Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians

by Joe Quirk, Patri Friedman Narrated by Sean Pratt

Overview

Our planet is suffering from serious environmental problems: coastal flooding due to severe storms caused in part by atmospheric pollution, diminishing natural resources such as clean water, and so on. But while these problems plague Planet Earth, two-thirds of our globe is Planet Ocean. The seas can be home to pioneers, seasteaders, who are willing to homestead the Blue Frontier. Oil platforms and cruise ships already inhabit the waters; now it's time to take the next step to full-fledged ocean civilizations. In their fascinating examination of a practical solution to our earthly problems, Joe Quirk and Patri Friedman profile some of the visionaries who are implementing basic concepts of seasteading: farming the oceans for new sources of nutrition; using the seas as a new sustainable energy source; establishing more equitable economies; reinventing architecture to accommodate the demands of living on the ocean.

Editorial Reviews

Steven Kotler

Really disruptive, definitely visionary, and even more proof that tomorrow will look nothing like today. Seasteading is a grand adventure in sustainability and possibility and it’s definitely a trip worth taking!

Timothy Draper

Seasteading is an enormous opportunity for humanity. Not only will these sea-based communities be able to try new sciences and technology . . . they will allow new forms of community with a fresh start, and an ability to experiment as to form. . . . Anyone willing to work for a living can come and go from a seastead. People can finally be citizens of the world.

Titus Gebel

Passionate and convincing. The idea of individual sovereignty could finally come true with floating ocean cities.

The Wall Street Journal - Shlomo Angel

"Seasteading provides some thought-provoking visions of the future. Messrs. Quirk and Friedman introduce us to some very interesting people experimenting with some very interesting technologies, all having to do with living and working on the sea.

The New Republic - Rachel Riederer

Today a new set of futurists is envisioning the next iteration of the floating city. . . . Quirk and Friedman’s book also serves as a manifesto for the movement.

Matt Ridley

This energetic and enthusiastic book gives a fascinating glimpse of the blue revolution to come, as human beings experiment with more sustainable ways of managing the biology of the sea — and experiment with more sustainable ways of living and governing ourselves as well, free from the constraints of land-based governments.

From the Publisher

Passionate and convincing. The idea of individual sovereignty could finally come true with floating ocean cities.” ---Titus Gebel, Founder & CEO of Free Private Cities Ltd.

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

Passionate and convincing. The idea of individual sovereignty could finally come true with floating ocean cities. —Titus Gebel, Founder & CEO of Free Private Cities Ltd.

Library Journal

01/01/2017
Quirk (communications director, the Seasteading Inst.; Exult) and Friedman (founder, Seasteading Inst.) introduce a radical new concept in homesteading: seasteading, or making a home on the sea. Written with entrepreneurs, or aquapreneurs, in mind and reading more like a marketing pitch than a scientific inquiry, this book examines the ideas behind this undertaking. Many of the principles of seasteading are still being explored, though the authors claim that living on floating cities will solve an array of societal and environmental issues. However, their descriptions of the seasteading lifestyle seem exploitative of the oceans; for instance, the title discusses harvesting nutrition from the water, focusing on the benefits to humans but failing to address the effects on sea creatures. Proponents of seasteading include Royal Caribbean International as well as the oil and gas companies Chevron and Shell, which has built the world's largest offshore floating platform off the coast of Australia. VERDICT For those interested in business and entrepreneurship.—Venessa Hughes, Buffalo, NY

Kirkus Reviews

2017-01-10
The founder and communications director of the Seasteading Institute make a case that the survival of the planet depends on moving out from the land onto the sea.Venture capitalist Friedman, the grandson of economist Milton Friedman, and novelist and science writer Quirk (Call to the Rescue: The Story of the Marine Mammal Center, 2009, etc.) present an optimistic if biased argument for the many advantages to be gained by setting up floating cities outside of the control of any current national governments. The most intriguing of these arguments involve environmental concerns. For example, the authors suggest that massive farming of seaweed for food and energy will help to slow or reverse the effects of climate change, and they describe a new approach to fish farming, pioneered by the Velella Project, in which large, open cages for fish are circulated through ocean eddies, allowing waste to be deposited on the deep ocean floor. While their suggestions are encouraging, they also depend on global consumers making the choice to switch to eating seaweed and fish such as kampachi, "the placid sheep of the ocean." Their libertarian arguments are more problematic: suggesting that the world's population will distribute itself more equitably outside of conventional governments is overly idealistic, and proposing that medical institutions operate offshore to avoid government regulation raises as many problems as it solves. Their vision of floating cities, complete with "upside-down floating skyscrapers—seascrapers," is tantalizing, though aspects of it are far-fetched. The use of insider jargon—"seavilization," "aquapreneurs," "bluetopia"—can be off-putting, as can the constant plugs for their institute. In the useful and concise concluding chapter, the authors address possible reader fears such as tsunamis, rogue waves, trash disposal, pollution, and piracy. While the authors' enthusiasm should be taken with more than a grain of salt, they raise ideas worth considering and offer hope for a future when life on land has grown grim.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170986651
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Seasteading

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