get the feeling that everybody has their own agenda and not much gets done. I'm starting to think that the only viable way to achive freedom is to join the existing community of

Anchoring floating plattform

trodoel — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:26:12 -0400

I tried searching the forum but wasn't successful. I am looking for information on how to anchor a floating structure. Dumping a lot of weight is not practical, so I was thinking a dive trip might be in order. How deep can a trained diver go? If anyone knows of posts please give me some links or just your ideas. I am also wondering about the waves. If the anchor cables are too tight, they might snap or pull the structure underwater in big waves? If they are too loose, the GPS location of the platform would change a lot? Please give me your thoughts.

Indian Ocean

dudinator — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:27:14 -0400

I figured the most important first step in seasteading is finding good locations.

http://www.mcbi.org/what/what_pdfs/Indian_Ocean.pdf

Automation

Aeolius — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:30:18 -0400

We were discussing home automation/assistive technology in the seasteading IRC chat, today. I was reminded of a link that I finally found, regarding the use of robots in hydroponic gardening: http://www.csail.mit.edu/feature9

Granted, as two of my children have spina bifida and one has cerebral palsy, assistive technology is a topic I try to keep up with. Here's my current thinking for home automation, though the page needs updating: http://web.me.com/aeolius/

Global wind power potential

i_is_j_smith — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:21:31 -0400

Interesting paper from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, talking about how wind power alone could provide several times the global electricity consumption.

Here is an article about it: http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-hance_global_wind.html

Here is a PDF of the actual paper: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/06/19/0904101106.full.pdf

Hello everyone!

PatricioRocketon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:15:56 -0400

Hi everyone!

Before reading about the raft in Snow Crash or Interviews with Patri Friedman I Imagined something like this- A floating community. Feel free to contact me!

Casting concrete structures up from the sea floor

Herman Melville — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:37:11 -0400

(1) Select a place where the ocean is about 1000 feet deep.

(2) Construct a steel cylinder 1000 feet in diameter and 30 feet high.

(3) Construct another steel cylinder 1020 feet in diameter and 30 feet high.

(4) Drop them down to the sea floor to form a doughnut shape.

(5) Pipe down concrete to cast a concrete cylinder.

(6) Jack the forms 20 feet higher, and pour again.

(7) Repeat until you're several hundred feet above sea level.

(8) Pump out the water.

Cities in the sea

amadeo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:51:22 -0400

Sea City

A global system of these structures can easily accommodate many millions of people and relieve the land based population pressures. They can provide the inhabitants with information and serve as natural sea aquariums without artificially enclosing marine life.

WAVELAND-MODULAR MOBILE OFFSHORE BASE

OCEANOPOLIS — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:00:01 -0400

I am sharing w/you my design of hybrid (mobile & stationary) offshore seastead. At its core, are quadrilateral (kite) shaped floating modules that can be rafted up to to create various shaped floating areas depending on the seasteaders needs (mobile or stationary). Every kite modules (KM) are the same in terms of angles, and the dimension of their sides so they can be built @ any scale. The scale model that I am presenting here is, LOL(length over all)=200' , B(beam)=120' , Freeboard=70' , D(draft)=10'-18'(variable), for each KM.

Automatic Navigation to Defeat Waves?

cthulhujunior — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:03:44 -0400

Hi. I know that some people have sailed across the Pacific, and have dealt with pesky massive waves in relatively tiny boats. Now, my idea of a 'stead has been something small, say the size of a house or a farm, that only needs to sustain a few people, but is also pretty mobile. Hence, spar designs and large central hubs haven't really appealed to me, but I know size is one of the easiest ways to beat waves. I was wondering if maybe a skilled sailor could basically navigate such a vessel past any storms. I know that you can't depend on everyone being a skilled

Been thinking about seastead economies...

Thorizan — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:32:48 -0400

And I remembered an ariticle in Wired several years ago...

