Seasteading Links
Seasteading Links
Please tag links of interest to seasteading
with the "seasteading" tag on delicious. View all items tagged seasteading
here, and popular
ones here. Note that many of the links below are out of date, and
this page will probably be replaced with a wiki or the delicious list
soon.
There are many tiny and semi-autonomous nations, and have been many
failed attempts, so we're only listing those that stood out as being
of particular interest to seasteaders, and for which there are good
webpages. There are links to more complete listings as well, and some
related organizations and reference materials.
Ventures
- Successful:
- SeaLand - One of
the few succesful nations founded recently, and the epitome
of the "if its small, it can happen"
philosophy. Its founder retired as active head of state a few
years ago and the country was being turned into a data haven.
Unfortunately, worries about terrorism and its backlash have
ended that experiment.
- Residensea - Does not
intend to be a nation, but is the first succesful floating
condominium. Designed for the luxury market, but still a great
proof-of-concept. Unfortunately ResidenSea lost a lot of money,
as they were not able to sell enough condos, partly due to the
worldwide recession. This especially hurt them as they were
targeting the high-end market (people with net worths of $5
million and above).
- In Progress: (These
are projects that show at least some sign of being non-defunct.
Some are quite active.)
- Limon REAL - Rigoberto Stewart's push to
turn the Limon province of Costa Rica into an autonomous Libertarian
region. FNF article
introducing the project, comments
and response. Rigoberto's
book.
- Freedonia
- A web nation whose goal is to become a physical
nation, governed by a constitutional libertarian monarchy. They
are actively investigating potential sites.
- Laissez-Faire City - LFC
was at first an attempt to get some sovereign territory, then an
attempt to provide digital sovereignty services. Its founding
trust has been audited and dissolved. Scamdog
has a great summary on his site.
Free State Project.
While this project is not new-country, it is realistic enough to
deserve inclusion. Their goal is to get enough liberty-minded
americans to move to a single state to control its politics, thus
creating a haven for freedom within the USA. My thoughts on it
can be found in
this journal entry.
- Celestopea -
"Dedicated to creating ecologically balanced, floating ocean
communities and terra-formed, permacultured islands, grown from
the mineral-rich waters of the tropical oceans. We wish to share
our creations and technologies to help expand the unity,
prosperity and quality of life, of all the people of Earth."
- Build New
Atlantis - a project devoted to making the Independent Virtual
Vingdom of New Atlantis real. They say "We are
planning to build a completely new continent in the Atlantic
ocean as a series of floating islands in the shape of a
complex spiral. As you explore this site you will find it is
not a mad dream, but a practical project, well thought out,
with technology available, and perhaps your only criticism may
be that we make it all sound just too easy. It will be the
largest construction project ever, the greatest opportunity
for you, and everyone else, and provide economic advantages to
improve the quality of life of people throughout the
world."
- Unsuccesful / Inactive: (These
projects were either never more than visions, or seem to have
been abandoned. If you have evidence that one is active, feel
free to drop us an email.)
- SeaState
- A recent (2000) Oceania-like project (artificial
island nation). Website is somewhat disorganized.
- Libertocracy
- A movement to "develop a polycentric free
enterprise government and socio-economic system..." Incorporates
elements from libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, and liberal thought.
Has lots
of text about the glorious revolution, but not much practical
advice or evidence of realistic projects in the works.
- Oceania: The
Atlantis Project - This was a project
in 1994/95 to create a floating libertarian city, created by
the First Millenial Foundation
(AKA Living Universe Foundation). They got some press and then
ran out of steam, and the people moved on to other things. The
website is being kept up for inspiration.
- Nomad
Ship - Brad
Templeton (longtime netizen, founded ClariNet) has a city-at-sea
vision.
-
Transtopia - 1997 vision
of a transhuman/libertarian island community, has some good reference
material & discussion of physical implementation.
- Montsegur
- A 1998 vision of a tolerant, diverse, libertarian
island nation where gays/lesbians could live in freedom.
-
Space For The Future: The
Artifical Island Concept - Japans Kawasaki Steel Co. builds big
islands.
- The Artemis
Project - A venture to put a free
human colony on the moon. Sounds a bit ambitious to me ($1.5B
to complete the first mission), but they seem pretty serious.
- New Earth Fleet - Make the dream of peace, prosperity and dignity for all people of goodwill, of a life that is a joyous adventure rather than mere survival, reality by constructing vessels that will use the vast resources of the Sun, wind and sea to provide food, clothing, shelter in a way available to all and harmful to none.
Discuss colonizing the open sea and sea floor, and related subjects. Focus is on near-term 'how-to' concepts, similar to the Experimental Aircraft Association. Goal is a design for a viable permanent, sea dwelling. (This Yahoo Group is mostly dead).
