Are you tired of your government’s attempts to regulate your wealth, particularly your activities in the Bitcoin economy? Are you filthy rich? Would you like a nice view of the ocean?
Then seasteading might be just the thing for you.
Seasteads are (thus far) hypothetical floating compounds or cities out in international waters, free from the rules and regulations of governments.
A person could buy or rent a property on such a seastead, and residents would be free to implement their own rules for self-government, or perhaps no rules at all. And if conflicts arise with nearby terrestrial governments, the seastead could be towed elsewhere.
This idea is being explored in earnest by a US-based nonprofit called the Seasteading Institute, co-established by investor Peter Thiel. The institute writes that its goal is to “guarantee political freedom and thus enable experimentation with alternative social systems.”
And now a Dutch company, DeltaSync, has published a feasibility study and sketched out some ideas for how to build such a floating city-state.
According to The Independent, one seastead sketched out that could accommodate 225 permanent residents would cost about $100 million to build.
Living out in international waters is not a new idea among wealthy people who feel stifled by governments. That’s why super yachts are built. But a seastead expands that idea to allow for a permanent community at sea to grow and flourish.
Beyond living outside of the reach of a government, a seastead could also ensure the survival of a group of people in the event of catastrophes related to the effects of climate change.
That is, if the survivors could afford a spot on the floating village.