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/fish.html

Non-floating artificial islands built up in shallows

Haraald — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:47:44 -0400

I realize seasteading is dedicated to floating islands, but I was wondering if there has been any discussion on constructing the islands from the ocean floor- no oil-platform pillars, no flotation, just simple rock piling and soil dumping. I know it was done once between New Zealand and Tonga by a rich businessman dumping sand on a shallow bank. Apparently the insecure, bored officials in Tonga decided it was "traditional fishing grounds" and destroyed the island. Anyway, there are plenty of shoals in the ocean more than 200 miles from the nearest land and

A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency

Thorizan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:04:59 -0400

http://www.physorg.com/news164458857.html

It's sitting at 6% efficiency right now, but these can go in places a lot of other cells cannot.

Thoughts?

A Warning about Medical Tourism as a Revenue Source

jgpeyer — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:35:47 -0400

To all Steaders:

One of the big attractions of seasteading for me as a stem cell scientists is the prospect of medical tourism. The FDA is currently structured in such a way that it is very difficult, nigh impossible to get the approval of preventative therapies that will increase overall health. The structure of their program only allows for a drug-->treatment methodology which has been in desperate need of revision for twenty years.

New type of stronger concrete...

Thorizan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:11:56 -0400

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/17/mit-developing-concrete-that-lasts-for-16000-years/

What are your thoughts?

Seasteading Theme Song?

Pastor_Jason — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:12:53 -0400

Found this, thought it was hilarious. Will probably sing this on the first seastead.

Warning... RAP Music is often filled with profanity... this one definitely is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

I'm on a Boat (featuring T-Pain) by "The Lonely Island" on their debut album "Incredibad". Andy Samberg from SNL is the Lead Singer.

If this song doesn't make you smile, you're going to need to loosen up ALOT for seastead life.

Live Well!

-Jason

Hello

jscollett — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:35:52 -0400

Hello everybody! I have been looking at seasteading off and on for a few years now. I felt now is the time to join up. I have no experience or anything special like some on here, but I do have a dream of starting my own seastead/micronation one day. I have been thinking of a offshore settlement for a long time and I love how other people are thinking the same! Maybe my only skill is that I have an imagination . I can think up some funky stuff for seasteads.

Ford-class Supercarrier in the works...

Thorizan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:01:40 -0400

“These ships are like entire planned cities . . . . It’s like building Disney World.”

I saw this ariticle, and I thought this would be interesting to a great deal of people here... for vastly different reasons.

Please... enjoy.

Maldives to buy new homeland

Arthur B. — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:15:21 -0500

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/10/maldives-climate-chang...

Makes for a good customer, on the other hand, taking government money is morally wrong.

Bringing together the pieces

Somnambulist — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:55:52 -0500

Many of the things that a seastead might need could be build near shore and be profitable in the near-term. When a group is ready to create an independent ocean community they would just need to acquire these structures, remove there tethers, and move them to a chosen location.

Examples:

Floating Wind Turbines

Floating Wave energy devices

Floating Aquaculture farms

Floating OTECs

99 year lease

Katzpaw — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:15:36 -0400

Hi all,

I've seen a large number of very interesting ideas concerning base steads and islands. Instead of trying to purchase an Island or land in a countries mainland, how about a 99 year lease on an island? It worked for GB and Hong Kong, would it not work for us?Admittedly, the owning nation might come into play, but realisticly, I think the bigger problem would be environmentalist. Just a thought.

Cheers,

Katz

Attn TSI managment-sailboat for sale.

OCEANOPOLIS — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:36:53 -0400

I run into this 56' ferrocement Samson design ketch for sale on Ebay. It seems that all the systems are working but the boat need cosmetics. I am posting it here since I remember that TSI was looking into buying a sailboat. The bid is @ $ 7,999.99....a bargain for a 56 footer. If interested, I would volunteer my time to conntact the seller, survey the boat, and assist TSI with the purchase. My regards, Octavian. Here is a pick

Starting Seastead Construction

Aakno — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:47:26 -0400

One of the biggest construction costs of Seasteads may be the use of coastal shipyards for their construction. Because coastline is extremely expensive, it is expensive to build components on it. I believe that these costs can be brought down by building a construction barge that can be dedicated to the Seasteading project as necessary.

