Patri Friedman wants to make it easy for anyone to build an independent country: "If we make one seastead, there's room for thousands."

Patri Friedman is aware that his idea sounds crazy. The former Google engineer and grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wants to build "start-up countries": autonomous dwellings in the middle of the ocean, starting with a brand new independent city-state off the California coast.

"Whether you're concerned that your home will be soon be beachfront property, or you've simply always wanted to live life at sea, you don't want to miss these groundbreaking (water-breaking?) designs."

"In Silicon Valley crazy doesn’t get you committed. It gets you noticed. It gets you funded. It gets you rich. Crazy is even a corporate rallying cry. As the late Steve Jobs said: here’s to the crazy ones."

"While not short of enthusiasim or imaginination, the non-profit Seasteading Institute, founded in 2008, has set about to make the dream of colonization of the seas, or seasteading, a reality through practical steps and grounded analysis."

A group of rich techies in Northern California is planning on starting its own nation on artificial islands in the ocean. They call themselves "seasteaders" and are sort of a mix between geeks and hippies.

"In the wake of a depressed economy and septic political system many Americans are looking for alternatives – both for some solace in the stormy present, as well as for a vision of the future."

"Could Silicon Valley become more of an island? An island is both an outpost with its own rules that’s also a bit cut off from the wider society — a combination of characteristics which emerged during a series of conversations on whether an island of innovation would end up a richer or poorer place if left to its own devices. One startup would like to put a collection of floating dorms and offices just past the limit of current US immigration law, about 12 miles out to sea."

“Joe, I like you, because we’re simpatico on this whole part about competition…I don’t know why we think people, the government, or anyone is going to do the right thing without the incentive and the competition…This whole seasteading thing, man, that just takes it to a whole new strata. That is just absolutely amazing. I love that—I love that—I just love that idea.”

A podcast interview including an interview with Joe Quirk.

Een Amerikaanse denktank wil honderden nieuwe stadstaatjes creëren. Locatie: de wereldzeeën. Welkom bij seasteading, wonen in een stad die op de oceaan drijft. Ook in Nederland wordt eraan gewerkt.

Joe Quirk interviewed by Tom Woods on his podcast.

"The Floating City Project – Architectural Design Contest held in the Spring of 2015 was organized in partnership with DeltaSync (Netherlands) and judged by an international panel of experts."

"The Seasteading Institute has announced that it met with Édouard Fritch, the President of French Polynesia, in order to discuss the development of a floating city in the region."

"Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently announced grand – and expensive – plans for humans to populate Mars in the near future. But what if there were a more practical way to inhabit another frontier, using the atmosphere we already have, and in the process to create a platform for developing the tools and innovations to help us adapt to climate change?"

"The idea is to build a floating city at least 200 miles off of a country’s coastline."

"The government of French Polynesia has signed a deal with Seasteading Institute to begin construction work in just two years."

"Nous publions en exclusivité le "memorandum of understanding" signé par le Pays et le Seasteading Institute, le fameux projet d'îles flottantes en Polynésie."

"The French Polynesian government has signed an agreement with the nonprofit organization The Seasteading Institute to cooperate on creating legal frameworkfor the development of a floating island."

"The Pacific nation of French Polynesia, looking for a potential lifeline as global warming takes hold, in January became the first country to sign an agreement to deploy the floating islands off its coast."

"Looking past the waves, out over the ocean horizon, it is hard not to dream and think about adventure and escape. Seasteading from Joe Quirk with Patri Friedman has such an image on the cover, and the book is a long treatise on how we can make a living and create new seavilizations out there on the big blue."

"The notion of pioneers creating nations on the sea, or seasteading, first gained attention in 2008 when Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel backed the project."

"Teva Rohfritsch a pris soin de rappeler que ce projet n’implique aucune dépense publique, qualifiant de “polémique stérile” certains des commentaires que suscite le projet."

L'humanité est à pied sec sur moins de 30% de la planète. Et ce n'est pas près de s'améliorer à cause de l'érosion côtière due au changement climatique. Poussés à assurer notre survie, c'est à dire à nous nourrir, à gérer nos ressources et à nous abriter, nous voici contraints d'observer et d'apprendre les usages savants des civilisations nautiles premières, preuves de leur capacité d'innovation.

"Independence—political and financial—is a central goal of seasteading. The movement doesn’t just strive to utilize the empty expanse of the ocean for human habitat—it seeks to create a space for new kinds of societies to spring up."

"While some people are planning for life on Mars, there’s a new movement of so-called “seasteaders” planning to colonize a frontier a lot closer to home."

"Will Kevin Costner be involved? What about storms?"

"Joe Quirk is a guy who likes to joke around, so I assumed the title was a lighthearted exaggeration. A hyperbolic hook.

"By the time I finished the book I was utterly convinced that seasteading will save the world."

