Seasteading Covered by Reuters

A reporter from the international news agency Reuters recently spoke with our director of engineering, George Petrie, as well as our president, Michael Keenan, on The Seasteading Institute’s vision and strategy for bringing about permanent, autonomous communities on the ocean. The interviews were used for a video segment titled, “Floating cities proposed as havens of future happiness,” which was posted to the Reuters website on Friday. We expect the video to be picked up and redistributed by multiple Reuters subscribers in the coming weeks, which will spread the word about seasteading to an even wider audience.

While Keenan’s message will already be familiar to most of the seasteading community, Petrie’s comments shed light on some of the more technical challenges and likely solutions suggested by our engineering research.

Speaking on the basic seastead structures under consideration, Petrie compares the main candidate design, the semi-submersible platform, to an oil rig, noting that, “Even in very stormy sea conditions, the platform will remain very stable,” and adds, “One would hardly know they were on a floating body.” Our engineering research page contains much more in-depth information on how this design would function in a rough ocean environment, and on why it is probably the best way forward for the establishment of mid-sized to large seasteading communities. The reporter also mentions the Institute’s focus on modular designs, which will allow seasteads to expand sections “like Lego™ pieces,” enhancing and accelerating the process of experimentation with and improvement of new systems of governance. The Institute has plans to bolster our research into modular designs this year.

In closing, the report comments that our ideas are already taking off, with the advent of Blueseed’s initial funding round. This is sure to inspire forward thinkers from around the world, and attract numerous new individuals to the movement. We look forward to hearing from the next wave of seasteading enthusiasts!