Posted on 11/13/2017 4:44:17 AM PST by mairdie
...Long the stuff of science fiction, so-called "seasteading" has in recent years matured from pure fantasy into something approaching reality, and there are now companies, academics, architects and even a government working together on a prototype by 2020.
At the center of the effort is the Seasteading Institute, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco. Founded in 2008, the group has spent about a decade trying to convince the public that seasteading is not an entirely crazy idea.
...The project is being partially funded by an initial coin offering, a new concept sweeping Silicon Valley and Wall Street in which money can be raised by creating and selling virtual currency.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Until it elects a mayor, council or president
Yup. At some point I realized the true reason we don’t have colonies on the Moon is: it’s boring. Oh sure the _idea_ of being there is exciting, the freedoms are enticing, the struggle to survive is compelling, etc ... but the few people who have actually been there weren’t all “aw gee whiz do I really have to leave?” but were more “alright that was interesting, can we go home now?” Mars might prove somewhat more interesting, relatively speaking, (being a more dynamic orb with geysers and a bit of wind and some water to struggle for) but that too may prove the greatest challenge: once you settle in, it’s likely downright boring.
So I wonder the same about these artificial island/cities: when you’re that far out to sea, working that hard just to literally stay afloat, will it really be interesting & productive enough to elicit the effort needed to remain? I’d have to revisit studies about Oriental “boat towns” (where some allegedly never set foot on land), tales of Kowloon Walled City (ultra-dense self-contained living), Antarctic stations, and other enduring non-sequitur habitats.
Occurs to me too:
The pictures shown are _pretty_. Optimal conditions, sort of a Disney-at-Sea.
I want realistic depictions of _normal_, and _failure_mode_, living. When money gets tight, what’s the realistic prioritizations and what’s the natural messy state? Economic effects of diminishing returns must be considered; keeping things pristine looks good, but costs a lot over keeping things tolerably mundane. Self-sustaining self-governed high-density living usually looks like a $#!^hole (see Kowloon Walled City).
good one.
Let’s just say you have uber-rich people who would like to live apart from the rest of us.
>>it’s boring
Your point is excellently made. Though I have a feeling that with storms over oceans, boring isn’t going to be their particular problem. If it’s a community of the rich, then I’d expect they would hire enough help to keep it looking Disneyesque. I can’t imagine any other group being able to afford it. And the views would be spectacular.
Put ‘em far enough out and they’re ride right over a tsunami.
Hurricanes and pirates, though.
Nothing at sea is fail safe. Ever.
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