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by Tim Collins
18 December
2017
from
DailyMail Website
Stunning concept images for the world's first first floating nation
have
been released as part of a project bankrolled by PayPal founder
Peter Thiel.
The
plans will see the seabound city-state,
complete with a handful of hotels, homes, offices, restaurants and
more,
built
in the Pacific Ocean off the island of Tahiti in 2020
The radical
plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel,
will see a floating nation built in the Pacific
Ocean.
Hotels, homes, offices and restaurants, and more
will be built by 2020 by the nonprofit Seasteading
Institute.
Concept images take inspiration from the rich
Polynesian culture, in particular from traditional
navigation.
The shape of the construction is based on a fish
hook, an ancestral tool that symbolizes the demigod
Maui.
Thiel is a
Libertarian,
Transhuman,
Technocrat,
Burning Man attendee and
steering-committee member
of Bilderberg and now
creator of his own South-Pacific nation, financed in part by
crypto-currency.
The smart nation will be the
epitome of 'sustainable' urban planning.
There will be no laws or moral
codes that constrain technological or social development.
Source
Stunning concept images
for the world's first first floating nation have been released as
part of a project bankrolled by
PayPal founder Peter Thiel.
The plans will see the seabound city-state, complete with a handful
of hotels, homes, offices, restaurants and more, built in the
Pacific Ocean off the island of Tahiti in 2020.
Now, a series of computer generated graphics reveal how it might
look once complete, with a design that blends futuristic
technology with Polynesian traditions.
The scheme is the
creation of the nonprofit
Seasteading Institute, which hopes
to,
'liberate humanity
from politicians'.
The radical plans could
see the creation of an independent nation that will float in
international waters and operate within its own laws.
'Seasteading' has long been the stuff of science fiction, drawing
comparisons with the post-apocalyptic Kevin Costner movie
Waterworld.
But the fantasy looks to be coming closer to reality with companies,
academics and architects from the Seasteading Institute working on a
prototype for construction at the turn of the next decade.
The latest concept images take inspiration from the rich Polynesian
culture, in particular from traditional navigation, which is based
on the observation and knowledge of natural elements.
In a written statement, a spokesman for the Seasteading Institute
said:
'During several
visits to French Polynesia and after getting acquainted with the
environment and the local contexts, one thing was sure, the
project has to blend into its environment.
'To achieve this, local environmental characteristics, climate,
ecology and cultural context have all been studied and play a
major role in the process.
'The project, however, doesn't only want to not hurt the
existing environment, the vision of the Blue Frontiers [is to]
facilitate the development of more conscious and balanced
settlements at sea where humans can peacefully coexist with the
environment and with each other.'
The overall shape of the
construction reflects the pattern of a fish hook, an ancestral tool
that symbolizes the actions of the demigod
Maui.
Hills and mountains, the shape of reefs and other underwater
landmarks, as well as the rising and setting of the sun, moon and
stars are reflected in the design.
A series of computer generate graphics
reveal
how a prototype floating habitat might look
once
complete, with a design that blends futuristic technology
with
Polynesian traditions.
The
overall shape of the construction reflects
the
pattern of a fish hook,
an
ancestral tool that symbolized
the
actions of the demigod Maui
The scheme is the creation of
the nonprofit Seasteading Institute,
which hopes to 'liberate humanity from politicians'.
This image shows how the artificial island
will blend in with nature
The latest concept images
take
inspiration from the rich Polynesian culture,
in particular from traditional navigation,
which is based on the observation and knowledge
of natural elements
The latest concept images take inspiration from the rich Polynesian
culture, in particular from traditional navigation, which is based
on the observation and knowledge of natural elements
Small platforms with villas are aligned to the path of the stars of
the
Sirius star system, or Rua faupapa.
Larger platforms with mixed-use buildings are aligned to the
celestial pillar Pou, starting from the main platform, the 'star
headlight' or Ta'urua, and ending by the guide star Avei'a, passing
through the zenith of the floating island.