"O objetivo do The Seasteading Institute é concentrar cientistas em ilhas, inclusive fundando uma nova forma de fazer política, para estimular a inovação"

"Building a libertarian, techno-utopian paradise in a city that floats on the ocean sounds like the stuff of science fiction or a joke on HBO’s “Silicon Valley.“ And it is both of those things, but it’s also closer to reality than ever before."

Joe Quirk is an American author whose idea of building floating nations is explored in his latest book "Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians."

"The first ever-floating city is set to appear in 2020—and by 2050, thousands could exist around the world."

These are the incredible first pictures of a floating city that will be built off the island of island of Tahiti by 2020 by a group backed by billionaire PayPal founder Peter Thiel

"Utopie ou réalité ? En tous les cas, des détails ont été apportés sur le projet des îles flottantes. Marc Collins, porte-parole de Seasteading Institut et correspondant local de la société, revient sur les avancées du projet."

"Not only could floating cities offer a sustainable place to live, but they could also potentially help coral reefs recover and provide a habitat for marine life, according to Joe Quirk, Blue Frontiers co-founder and Seasteading Institute seavangelist."

"The movement is called 'sea steading', a man-made floating community that sets its own laws and is self-sustaining, and the first one could be built on our Pacific doorstep in French Polynesia."

"Floating cities of the future would feature vast underwater algae farms that would provide a healthy food source for residents."

"Forget Mars... in the future, humanity will live at sea argues Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute."

"The proposed location is a calm, circular Tahitian atoll.

"The water is shallow and protected from damaging waves. Bobbing up and down in the lagoon are futuristic floating dwellings with clean lines and grass-covered roofs."

"French Polynesia could become the location of the world's first floating city as early as 2022 - says the co-founder of a non-profit think tank."

"The company behind the floating city just started selling its virtual currency that will let you buy homes and businesses on its "eco-friendly" hideaway"

"Investors can now take part in a presale of Vayron, the cryptocurrency the Seasteading Institute, the organisation behind the plan, will use."

"Mr Quirk’s plans are truly ambitious when it comes to making these islands self-sufficient and sustainable. The islands will be built on floating panels that will help regenerate coral reefs and reverse coral bleaching."

"Seasteading is not a plan for society. Seasteading is a technology for anybody to try their own society. The Seasteading Institute takes no position on what kind of societies should be formed. We foster the research and technology for individuals to try their own societies."

Seasteading as a concept is still in its early stages, and working with existing countries are part of what Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, a nonprofit think tank whose research inspired the Blue Frontiers project, calls “strategic incrementalism towards autonomy.”

If nine billion of us are to survive in 2050, we are charged with six moral imperatives as ancient as they are urgent:

feed the hungry,
enrich the poor,
cure the sick,
restore the environment,
power civilization sustainably, and
live in peace.

“Democracy is regarded as the best form of government there is. But it isn’t working too well and start-up societies could be the answer”

"An ocean-platform community voluntarily funded and organized, if successful, is a monumental event in human anthropology."

"The addition of the Future Era is to show players how their world and civilizations can be affected by fossil fuels, overpopulation and the invention of new technologies such as carbon recapture and seasteading as the mainland becomes more inhospitable."

Interest in cryptocurrency is often interlinked with a passion for personal freedom and a desire to shape the future for the better. A recent example of this is a team of Bitcoin early adopters who are building a seasteading home off the coast of Thailand.

"Navy complaint over 'living platform'"

"The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has embraced the concept of floating cities as a solution for housing and climate change. At its High-Level Round Table on Sustainable Floating Cities on April 3, scientists and politicians discussed a city designed to ride out floods and storms atop the waves."

"An American man and his Thai partner say they are in hiding from Thai authorities and are fearful for their lives after the Royal Thai Navy filed a police complaint against them over a “seastead” living platform built in the waters more than 40 kilometres south of Phuket."

A dream to live at sea has left an American Bitcoin investor and his Thai partner in hot water with officials in Thailand, and the two may face life in prison or death over violating the country’s sovereignty.

"Thai authorities have raided a floating home in the Andaman Sea belonging to an American man and his Thai partner who sought to be pioneers in the "seasteading" movement, which promotes living in international waters to be free of any nation's laws."

"An American bitcoin trader and his girlfriend could face the death penalty after they were accused of threatening Thailand's sovereignty by building and living in a "sea home" off the coast of Phuket."

"The detached floating seastead cabin was lifted from the sea and placed on dry land for police inspection as authorities gather evidence to take legal action against the US-Thai couple."

"There’s a movement by a group of aqua pioneers that wants to build eco-friendly, self-governing floating cities called seasteading."

"American software engineer Chad Elwartowski thought he had found the perfect refuge from the long arm of meddlesome, overbearing governments. It was a home floating in the turquoise waters far off the coasts of Thailand and Indonesia."

