World Hum | Travel | Seasteading: The New Frontier

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5.20.08

Seasteading: The New Frontier

From Wired: “If a small team of Silicon Valley millionaires get their way, in a few years, you could have a new option for global citizenship: A permanent, quasi-sovereign nation floating in international waters.”

The Seasteading Institute, launched in part with a $500,000 donation from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, outlines its mission in its FAQ. Among the questions answered: Why would anyone vacation on a seastead instead of a resort?

Seasteads and islands have different kinds of romance, and will appeal to different people. As long as we can find enough people who think seasteads are romantic, it doesn’t matter if many prefer islands. Niche markets are not necessarily a bad thing for a business, if they aren’t served well by other options, and they are big enough niches. There are people who will find the unique legal status of a seastead appealing, especially because this status will let a seastead have some unique attractions onboard.

There is also the “wow” factor, which the Freedom Ship is appealing to. Seasteads aren’t quite as wowie as a mile-long ship, but they can make up for it by actually getting built. In general, the answer is to leverage the uniqueness of seasteads. And if that only appeals to a tiny fraction of the world, that’s still plenty to start with.

So, for those of you who curse yourselves for not buying Sealand, here’s your second chance.

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Posted by Michael Yessis • 5.20.08
Categories: Weblog • Islands

Permalink • Comments (2)

COMMENTS

Hi Michael:

I’ve always dreamed of owning my own private island. This Seastead is a good runner-up.

I imagine being an enlightened dictator providing for all, with a nominally capitalist and democratic puppet government. The rules for paradise are a work in progress.

Of course, war on the Seastead would be outlawed, and everyone would be involved in one field alone: art.

John M. Edwards

By on 5.20.08 at 08:19 PM

By Charles Marlow on 5.21.08 at 06:05 AM