Other elements of navigation are taken into account in the urban
planning.
The larger platforms are oriented according to the prevailing wind
direction, in order to create calmer wave conditions behind them.
The project aims at including Polynesian culture also in the design
and detailing of buildings and other structures.
Local construction techniques and materials are blended with modern
technologies to fulfill contemporary needs while preserving
continuity with tradition.
The radical plans could
see the creation
of an independent nation that will float in international waters
and operate within its own laws.
This image shows dwellings on the island might look
Hills and mountains, the shape of reefs
and other underwater landmarks,
as well as the rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars
are reflected in the design.
This image shows how the floating island
will look from the shore of nearby Tahiti
In an interview in November, Joe Quirk, president of the
Seasteading Institute, said he wants to see 'thousands' of rogue
floating cities by 2050, each of them,
'offering different
ways of governance'.
'Governments just
don't get better,' Mr Quirk told the New York Times.
'They're stuck in previous centuries. That's because land
incentives a violent monopoly to control it.'
The first island is being
funded by a coin offering, a new concept gaining popularity in
Silicon Valley in which money is 'crowd sourced' by creating and
selling a virtual currency.
The non-profit hopes to raise around $60 million by 2020 to build a
dozen buildings.
The structures will feature 'green roofs' covered with vegetation
and construction will use,
The world's first floating nation
is set to appear in the Pacific Ocean
off the island of Tahiti in 2020 (artist's impression).
A handful of hotels, homes, offices, restaurants and more
will
be built in the next few years by the nonprofit
Seasteading Institute, which hopes
to 'liberate humanity from politicians'
First revealed in January, the plans have been approved by the
French Polynesian government, which
is now creating a special economic zone so the floating nation can
operate under its own trade laws.
The tiny nation, a collection of 118 islands in the southern Pacific
with a population just over 200,000, has granted the Seasteading
Institute 100 acres of beachfront to operate from.
French Polynesia is interested in the project as the area is at risk
from rising sea levels.
It may seem like an ambitious plan, but the group believes
semi-independent cities would be the perfect place to try new modes
of government and agricultural methods.
Mr Quirk and his team have now started a new company,
Blue Frontiers, which will build
and operate the floating islands in French Polynesia.
He said he was inspired to build a floating city, known as
seasteading, when he went to the US festival Burning Man 2011.
The radical plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel,
could
see the creation of an independent 'start-up country'
that
will float in international waters
and
operate within its own laws
WHO ARE THE 'SEASTEADERS'?
Seasteaders are a diverse global team of marine biologists, nautical
engineers, aquaculture farmers, medical researchers, investors,
environmentalists, and artists according to The Seasteading
Institute's
website.
They plan to build floating islands, or seasteads to host
aquaculture farms, floating healthcare, medical research islands,
and sustainable energy powerhouses.
'Our goal is to
maximize entrepreneurial freedom to create blue jobs to welcome
anyone to the Next New World,' they write.
The Institute was founded
in 2008 by PayPal founder, Peter Thiel, an activist, software
engineer and political economic theorist Patri Friedman, who
is the grandson of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman.
Mr Theil, a venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal, has funneled
$1.25 million ($812,920) into the Institute and has previously
called Seasteading,
'an open frontier for
experimenting with new ideas for government'.
The enormous event, which
attracts 70,000 people every year, could provide a model for a new
society where,
'rules don't observe
their usual parameters', he said.
'If you could have a floating city, it would essentially be a
start-up country,' Mr Quirk said.
'We can create a huge diversity of governments for a huge
diversity of people.'
The Seasteading
Institute, co-founded by Paypal founder Peter Thiel and political
economic theorist Patri Friedman, has spent the past five years
creating designs for,
'permanent,
innovative communities floating at sea'.
In 2012, soon after Mr
Quirk joined the Seasteading Institute, he wrote a paper with Mr
Friedman titled: 'Seasteading
- How Floating Nations will Restore the Environment, Enrich the
Poor, Cure the Sick and Liberate Humanity from Politicians.'