- Active but unrealistic:
(Covering the range from total scams to just absurdly unrealistic,
be cautious of these projects)
Relevant Organizations:
- Free Nation
Foundation - "A libertarian
think tank working toward attaining a free nation by building
vision of the critical institutions in that free nation...The
purpose of the Free Nation Foundation is to advance the day when
coercive institutions of government can be replaced by voluntary
institutions of civil mutual consent, by developing clear and
believable descriptions of those voluntary institutions, and
by building a community of people who share confidence in these
descriptions."
Note: they recently split into two organizations.
- Laissez-Faire
City - As detailed above.
-
The Republic of Lomar -
The largest virtual state, whose eventual goal is to provide
non-territorial government like services (citizenship, passport,
legal assistance, etc.) worldwide, with no physical presence
other than embassies. They are not focused on establishing a
sovereign state, but they are into reality rather than fantasy,
unlike most micronations.
- Sea
Structures Inc. makes SeaCells, which
are flotation units.
- Awdal Roads Company - run by
libertarians, this is a project to develop and improve the Awdal
province of Somalia, which has been considered as a potential
site for nation-founding. Unfortunately, the independence of
the region is disputed.
- Floating Homes Association in Sausalito, CA.
- The Island Foundation an
organization dedicated to the creation of a culture based on Aldous
Huxley's last novel, called Island.
- Global Coral Reef Alliance a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring coral reefs through electroaccretion.
- Floating Homes Association in Sausalito.
- Living Universe Foundation (now pretty much defunct) "seeks to preserve the ecology of the Earth while colonizing the oceans and outer space, all as part of humanity's attaining its highest possible scientific, humanitarian, and aesthetic development."
Relevant Businesses:
- Float
Incorporated had designed and tested
floating Pneumatically Stabilized Platforms based on
cylindrical air cells whose airspaces are connected. This
allows the constant pressure changes due to waves to be
distributed throughout the platform and perhaps captured for
energy. They claim advantages over semisubmersibles, for
example a much shallower draft, lower cost per unit area, and
ship berthing on the down-wave side of the platform, where
waves have been attenuated.
- Havenco - a data haven business that was based on SeaLand
- Hawkes
Ocean Technologies Designs and builds Deep Flight Winged
Submersibles, submarines which use wings rather than
changing ballast, to control their height.
- Houseboats.com -
luxury houseboat vacations.
- Jules Underwater Lodge -
a small underwater hotel in Key Largo, Florida.
- Sub Sea Systems
- "Sub Sea Systems manufactures the finest, state of
the art, customized Semi-Submersibles for the tourist industry
and private use."
- U.S. Submarines -
builds luxury, tourist, and military submarines and related
structures.
- Nuytco Research
Ltd. "designs, builds, and operates atmospheric
diving suits, submersibles, remotely operated vehicles, as well
as specialty equipment for commercial diving. "
- WaveGen is a UK
company which "has pioneered the research, development
and manufacture of several innovative marine power
systems.". They build large, mainly shore-based
systems.
-
-
Discussion Groups:
Indices:
-
The Micronation and Sovereignty Website Index - Lists many
small nations, physical and virtual, recognized and
unrecognized. This is the most up-to-date listing of micronations
& new country projects.
- Footnotes To
History - A webpage which provides "an overview of
ephemeral states, micronations, secessionist states, and every other
kind of country you never heard of in high school". The visions
are wonderful, the results often depressing, but the history is
certainly colorful.
- Resources for
the Study of Nationalism - Autonomy, Secession, Independence and
Nationalist Movements.
Web Texts:
Physical Texts:
-
The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition
to the Information Age - A book by
some of the original Laissez-Faire City founders, predicting
a transition to an information economy which will reduce the
power of governments.
-
The international legal regime of artificial islands
- A law text on the subject.
-
How To Start Your Own Country
- by Erwin C. Strauss. Much of this book is a sordid history
of failures, which is somewhat amusing and serves as a warning.
-
The Last Frontiers On Earth
- Strange Places Where You Can Live Free. A number of reasonably
well-thought out ideas for pushing the boundaries of where people
can currently live. Speculative but grounded in reality.
-
BLUEPRINT FOR PARADISE
- How to Live on a Tropic Island. Despite the title, a very practial
handbook. "Ross Norgrove found land, built
a house, and lives quite contentedly on a tropic island, and
he tells you how you can do it, too. In Blueprint for Paradise
he answers in detail such tough questions as: · How can
you, from thousands of miles away, select the island that matches
your needs and your hoped-for-lifestyle? · What barriers
will the island government place in your path? · What
should you look for when you buy property? · What should
you consider when you build a house? · What are the up-front
costs? · What are the hidden costs? · What about
food? Water? Medical Care?"
[From the Loompanics website]
-
Uninhabited Ocean Islands.
Published in 1991, contains an extensive list of islands, with
political history.
-
Limon Real, by Rigoberto
Stewart, which describes his plan to make Costa Rica's Limon
project an autonomous libertarian province.
Articles
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