Firefox Link

Sabatino — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:58:02 -0400

Hallo,

I often use the saved passwords of my Firefox browser to see and sometimes erase the passwords...only everytime I must go to Tools - Options - Safety - saved password.

I was arguing if there is a way to insert a link in the toolbar to simplify and speed up this task.

Thank you and hallo to everyone.

__________________

Seasteading Outpost: A Seastead?

OCEANOPOLIS — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:42:28 -0400

I would like to introduce the above topic for discussions and feedback. As we all now, the Seasteading Outpost topic was well received and generated a well deserved interest from most of us. Some of us, (including myself) spend a lot of time researching the subject, and coming up w/ideeas and feedback. Pastor Jason initiated the "Belize Outpost", Dan B looked into the Cayman Island, and others looked into places as far away as Sao Tome, South Pacifc, Guatemala, etc.

Nick

thief — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:32:32 -0400

Hey everyone. I'm Nick, 19, in Scotland.

I've never fit in with this society, and I honestly don't expect I ever will. I believe there is a better way of living, and I believe Seasteading can achieve it.

Hello

bardamu — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:12:05 -0400

Test Platform: Poolstead/Baystead Level

Snow — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:59:38 -0400

I recently moved to eastern Florida. Here, the nearby intercoastal waterway is nearly mirror-smooth and there's easy access to the Atlantic coast. I'm thinking about trying to build a simple type of tiny platform, close to what TSI's book calls the "Poolstead" level but potentially modular.

Construction at sea?

CrosiarCM — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:26:28 -0400

I know seacrete has largely been discredited, and for good reasons I think. But I had an idea I wanted to put out there, along with a few other concerns.

Better forum

Christian Siegert — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:40:58 -0500

Using this forum is somehow annoying or exhausting. It feels like I have to fight against it to say what I want to say.

Links for online seasteading advocacy

jhogan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:38:13 -0400

Hey all,

As seasteading is gaining more public awareness, there are more and more online articles and blog posts about it, not all of which are positive. When an author or community has an overall negative reaction to seasteading, that strikes me as a good opportunity for seasteading advocates to come in and help convey the promise of the movement. That way, people who are visiting these sites get an opportunity to hear a positive perspective as well instead of just a negative one.

Maybe im wrong

jazwch01 — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:58:24 -0400

Ive noticed alot of people talking about their own seastead etc. Now maybe its just me but in the sake of progress in this venture shouldnt the first few be "apartment" like. maybe later people could have their own "island" persay but i personally think the best way to make this idea push foward is to have whole communities on the first few platforms. I also believe it would be wise to go about this the way NASA went about the international space station. Do it slowly. Alota people have the idea of lets just throw people out there and let it go.not smart.

Mobile Hydroponics Platform

bhalfmann — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:04:19 -0400

I'm working on a design for a circular platform that would act as a mobile hydroponics platform. It is an extremely large platform with over just over 44,000 ft^2 of growing area, this is accomplished by using vertical hydroponics systems. It is supported by a system of pontoons. The top is enclosed by a hemisphere of RSi PV Glass, this allows the plants to receive the sunlight required to grow and also harnesses the suns rays in the form of electricity. The RSi PV Glass produces 250 watts, though I am unsure if that means Whrs or what.

Ship for free!!!

i_is_j_smith — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:52:00 -0400

If anyone wants a free stealth ship, it's up for grabs:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499089,00.html

The Sea Shadow was a test bed for SWATH design. I've read that it's INCREDIBLY stable, even in really high seas. Would be a quick way to start boatsteading, and the price is right!!! ;)

SOBZ and SHIT

jgpeyer — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:31:40 -0400

So apologies for the seemingly inappropriate title.

