For some reason, likely the ongoing collapse of western civilization, there's been a real bump in the interest in Seasteading as a lifestyle, and I've been receiving e-mail like never before. GOOD! It's a wonderful life, I'm on vacation from it at the moment, but only barely, and like any sailor once the itch returns, and it will, it does so with a vengeance. I'd say to anyone--if in doubt, and short on cash, get yourself a 30 foot or so used boat and go find purpose in life. You can't miss. It's not a new story, nor a new concept--but for many its one of the very few remaining options in the world for a life of relative freedom.
You're all familiar with Libertatia, right? Sounds wonderful. And I'm sure it was until the British Navy sent half a dozen ships of the line around the Cape and shelled them into submission--or rather non existence. That would be the other part of that story that "wiki" omits.
I guess the lesson to be learned is this--beware of the systemic destruction of visionary ideas.
Sometimes the destruction comes in an overt manner--high altitude bombing or ships of the line. Sometimes it simply comes through regulating a lifestyle out of existence. Sometimes it comes in the form of crushing the idea with overpromoted "pseudovision"--safe for the masses, well endowed and financed, and utterly without "visionary" practicality or contents. It's getting harder to do the latter, as free information flows more freely than ever, at least for the moment--but certainly it happens. If for no other reason than on the "search engines" those with money and means can, if they so intend, simply bury fuctional practical ideas under a mass of self promoted and well funded drivel. It doesn't even need to be intentional, and I expect a lot of the time it mostly isn't, but dumbshits with money, connections, and too much time on their hands can be very damaging to important causes. The "ecologist" Kennedy and Rosanne come immediately to mind.
Be cautious, be aware. If I had, for example, hypothetically, recieved a 500000 dollar grant to study Seasteading, I would have launched with it an additional 30 or so working examples, in addition of course to the dozen or so I already have--and certainly others have too? Speaking of Wikipedia, why is it that the entry under "seasteading" retains only references to the power-point presentation "sailors?" That is, because, all references to myself, the Pardeys, Annie Hill, James Wharram, and many others, who have actually lived in a real manner that seasteading lifestyle--have been posted and hastily AND systemically deleted at least a dozen or so times by now. At least--as if I have time to keep up with all that. Of course, an example like Annie Hill makes the powerpoint boys look like friggin' asses. Jeez, those guys need to get a life. I'd suggest less time at the keyboard and more time on the water probably lead to some progress. Like, actually something. I mean anything. Maybe something really visionary like anchoring some object in Richardsons Bay. Gosh, now that would be visionary. If any of that project is reading this, don't think I'm being combative, I'd love to help. You can use my old mooring. I'm sure it's still there, not far from the ferry terminal. It says MACHA on it.
You must realize that if Paris Hilton offered her very astute opinions on Seasteading, and undoubtedly if prompted, she'd have one--she'd receive more press about it than the powerpoint boys and myself combined.
Otherwise, and more seriously, thank all of you very much for the fine and supportive comments that many of you have sent me recently. I assure you it's humbling, frankly, and I really appreciate it. I set out to write the books that I wished I could have read when I first started sailing. I know that information would have been very useful to me, as I was on a mission, frankly, and I know, even more than ever, many of you are too. Please, feel free to write, as in any way I can help I will. There is a ever growing community on the Oar Club forum as well, and it is now really finding critical mass.
And of course the same applies to the current project.
Breaking News: Unprovoked Cup Noodle Attack on a Japanese Bullet Train
-
This is your humble news correspondent out in the field reporting on a
troubling new development. The Intercultural Twilight Zone has confirmed
through mul...
2 weeks ago
3 comments:
It's great that you are getting more interest for your ideas now!
If I had, for example, hypothetically, recieved a 500000 dollar grant to study Seasteading, I would have launched with it an additional 30 or so working examples, in addition of course to the dozen or so I already have
Well, if our goal was to live on boats, then perhaps we would. Since, for various reasons, our goal is to live on large platforms, the majority of the money we've spent so far (a small fraction of the $500K) has gone to oil platform engineers who are designing us large floating platforms. We make no claim to be sailors (although some members are), and since sailing is not our goal, well, that's not where we are mainly trying to make progress.
And that's not what our grant was for. Our grant was given to us to find ways of building new countries - not of being self-sufficient nomads.
