Peter Thiel, president of Clarium, technology investor, and libertarian philanthropist, has renewed his financial support of The Seasteading Institute (TSI) for 2010. He has pledged to match every donation to TSI made before July 24th, 2010, dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. In addition, he is giving TSI a $250,000 grant.

The Seasteading Institute is pleased to announce that it has received its Letter of Determination from the Internal Revenue Service, stating that we are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Among the many benefits this allows, donations to us are tax-deductible (including past ones).

August 10, 2009 -- The Seasteading Institute is excited to announce that registration is open for the second annual Seasteading Conference, to be held September 28-30, 2009 in San Francisco, California.

The Seasteading Institute is excited to announce that public registration is open for the first annual Ephemerisle Festival, being held October 2-4, 2009 in the Sacramento River Delta. Ephemerisle is a floating festival of politics, community, and art in celebration of political freedom and diversity.

The Seasteading Institute has crowned the winners in its first Seasteading Architectural Design Contest. The Contest, which ran from February 1st to May 1st, invited participants to design the floating city of their dreams. The winning design was awarded a $1000 grand prize, and there were four additional $250 prizes for specific categories.

Seasteads are permanent, stationary structures specifically designed for long-term ocean living.

April 15th, 2009 - Palo Alto, CA -- The Seasteading Institute Announces Membership Program; Annual Report

Palo Alto, CA. - Feb. 2nd, 2009 - The Seasteading Institute Announces Architectural Design Contest for Seasteads

The Seasteading Institute announced an open contest today which gives architects, engineers, students and hobbyists the opportunity to design the seastead of their dreams. Participants will compete for $2000 in prizes by creating 3-D models of working seasteads. Seasteads are permanent, stationary structures specifically designed for the purpose of long-term living in the marine environment.

Mountain View, CA, August 18th, 2008.

Despite the recent downturn in real estate, the cost of a new home in many parts of the country remains beyond the reach of many people.  For example, the median home price in the San Francisco Bay area hovers around half a million dollars. The Seasteading Institute, a new non-profit (*) based in Mountain View, CA hopes to reduce housing costs in a unique fashion -- by promoting the colonization of the oceans.

"Building houses in the U.S. is heavily regulated, so the supply of new housing grows very slowly.  As a result, the price of housing remains high." said Seasteading Institute founder Patri Friedman.  A study by University of Washington economics professor Theo Eicher found that between 1989 and 2006, the median inflation-adjusted price of a Seattle house more than doubled from $221,000 to $447,800.  According to that study, fully $200,000 of that increase was the result of land-use regulations.

"There is plenty of room on the ocean, and by building there we can avoid the costs imposed by zoning and land-use regulation.  Seasteads can be built anywhere in the world, then towed into place, so we can save costs by hiring third-world labor, while benefiting poor countries.  Floating homes are also protected against rising oceans from global warming."

Mountain View, CA, August 18th, 2008.

If the Seasteading Institute has its way, you will soon be able to relocate your house--or even your entire town--as easily as you move your car.  

"We are going to build permanent floating settlements on the ocean.  The first prototype will likely be built in the sheltered waters of the San Francisco Bay, but future designs will be capable of withstanding open ocean conditions." says Patri Friedman, founder of the Mountain View based non-profit.  The Institute recently received some substantial backing for their approach, in the form of a $500,000 grant from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel. 

Unlike some past projects which envisioned enormous, multi-billion dollar cities, The Seasteading Institute advocates a modular, incremental approach, where cities are built up one block, or even one house, at a time.  Patri says: "Cruise ships already demonstrate that people can live on the ocean in big, movable buildings at reasonable cost.  We've got a slightly different design: we're going to build a city out of interconnected floating platforms.  That way you'll be able to move cities, and take your house and yard with you!  And we are designing these platforms to be comparable in cost to high-end land-based homes."

Organization Aims To Create New Societies On The Ocean

Mountain View, CA, April 15th, 2008.

The Seasteading Institute today announced that it has been established in order to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems.  It will continue and expand on the work of Patri Friedman and Wayne Gramlich, authors of "Seasteading: A Practical Guide to Homesteading the High Seas".