I just watched a movie called "Accepted" for the first time last night, about a group of kids fed up with the college establishment who start their own school called the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.).

When I saw it I couldn't help think of a group of people I know who are setting up thier own dirty-acronym organization to escape the establishment. You SOBZ. (I guess it's a stretch, because you have to use the ebonics/leetspeak version: Bitchez).

new seasteading subreddit

Travis — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:51:44 -0400

Reddit allows the creation of subreddits for special interest groups, and since they're easy to set up I went ahead and created the seasteading reddit. For those new to reddit, it's a great crowdsourcing link sharing software, with minimalist design, and allows rss syndication. Please join and put in your links.

http://www.reddit.com/r/seasteading/

Fiberlass Pipes

Simon — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:05:57 -0400

Hi, found you guys after stumbling onto the Wired article; good to see somebody's finally making a proper attempt to build "reasonable" seasteads.

Good Books and Sources

dudinator — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:02:15 -0400

I feel I am definitely lacking in the knowledge department when it comes to seasteading. I think the most important thing to starting off in seasteading is a good bank of knowledge, really knowing engineering and the ocean inside and out.

So... I was looking around and I think this forum needs a good source page (websites, books) on things pertaining to seasteading.

Please post good sources on:

Ocean Maps

Engineering

Meteorology

Agriculture

Marine Agriculture

Marine Biology

Chemistery

New TSI Grant Program

ipsafictura — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:05:19 -0400

As a result of our recent polling along with information we've received in the past from our supporters, TSI has decided to open up a special grants program to fund projects by designers and engineers within our community. We are excited for this opportunity to fund exciting projects that will help to further the cause of seasteading.

New Here

thefiendhitman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:50:23 -0400

I just happened upon this site the other day, and in the few days since, I've only grown more attached to the idea. I'm planning on attending college majoring in botany. I think that a botanist would be a valuable resource for seasteads.

Instead of making reality more like the internet, wouldn't it make more sense to make the internet more like reality?

manixrock — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:59:40 -0400

It's understandable why one would want to emulate the qualities of the internet in real life. On the internet everyone is, by design, equal. Everyone there can be white tall handsome blond blue-eyed superman, or skimpy grinch. There is no property, only information, and that can be copied ad infinitum. There can be no racism for you have no race, no sexism for you are asexual, no arbitrary discrimination for there are no such arbitrary differences between it's members. There can be no physical violence, no forced doctrine, no impositions of any kind.

We need to talk to "Uncle Peter",..

OCEANOPOLIS — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:15:01 -0400

Found this in the "Citizen" (a Key West newspaper) today. http://keysnews.com/node/13898. This guy shud be our man,...

Click on the Citizen's first page(upper left ), for few photos of his "Water Village".

Like the new homepage.

Pastor_Jason — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:56:33 -0400

Very nice. Good use of the 3d models from the competition too. Definitely has that professional touch to it.

Live Well!

-Jason

Sales of "Atlast Shrugged" are up

vincecate — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:29:14 -0400

As government has grown over the last couple years sales of Atlas Shrugged have been going up. I just checked now and on Amazon.com the sale rank is 65, which means only 64 books have higher sales rates. I think this indicator means that interest in seasteading should be increasing.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13185404

Favorite money making idea for a floating country

vincecate — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:04:06 -0400

Imagine a school that taught "Computers for Entrepreneurs". The focus would be teaching the practical software/systems part of "computer science" and how to do startups. It could wave tuition for good hackers if they agreed to give the school a cut in any startup equity they got in the next N years. The school would also try to help introduce rich potential investors to students looking for funding. If you left early to do a startup, and the school makes at least Y dollars on its cut, then you still get your degree even if you ne

Strategy survey results and new TSI strategy initiatives

jhogan — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:09:29 -0400

We've completed our analysis of the responses to our community strategy survey, originally posted here. Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond!

Windmill tests

bencoder — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:25:12 -0400

A real-world test performed by the Dutch province of Zeeland. Twelve small wind generators were placed in a row on an open plain. Their energy yield was measured over a period of one year, the average wind velocity during these 12 months was 3.8 meters per second. Three windmills broke.

