Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Posted
By Laura Rena Murray
on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:43 PM
This weekend, seasteading enthusiasts will be flocking to the city for their annual conference at the
Le Meridien Hotel to plan future floating cities.
The ultimate goal of the seasteading movement is to establish autonomously governed communities on the water -- an ocean city-state, so to speak. The conference is hosted by the
Seasteading Institute, and this year participants will discuss ways to implement sustainable energy options and recruiting real estate investors.
"We are not the first to see freedom on the high seas," writes Randolph Hencken, the Institute's senior director, "but we are the first to temper this idealistic vision with a realistic strategy."
The 2012 Seasteading conference is expected to attract entrepreneurs and investors interested in starting businesses, engineers, and maritime professionals who can tackle the logistics and technology required to make this dream a reality, and ocean-law experts to weigh in on policy issues.
Opening remarks will be delivered by a representative of the
Thiel Foundation, which has already pledged financial support for the Seasteading Institute in previous years.
The Seasteading Institute's Poseidon Award is slotted for the first floating city that is financially self-sufficient, is politically autonomous, can attract a minimum of 50 full-time residents, and offers real estate on the open market -- all by 2015. By the looks of the conference agenda, that deadline might be a bit optimistic.
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Tags: Seasteading Institute, Thiel Foundation, Image