"The libertarian movement to build independent nations on floating platforms has hit a few snags."

"By many measures the Caribbean region offers more freedom to aspiring ‘citizens of the world’ than anywhere else on the planet."

"It's been about 13 centuries since Homer envisioned a mythical floating city surrounded by "unbreakable bronze." The idea has generally remained the province of myth since then — until last month."

It may sound counterintuitive, but floating architecture provides two big advantages. First, it creates “land” that moves with the waves and thus is resilient in the face of flooding. Second, it allows cities to expand their pressurized coastal urban spaces.

"When the ice caps melt, covering the earth with water, and Kevin Costner sails the seas alone, wearing a set of fish gills and a hardened scowl, the rest of us will be happily content, living comfortably on fancy floating city-states. No fighting cigarette-crazed pirates on greasy Jet Skis, just lazing like frogs on teched-out lily pads."

"Floating cities lose a little clarity in their nomenclature. When we talk about floating cities we’re generally not really talking about entire cities floating around on the open ocean, but a series of interconnected platforms that are moored to the seabed a short distance out from shore."

"Bob discusses Titus’ proposal and how it differs from other types of abstract libertarian theorizing."

"Can seasteading create a free, stable society and thus, spur innovation? Tune in to learn more."

"From the issue of Refugee to the Seasteading case, it reminds me of a movie. Is a documentary movie That has been questioned as "homeless" or homeless , they are "forced" or "voluntarily""

"More developers see waterborne structures as a way to alleviate housing shortages and to support temporary events like the 2022 Soccer World Cup"

"These floating cities, also called startup countries or seasteads, (would) offer open spaces for experimenting with new societies and unregulated innovation and new models of governance."

The politically autonomous dwellings based in international waters have long held an appeal for those in thrall to disrupting the status quo

To the sea! Health – and financial – gains to be found in state of the art seasteads, that have seen a surge in interest amidst the pandemic, as workers go remote

The seasteading community has for years pushed the futuristic idea that living in independent, human-made communities on the ocean is the way to move society forward.

And what better time than a pandemic.

“The safest place to be in a pandemic is a seastead,” said Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, an organization based in San Francisco that promotes the creation of new living spaces on the high seas or on far-flung islands.

The founder of a Silicon Valley think tank promoting the construction of seasteads -- or floating cities that operate independently of existing governments -- told The Telegraph that he's seeing an increase in interest.

What is seasteading?

"Count on Reason to keep you way ahead of the pop-cultural curve: I first profiled the Seasteading movement back in 2009, and then reported from the first and second iterations of a still-ongoing annual water-based festival spun off from the movement, Ephemerisle."

"The Director of Communications at the Seasteading Institute Joe Quirk provides insights into the possibilities of seasteading"

"Nearly 400 years ago, the English scientist, author and philosopher Francis Bacon wrote of a mysterious island nation in the Pacific Ocean, whose citizens used technology to solve hunger, cure sickness and control the weather."

"Your hip, politically savvy friends probably say something like this with every election: 'If [so-and-so] wins, I'm leaving the country.'
"That might soon become so possible that they'll have to follow through with it."

"Bitcoin represents more than a digital currency. For many adopters, it is a means of breaking free of government and financial institutions’ control over money."

"But it may be possible to leapfrog government entirely. Imagine “seasteading”—living on a floating city outside of any country’s jurisdiction."

"Seasteading: Libertarians dream of creating self-ruling floating cities. But can the many obstacles, not least the engineering ones, be overcome?"

"Ideas evolve quickly along the Friedman family tree. The late Milton Friedman, an economist at the University of Chicago, was one of the 20th century's most respected and influential advocates for classical liberalism."

"French Polynesia could become the location of the world's first floating city as early as 2022 - says the co-founder of a non-profit think tank."

"The institute planning to construct a state of the art floating island in the Pacific says French Polynesia is still an option for the project."

遠い海の果てには理想郷がある。

こんなおとぎ話をよく耳にしますが、それが現実となる日も近いかもしれません。

"The creators of a man-made floating island off Tahiti say they want a quarter of its population to be made up of Polynesian people."

"En novembre, la société Blue Frontiers qui porte le projet d’îles flottantes à Tahiti a présenté un rapport détaillé au Pays ; comme prévu dans le protocole d’accord signé en janvier 2017, une étude environnementale et une étude économique y étaient annexées."

"What if we told you that in a couple of decades from now there would be mobile cities operating out in the middle of the ocean far from any nation states jurisdiction?"

"Keinen Markt dominiert der Staat so sehr wie den Markt für gesellschaftliches Zusammenleben. Ökonomen und findige Unternehmer wollen das ändern – mit freien Privatstädten ohne Politik. Kommen jetzt elitäre Ghettos?"