About

Who We Are

Seasteading means building startup communities that float on the ocean with any measure of political autonomy.

For a 30-second illustration of the mechanism by which seasteads will solve political problems, check out our video: Welcome to The Seasteading Institute. You can also visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

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Seasteads are environmentally restorative, since you can’t build a permanent floating structure without providing a home for sea life.

To learn more about this phenomenon, check out our short videos: Seasteading! Eco-restorative? and  Seasteading! Why Not Just Live On a Boat?

The Seasteading Institute is a nonprofit organization, based in California.

It was founded in 2008 by activist, software engineer and political economic theorist Patri Friedman, grandson of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman, and technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Peter Thiel.

Our Mission

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At The Seasteading Institute, we believe that experiments are the source of all progress: to find something better, you have to try something new.

Today, there is no open space for experimenting with new societies. That’s why we work to enable seasteading communities — floating cities — which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for how to live together.

globe improve world

Enrich the poor. Cure the Sick. Feed the Hungry. Clean the atmosphere. Restore the oceans. Live in balance with nature. Power the world sustainably. Stop fighting.

In our videos series about The Eight Great Moral Imperatives, co-author of the forthcoming seasteading book Joe Quirk examines real-life examples of entrepreneurs who are trying to solve humanity’s biggest problems with seasteading solutions.

What We Do

We educate the public about seasteading via our…

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We support aquapreneurs to actively work on projects that will help humanity build floating, politically autonomous, environmentally restorative cities. As a nonprofit organization, our role is not to build seasteads ourselves, but to set the stage in order to empower others to do so.

anarchapulco conference acapulco

We build community with entrepreneurs, aquapreneurs and visionaries. Our community is online in the Seasteading Supporters Facebook group and r/seasteading subReddit. We host Meetup events in cities around the world.

Check out all our online communities below 👇

Our Team

The Seasteading Institute is comprised of a Board of Trustees, Advisors, and Staff.