It's fine that you have a different goal, and I think it's great that you are out there doing your thing, but it seems a bit unfair for you to judge our progress based on goals we don't share. Criticisms of us based on reading and understanding our goals and strategy would be welcome - I'm sure we have some boneheaded ideas, some of which are due to inexperience with the water.
I don't know why references to you on the seasteading page were removed - the term applies to many different projects with different goals, including yours.
Excellent, and nice to meet you. I'll take that offer at it's face value.
Having read through some of your stuff I would suggest one major observation.
If you go to sea but don't take advantage of the mobility that being afloat affords you, you will certainly not take advantage of the major reasons for being afloat, and will unduly expose yourself to risk. Of course if you're mobile, and floating, most would call your object a boat. A run of the mill cargo ship seems like the logical choice for a project prototype. Certainly US Maritime Law will declare your vessel as such, requiring at least a flag of convenience. They do so even with stationary rigs now, and require a captain, or so I've been told. You are going to have a hard time declaring a boat a country.
Certainly the notion of self-sufficient sailing nomads as a sailing as a group with the intent to create a "nation state" at sea has been discussed by various groups for years, if not centuries. But, the historic record and lessons of history are clear. In light of that, most of us, especially those of us familiar with the issue, consider the notion utterly implausible. I think the obstacle presented by being recognized, as a "new nation," in a world in which bona-fide autonomous and culturally identifiable regions are routinely ignored, I suspect that's a much bigger hurdle than the vehicle itself. It's probably best to start by hiring attorneys rather than nautical engineers.
Thanks for the thoughts!
If you go to sea but don't take advantage of the mobility that being afloat affords you, you will certainly not take advantage of the major reasons for being afloat, and will unduly expose yourself to risk.
We are trying to build floating cities. Since cities are large, moving them around quickly is just not going to work. So we can't take advantage of mobility like boats do. But we care a lot about the mobility of the ocean, we just want to use it in a different way: To make our cities modular, so that we can rearrange buildings at will.
Of course if you're mobile, and floating, most would call your object a boat. A run of the mill cargo ship seems like the logical choice for a project prototype.
The problem is that a boat cannot scale up to be a city. It would be cheaper and easier and we could start faster - we considered the idea. If the engineers had told us it would take 10 years to design and build the platforms we want, we would be buying a boat in parallel. But they think they can design and build platforms in more like 3-4 years, and for that time scale, I believe we might as well "do it right the first time" rather than starting with a structure that is inherently incompatible with our long-term goals.
Certainly US Maritime Law will declare your vessel as such, requiring at least a flag of convenience. They do so even with stationary rigs now, and require a captain, or so I've been told. You are going to have a hard time declaring a boat a country.
Yes, of course we will need a flag of convenience and a captain. We had no plans otherwise. Being an independent country, unflagged, and claiming sovereignty is decades in the future, even if things go well! Our immediate goal is local autonomy, not sovereignty, and a FOC (later, a flag w/ explicit support from the flagging nation) should get us that.
Certainly the notion of self-sufficient sailing nomads as a sailing as a group with the intent to create a "nation state" at sea has been discussed by various groups for years, if not centuries. But, the historic record and lessons of history are clear. In light of that, most of us, especially those of us familiar with the issue, consider the notion utterly implausible.
That's fine. We are perfectly aware of the history - I have a reasonably thorough review section in my book. One of the things I love most about this idea is that we don't need to convince anyone, or even very many people, that we are different. We only need to convince a small initial group, and then we will try, and we will all find out whether or not the idea is truly implausible.
I think the obstacle presented by being recognized, as a "new nation," in a world in which bona-fide autonomous and culturally identifiable regions are routinely ignored, I suspect that's a much bigger hurdle than the vehicle itself. It's probably best to start by hiring attorneys rather than nautical engineers.
We are working with attorneys - one who worked on the Law of the Sea and ISA negotiations under Reagan, and one who studied under the US head of the Law of the Sea negotiations. Fortunately the attorneys agreed to work for free, while the offshore platform engineers are charging, which is why we are paying the latter and not the former :).
Look, I know that most people with ideas like ours are incompetent, impractical dreamers. That's how I see the nation-founding / ocean city movement, and I'm much less hands-on than you - I'm not at all surprised that you see it that way! But we really are different. We are smart, competent people, willing to compromise, willing to face reality, and who have experienced considerable success in the business world.
That doesn't mean we'll succeed - this is a very hard problem. But we are not stupid, and we have thought quite a bit about the merits of our approach.
Post a Comment