The Seasteading Institute June 2012 Newsletter

Thank you Director of Special Events Brian Wallace! As we wrap up loose ends related to The Seasteading Conference, our contract with Brian Wallace — Director of Special Events at The Seasteading Institute since January — is coming to an end. Brian was moved and motivated by the amazing individuals he interacted with during his term with the Institute, and he would love to branch out and continue to work with innovative for-profit and nonprofit organizations to produce conferences, meetings, fundraisers, cruises, and any other events. He comes highly recommended by the Institute staff. Brian may be contacted at for the next few weeks. After that he can be contacted at , or via cell at (209) 988-9946. Brian would also like to remind conference attendees to fill out the follow-up survey on the conference if they haven’t done so already. New Engineering Report: Seasteading Energy Study In the long run, it’s a safe bet that the price of energy is going to go up. For seasteaders that’s a particularly vexing scenario; in the pursuit of autonomy, the last thing a seastead community would want is to be held hostage by its energy suppliers. An obvious strategy is to avoid dependence on oil and gas imports at the outset, pursuing energy independence in parallel with political autonomy. For seasteads, the possibilities for alternative energy sources are wide-ranging; sun, wind, wave energy, and even the thermal mass of the ocean itself offer enormous potential for generating substantial quantities of energy without the need for a single imported hydrocarbon. Furthermore, a completely “green” seastead will likely be more appealing to potential citizens and the global community than one that belches diesel fumes and risks spilling fuel on the pristine ocean. But what about the cost? After all, seasteads must be sustainable from an economic view as well, and conventional wisdom holds that alternative energy just doesn’t make sense without those big government subsidies. As a first step towards resolving this question, our intern Melissa Roth, a graduate student at Northeastern University, undertook an independent study project examining the costs of different alternative energy schemes that might be adapted for a seastead community. Using a conventional diesel-fueled generator as a baseline, she compared the long-term costs of energy derived from solar, wind, waves, ocean current, and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) systems. Melissa’s findings suggest several economically attractive approaches for seasteaders, even without subsidies. This result is largely due to the relatively high cost per kilowatt-hour of the baseline diesel-fueled generator compared to shore-side commercial generating plants, but unfortunately this baseline is the true cost of the status quo. In her report, Melissa also discusses issues related to energy storage that are unique to seasteads; for example, there is no “grid” at sea to absorb excess energy during periods of slack demand. She also notes one of the more attractive benefits of an OTEC system: it generates large quantities of fresh water as a byproduct. You can read Melissa’s full report on our website. Peter Thiel Will Match Donations to The Seasteading Institute In order to advance the mission of The Seasteading Institute and to encourage the support of others, Peter Thiel, through the Thiel Foundation, has offered to match donations giving to the Institute in 2012 dollar for dollar, up to $250,000. Last year the Institute received approximately $175,000 in donations which were doubled by Thiel. Every donation is important to us and used to advance our mission. Whether you can give $35, $100, $1000, or even more, we greatly appreciate your support. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Seasteading Institute today. Simon and Schuster to Publish Seasteading Book! (This item was submitted by Joe Quirk, co-author of the book-in-progress, “Seasteading: How Ocean Cities will Change the World”) Do you remember your “seasteading moment,” the instant you gasped when the light bulb went off over your head and you realized this is going to change the world? Mine was when I “got” the idea of competitive governance, that if the same principles that drive progress in biology and markets could be applied to governance, we’d experience unimaginable progress in how to get along. I enjoy hearing everybody’s “aha!” moment, whether they want to feed the world, clean the oceans, cure diseases, create wealth, jettison millions out of poverty, or prove they’re not nuts. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realize your eureka moment came about because you had: 1. the luck of stumbling on it  2. the background to understand what it means 3. the time and energy to read a few hundred web pages. That’s what I call a high barrier to entry. We need to get it all in one fun-to-read format.  That’s why Patri Friedman and I are delighted to have sold “Seasteading: How Ocean Cities will Change the World” to Simon and Schuster. We’ll combine Patri’s years of expertise with my knack for entertaining readers, in order to amaze, delight, astonish, and inspire the most creative minds waiting to have their own “seasteading moment” and test their unique solutions on the sea. Any ideas you have for the book, any stories you think are memorable, please share them with me, and make sure I turn on my digital recorder. The goal is to make this book about people, to feature the diverse community of self-starters who are dedicating their talents to experiments on the blue frontier. Whether you’re a physician, agriculturalist, humanitarian, environmentalist, political pioneer, marine biologist, or maritime lawyer, we want to know your great idea and what moves you. Email to share your story! Milestone Media Mentions Seasteading’s presence in the public arena continues to grow, as more outlets recognize the seriousness of our efforts and likelihood of our ambitions. Ventures like Blueseed (which has recently garnered stories on Bloomberg TV, Wired UK, and BBC), are helping draw attention to the business and political aspects of seasteading; our conference drew interest from Mother Jones, the Maritime Executive, and even made the front page of the Huffington Post San Francisco. Lastly, a story on CBS’s 60 Minutes featured a quick comment on The Seasteading Institute at the very end of a segment on Institute co-founder, Peter Thiel. We hope to build on this impressive list in the coming months, and will be bolstering our outreach efforts to draw the attention of noteworthy people and groups who can help make seasteading a reality. Featured Ambassadors: Ryan Garcia and John F. Bechtol Ryan WH Garcia is an incredibly active and prolific ambassador, based out of San Diego, CA. Having spoken about seasteading at Libertopia twice in 2011 and tabled numerous times, Ryan will continue to participate in the voluntarist forum through speaking and blogging. However, this only scratches the surface of his accomplishments as an ambassador, which include organizing a San Diego meetup, speaking to a college class, and developing potent arguments for supporting seasteading in op eds and on his personal blog. For example, on the political and humanitarian benefits of seasteading, Ryan writes the following:

“The majority opinion among seasteaders is that some combination of profitable blue industry is necessary to financially sustain a seastead. This is sound logic, but the possibility for politically oriented seasteads to be viable business models warrants attention and consideration. Seasteads are fresh “ground” to innovate new political and social systems that better engender peace and prosperity, and give real effect to humanitarian ideals. Demand for the same is strong. Satisfying humanity’s demand for better treatment by competing with existing governments for the human and financial capital they currently monopolize may be the most valuable economic opportunity seasteading offers. The advent of new polities offering an array of socio-economic terms permits Individuals to opt out of the status quo, launching a market for and by the earth’s industrious. In time this will see longstanding notions of sovereignty, self-determination and human grouping rendered archaic—not unlike the way the Internet profoundly advanced human communication, and radically affected everything else.

Seasteaders should embrace this perspective and seek to develop and normalize political solutions that serve humanity better than existing governments. Doing so may best attract the interest, investment and human creativity necessary to solve the complex challenges dwelling on the ocean presents. Although it will be a difficult process to establish and preserve new polities upon the sea, a Berlin Wall falls when a Seastead negotiates with a land-based nation for visitor and residency visas and investment terms and incentives for Seasteaders. That potential alone is worth exploring.”

Founder of RISE (Residential Infrastructure Solarization Enterprise), a pioneering solar-thermal equipment provider, John F. Bechtol is one of the ambassador team’s most versatile members. In addition to his thirty years of contracting, construction, industrial, marine, and general business experience, John is a lifetime social and political advocate. Since becoming an ambassador last September, John has represented The Seasteading Institute at Northern California alternative energy conferences and tabled with our staff over the course of the entire four-night TEDxSF/OKEANOS event. In promoting the vision and strategy of the Institute, John has used his unique sense of humor and relentlessly positive attitude to win over skeptics and naysayers. In the lead-up to the conference, John promoted registration by reaching out to his personal networks, including Mensa, of which he is a lifetime member. Most recently, John has been collaborating with other members of the seasteading community under the umbrella of Project OASIS, whereby he hopes to apply his knowledge of the alternative energy, construction, and maritime industries to position seasteaders as the builders and operators of budding ocean energy infrastructure.

