Seasteading

With our finite land on Earth, growing population, and 71% of the planet’s surface being water, it makes sense to explore the concept of living on both the surface of the ocean, as well as undersea. The U.N. Refugee Agency has estimated that there are approximately 26.6 million refugees as of mid2021. With so much global forced displacement of people in the world, it would be ideal to have a new sovereign nation, one largely organized by the United Nations and dedicated to providing a safe place to live for this population of people who need help. This is more relevant than ever with the flood of new refugees due to the invasion and war on the Ukrainian people. While seasteading is inherently expensive with present building plans and technology, it is still more likely that a sovereign nation is created at sea than to use existing land, due to the many challenges such as human beings fighting over land, as well as the general societal acceptance in accommodating the needs of refugees. It is very unlikely a nation would be willing to sell a significant part of its land to support a sovereign nation and even more unlikely to donate land. As a result, seastading would be the only realistic way of creating a new sovereign nation on Earth, this of course being inherently expensive. Naturally, taking land by force as so many currently existing nations have done in the past is completely unethical and unacceptable. Thus, seasteading is a natural progression for supporting people in need as well as adapting at a greater level to live better within our planet's geography. While ambitious, one could argue that it is certainly more practical overall than colonizing another planet or moon. The knowledge we gain from seasteading has applications for space colonization, so it’s very much a stepping stone in that direction.

 

There are many ways this type of nation at sea could exist in regard to design, some examples are concepts such as the Freedom Ship and Oceanix. These concepts look to be a step in the right direction as far as general progress, but still, there is much more work to be done. Innovation in technology, robotics, material science, and new ideas of how to live will assist in making this a reality at some point in time. There are concerns that need to be addressed, such as how a living environment can handle extreme weather like hurricanes as well as natural hazards like tsunamis that can become a natural disaster with a living environment at sea. I imagine a living environment that is raised well above the ocean surface, supported by a matrix of beams built into a floating structure. Allowing waves to pass freely through the support beams in a way that does not disturb the community above. In situations that are extreme like a megatsunami, where evacuations would be mandatory, it is not hard to imagine small passenger drones that can fly the occupant to a safe location or be suspended in the air long enough for the conditions below to settle. There are also existing solutions like a floating tsunami survival pod from the Company “Survival Capsule.” These pods are not without their challenges, as the occupant would need to be rescued, and it’s possible the capsule does damage to the structure and or injures outsiders or the occupant when set in motion.

 

All the essential human needs: food, water, shelter, and energy can be met with seasteading. Energy can be provided with solar panels, ocean wave energy generated from newly developed technology similar to the UniWave200 made by Wave Swell Energy, as well as flying wind turbines like the Buoyant Air Turbine (or BAT), developed by Altaeros Energies.

 

Drinking water can be provided through desalination as well as through dehumidifiers that collect evaporated ocean water from the air in the surrounding environment.

 

Food can be grown on location to provide for the community. Freshwater and saltwater aquaponics can be done on the floating structure, with some fish farming done in the ocean nearby if it can be done in a way that is not destructive to the ecosystem. In addition to raising fish, there will also be some level of sustainable fishing. ETFE-based greenhouses can provide strong lightweight structures for growing various types of plant-based foods as well as raising low-impact animals.

 

Living environments may be done with hardened structures like monolithic domes to provide further protection to the occupants from potential ocean wave impact.

 

While a very ambitious long-term project, having a sovereign nation with laws based on Utopian values is significant, to say the least.