The groups claims that building floating cities is the first step to
fulfilling,
'the eight great
moral imperatives'.
French Polynesia,
a collection of 118 islands in the southern Pacific,
is interested in the project
as the area is at risk from rising sea levels
Its deal with French Polynesia, signed in January, specifies two
points the project must prove before it gets the green light:
Whether,
Even if it succeeds in
proving these two points, the project will still need to be approved
by the local government, and possibly France, which holds the
territory.
Randolph Hencken, executive director of the institute, said
in January:
'What we're
interested in is societal choice and having a location where we
can try things that haven't been tried before.
'I don't think it
will be that dramatically radical in the first renditions.
'We were looking for sheltered waters, we don't want to be out
in the open ocean - it's technologically possible but
economically outrageous to afford.
Draft legislation will be drawn up next year
and construction is expected to begin in 2019.
Floating islands would feature aquaculture farms,
healthcare, medical research facilities,
and sustainable energy powerhouses
'If we can be behind a reef break, then we can design floating
platforms that are sufficient for those waters at an affordable
cost.
'We don't have to start from scratch as this is a pilot project.
'They also have very stable institutions so we're able to work
with a government that wants us there, that we have respect for
and they have respect for us.'
Draft legislation will be
drawn up next year and construction is expected to begin in 2019.
Floating islands would feature aquaculture farms, healthcare,
medical research facilities, and sustainable energy powerhouses.
The first city would be built on a network of
11 rectangular and five-sided platforms
so the city could be rearranged according to
its
inhabitants' needs like a floating jigsaw,
Joe Quirk, spokesman for the project explained
A feasibility report by Dutch engineering firm Deltasync
in January said the square and pentagon platforms
would measure 164ft (50 meters) in length
and they would have 164 ft-tall (50 meters) sides
to protect buildings and residents
The first city would be built on a network of 11 rectangular and
five-sided platforms so it could be rearranged according to its
inhabitants' needs like a floating jigsaw, Mr Quirk said in January.
A feasibility report by Dutch engineering firm
Deltasync said the square and
pentagon platforms would measure 164ft (50 meters) in length and
they would have 164 ft-tall (50 meter) sides to protect buildings
and residents.
The platforms will be made from reinforced concrete and support
three-storey buildings such as apartments, terraces, offices and
hotels for up to 100 years, according to the plans.
It's envisaged that between 250 and 300 people will call the first
floating city home.
The plan is that the city will float just off-shore of a host
nation, but have a substantial degree of political independence.
The original proposal was to look to international waters to
establish new nations, but the Institute realized locating its city
off the coast would enable the inhabitants to go onshore and acquire
goods, give it more shelter from storms and better legal protection.
The feasibility report supported the idea
that the project is economically feasible,
with each platform costing less than $15 million (£10 million)
which works out at a similar price
as land in London or New York.
The Institute says:
'Our in-house team is
now actively engaged in diplomacy with host nations, making the
case that hosting an autonomous seastead city in their
territorial waters would produce significant economic, social
and environmental benefits for their citizens.'
The world's first floating city
is set to appear in the Pacific Ocean
off the island of Tahiti
It believes its floating city would create an environment that
encourages innovation and start-up governments, rather than what it
calls the 'monopolies' of today.
The Institute claims it will,
'give people the
freedom to choose
the government they want
instead of being stuck with the government they get'.
If inhabitants disagree
with the city's government, they could paddle their colony to
another city, forcing governments to work to attract citizens.
The feasibility report supported the idea that the project is
economically feasible, with each platform costing less than $15
million (£10 million) which works out at a similar price as land in
London or New York.
Overall, the first floating city is predicted to cost $167 million
(£109 million).
Speaking in 2008, Mr Thiel said:
'Decades from now,
those looking back at the start of the century will understand
that Seasteading was an obvious step towards encouraging the
development of more efficient, practical public sector models
around the world.
'We're at a fascinating juncture: the nature of government is
about to change at a very fundamental level.'
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