“The opportunity is before us, to alter the world’s fuel production to renewable sources. Ours is the team to do it. We can stop the burning of fossil fuel and transform the landscape of climate science.”

New Houseboat Experiments, and Lessons, from Ephemerisle 2012 The weekend following a successful seasteading conference, the Institute’s staff joined hundreds of our community’s most creative and dedicated members for a four-day outing on the Sacramento River Delta, at the fourth annual Ephemerisle festival. Once again, the festival grew in size and diversity of attendants from the previous year — this year there were so many boats that they could not all be anchored to a single flotilla. As a result, three separate islands formed, spawning a primitive experiment in dynamic geography. There was a western cluster of sailboats, a northern island with many boats and peripheral platforms, and a smaller southern flotilla, populated by families and tight-knit crews. As competitive governance theory might predict, houseboat formations converged toward certain customs and preferences of their “quasi-citizens”. At night, the big island became the social setting, while the south settled in for a quieter night. Not everyone was content with their houseboat island’s “policies,” however, and there was strong demand for cross-platform transportation. Some bravely swam the gulf, but most used kayaks, rowboats, and platforms pulled by a rope connecting all three floats. Though simple, these mechanisms were effective and there were no accidents. On the last day, the Ephemerislanders did a sweep of the few pieces of debris that had blown off the boats over the windy weekend (seasteaders must be stewards of the environment) and headed back to Paradise Point Marina to return the rental boats. We look forward to seeing how the festival will continue to evolve, and hope to see more of you next year! For more information about the event, visit the Ephemerisle wiki. The Seborgan Blueprint By Eric Jacobus Perched atop a hill overlooking the Italian riviera in Imperia sits the Principality of Seborga, but what appears to be a modest Italian town of 350 people turns out to have an exceptionally unique quality. While she sits within Italy’s borders, based on a series of land transfers throughout history and her omission from the Italian Act of Unification in 1861, Seborga has formally claimed independence from the Italian Republic itself. With her thousand years of ongoing jurisdictional arbitrage and demands for sovereignty, Seborga should be of particular interest to history buffs and seasteaders alike. Seborga was featured with The Seasteading Institute in Jodie Shapiro’s documentary How to Start Your Own Country. With this common connection I was able to connect with Nina Menegatto, the wife of Seborga’s democratically elected Prince, to meet and learn about how Seborga is navigating the complex issue of national sovereignty. I timed my trip to arrive in the Principality during the second anniversary of the election of His Serene Highness Prince Marcello Menegatto. Seborga’s maze of narrow cobblestone alleyways exhibited a thousand years of history, with each residence or business displaying its own stamped, metallic Seborgan mailbox. The center square recalls Seborga’s extensive Catholic roots and features a large church, a rock mosaic of the Templar cross embedded in the ground, and wall murals of Knights Templar. Mrs. Menegatto agreed to a short interview where she went over the status of Seborga’s claim to sovereignty. The claim is based not only on the history of the land transfers from the Counts of Ventimiglia to the Benedictine Monks of Santo Onorato and to the Savoy Kingdom in the 1700s, but also on recent decisions by courts and police, who have conceded select administrative powers to Seborga that are not otherwise granted to Italian cities. And while the Italian government is reluctant to acknowledge their sovereignty outright, they have yet to deny it, taking a uniquely “hands off” approach when it comes to Seborgan affairs. Seborgans are optimistic of their nation’s future as a recognized independent state. Prince Menegatto’s effort to bring business into Seborga is paving the way for even more economic growth in the Principality, which is further evinced by the quality of merchandise and locally grown foods. Visiting the Principality puts one’s heart into another time, when government was small and familial, the laws were tailored to the locale, and national pride didn’t involve machine guns. It was hard not to imagine a world of a million Seborgas, and a sea of a million more. Seborga isn’t just a look into the past. If Seborga is recognized as a sovereign, landlocked state in a world of oversized and ineffective governments, they may prove to be a blueprint for future governments, be they on land or sea.

We look forward to bringing you more news soon. In the meantime keep up with all that is happening at The Seasteading Institute by visiting our blogs, forums, Vimeo page and Facebook page. We’re also on Twitter.