Original Article(Dutch): http://provincie.zeeland.nl/milieu_natuur/windenergie/kleine_windturbine...

English Summary: http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/04/small-windmills-test-results.html

Defeating waves through size?

Herman Melville — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:56:39 -0400

A large enough floating structure would not be rocked by normal waves. What is the most economical route to a structure of this class?

Basestead Caribbean Panama

gaussme — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:15:56 -0400

Caribbean Panama should be considered as well. Outside the area of Bocas del Toro and Colon, realestate is inexpensive, good infrastructure (roads, power and internet) and the area is outside of the hurricane belt. Downside is there is little/no opportunity to work on shore, public water can be a little sketchy. Politically stable, uses US dollar for currency (is that good or bad?) Good tax laws for foreign source income. Panama is just starting to build tourism up, not like Costa Rica which has become a "mature" tourist destination.

DRP: Seastead Outpost Location

Pastor_Jason — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:29:31 -0400

Many of you are aware of my pet project, Seastead Outpost: Belize. This distributive research project will help us select the most pristine location to build a Seastead Outpost. Even though our priorities are not set in stone, the following criteria will be used to judge worthiness of any given property:

Location: Islands would be nice (though too expensive in most cases), waterfront property is a must and ocean access (instead of a property on a river or landlocked lake) is preferred.

First Time Poster, Long Time Reader

Melllvar — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:26:22 -0400

I've been following site off and on for a while now, and just thought I'd go ahead and register/introduce myself so I can more easily be a part of the discussion in the future. Also, I got really excited when I heard about the possible Belize Outpost, another reason I finally decided to post. Over the past 6+ months I've spent countless hours (atleast several hundred) trying to come up with seastead designs, and researching the subject.

Possible funding source: Prisons

Hephaeston — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:17:43 -0400

So the Florida Dept of Corrections spends $43.11 per day per inmate on average for those not in a reception status minus the amount that their labor saves Florida (that amount is not given). That is 15,735.15 per year of available revenue (minus their labor). So let's presume about a 33% discount to the State of Florida so they'll bite on my whacky idea. That's approximately $10,000 per year (big round numbers) of revenue, and a 100 inmate pilot program gets you 1,000,000 of funding. Secure a contract wherein non-violent inmates permitted by the State submit applicat

Cayman Island Basestead location

DanB — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:10:46 -0400

Ahoy, all -

I wrote up a page about the possibility of using the Cayman Islands as a Basestead/Outpost location. I'm not sure how people will feel about it. In particular I'm not sure it suits exactly the vision of Pastor_Jason, who wants a lot of land to work with.

DELFTship software

i_is_j_smith — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:47:23 -0400

This is a free app for designing ship hulls, and also allows for some basic testing:

www.delftship.net/

They also have a Pro version that is only €178.50 and has many more testing options...I think it even has a wave tank option!

Hello Fellow Aquatic Pioneers!

dissipate — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:36:08 -0400

Hello fellow seasteaders! I am a software developer from San Diego and I am always looking for ways to get out from under the yoke of the political system. Like Patri, I have given up on using political or rhetorical means to achieve freedom. I believe that people would change their ways and begin to throw off the political yoke if they saw much better alternatives to the old ways of central planning. We have seen this mechanism of attempted political innovation with countries around the world attempting to duplicate the 'success' of mass franchise democracy in the US.

Lessons from the Startup World: Release Early, Release Often

Captain Nozick — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:17:37 -0400

On the subject of early strategy, I think there are important lessons to be gleaned from the web-startup community which faces a similar problem as seasteading: that of creating complex systems from limited means to address difficult problems of which we have only a limited understanding. In doing so, the startup community has developed a few key lessons, which have been proven through the success of the institutions which adopt them. The greatest of these lessons is that meticulous design simply doesn't work on early-stage systems with so many unknowns.