[ExI] FW: [Fwd: Seasteading '08: Vote With Your House]

[spike]

Forwarding in case anyone missed this:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Seasteading '08:  Vote With Your House
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:56:28 -0700
From: Christopher Rasch <crasch at gmail.com>
To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org

Hi,

The Seasteading Institute will be hosting its first annual conference on
October 10th, 2008. Seasteading, akin to homesteading on land, seasteading
is the long term settlement of the ocean. Participants of the conference
will explore solutions to some of the obstacles to seasteading (economic,
political, and engineering) and discuss recent advances in the development
of a prototype seastead.

The press release is attached below. (1) You can register here:

http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8606039/

The day after the conference there will be a kayaking trip at Waldo Point:

http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8606148/

...followed by dinner at the Forbes Island Floating Restaurant:

http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8618558/

There will also be a regular social gatherings of interested seasteaders:

http://movement.meetup.com/72/calendar/8522320/


Chris


(1) Mountain View, CA, August 18th, 2008.

If the Seasteading Institute has its way, you will soon be able to relocate
your house--or even your entire town--almost as easily as you move your car.

"We are going to build permanent floating settlements on the ocean. The
first prototype will likely be built in the sheltered waters of the San
Francisco Bay, but future designs will be capable of withstanding open ocean
conditions."
says Patri Friedman, founder of the Mountain View based non-profit. The
Institute recently received some substantial backing for their approach, in
the form of a $500,000 grant from Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel.

Unlike some past projects which envisioned enormous, multi-billion dollar
cities, The Seasteading Institute advocates a modular, incremental approach,
where cities are built up one block, or even one house, at a time. Patri
says: "Cruise ships already demonstrate that people can live on the ocean in
big, movable buildings at reasonable cost. We've got a slightly different
design: we're going to build a city out of interconnected floating
platforms. That way you'll be able to move cities, and take your house and
yard with you! And we are designing these platforms to be comparable in cost
to high-end land-based homes."

Friedman and many other "seasteaders" are motivated by a desire to try new
forms of government:

"The founders of the U.S. intended for the states to be laboratories of
democracy, experimenting with different laws to compete for citizen. But so
much power has been centralized by the federal government that now states
have very little freedom to experiment. And all around the world, people
feel alienated from their governments."

The seasteaders believe that their cities will restore that competition.
"Modern democratic governments are often unresponsive to the needs of their
citizens. Our floating cities will change that - if you don't like your
government, you'll be able to pull up anchor and sail to a better one, or
start your own. Imagine the reduction in worldwide violence if Israel could
just move away from Palestine, Georgia from Russia, or Hong Kong from China.
On floating cities, this is actually possible!"

Seasteading advocates point to the Netherlands as an example of a country
that is gradually moving to an aquatic lifestyle. "In the Netherlands, many
homes are built on floating platforms moored to canal bottoms. If the sea
levels rise, the homes simply float on the water." Dura Vermeer, a Dutch
firm, also recently deployed a prototype floating greenhouse.

"Unlike the Dutch floating homes, we plan to build unmoored platforms
suitable for the high seas,", Friedman says. "So we have to solve additional
problems, such as how to stay in one area without an anchor, and how to deal
with big waves and storms." He also sees positive environmental aspects:
"Seasteads will be well-positioned to use wind and solar power, and of
course, seasteaders will not require cars. That means the environmental
footprint of the seasteading lifestyle will be far smaller than on land".

To help solve some of those problems, the Seasteading Institute will be
holding its first annual conference in Burlingame, CA on October 10th.

For more information, see the Institute's website, www.seasteading.org.

Contact:
The Seasteading Institute
Press Inquiries:
press at seasteading.org
http://seasteading.org/learn-more/press
General Inquiries:
info at seasteading.org
http://www.seasteading.org/

(The Seasteading Institute is a California nonprofit corporation that is in
the process of applying for recognition of tax exemption under Section
501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.)