Seasteading 101: How to Build the World’s First Society-at-Sea | Marc Collins | Big Think

Описание: Seasteading 101: How to Build the World’s First Society-at-Sea
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Seasteading began as a thought experiment: imagine a sovereign Libertarian utopia in international waters, far from the reach of any government. Over the last decade, this dream has inched closer and closer to reality. But establishing a completely independent floating city in the ocean isn't simple--or cheap. The Seasteading Institute compromised a little on its independence and instead sought a partnership with an established nation that could support their project while having a very light hand on regulations. The idea grew out of and caused a stir in Silicon Valley, was widely reported in the media, and Marc Collins, a former government minister in French Polynesia, saw an opportunity for symbiosis. The Seasteading Institute needs internet connectivity, energy solutions, food, and government permission to establish themselves in the South Pacific Ocean, while Polynesians are very interested in the technology needed to build floating cities—a concern at the front of their minds as sea levels rise—and in economic growth. And so Collins co-founded Blue Frontiers, a world-first company that builds societies on the sea. But who will live on this brand-new floating nation in the South Pacific—and how? Marc Collins explains the feats of engineering that are making this vision a reality.
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MARC COLLINS:

Marc Collins was born in Hawai’i, the son of an American father and Tahitian mother, raised in Mexico City and attended college in the United States. He returned to his mother’s home country of Tahiti, in 1991, where he became involved in the family business of black pearl farming and retailing. He ran a successful chain of Tahitian pearl jewelry boutiques and after 17 years in the business, was invited to join the government as Minister of Tourism from 2007 until 2008.

In 2010, he launched French Polynesia’s first challenger Internet Service Provider, Viti, offering the first wireless 4G network on the island of Tahiti. From March 2012 to March 2013, Marc was the Area Manager, Pacific Islands, for the Hawaiki Submarine Cable, which will soon be connecting New Zealand to Hawaii.

In May 2013, Marc and four other partners launched Tahiti’s first OTT (over the top) entertainment platform, NiuTV. In November 2015, NiuTV became the 3rd licensed Internet Service Provider in French Polynesia, under the brand “Smart Tahiti Networks”.

In 2017, Marc became an Ambassador for The Seasteading Institute, as well as a co-founder and VP of Public Affairs for Blue Frontiers.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Marc Collins: A question I get quite often is, “What is Seasteading?” And Seasteading started out I guess in 2008. It’s a movement. It started out as a non-profit so it’s called the Seasteading Institute, based in California. But I think—just a couple of months ago—Seasteading is actually a word that’s recognized by the Oxford dictionary, and what it means is living on platforms on the open oceans and with new forms of society.

So the way I got involved in Seasteading is I was a government minister in French Polynesia; so a lot of people know my country by the name of Tahiti. And when I left the government I was looking at interesting opportunities for what we could do, especially in terms of sea level rise mitigations. That’s an issue that’s quite front of mind for a lot of Pacific islanders, especially now. And I had come across this institute and read about them, they were very—there was a lot of media focus on them back in 2008, 2010, 2012. So basically I reached out to the institute and said my understanding was that they had built a huge network of specialists of aquapreneurs, of scientists, researchers, investors. But what the movement was missing was the support, strong support, of a government that was willing to have a light hand on regulation and allow such an ambitious project as the world’s first sustainable, self-sustaining, floating island.

So French Polynesia had the advantage when I reached out to Seasteading. They have several things that the institute was interested in. And one of the first questions they asked was about connectivity. So, you know, is your country connected to the internet backbone? Connectivity is obviously crucial for big data that is going to be generated by the researchers, the scientists, so the first thing was: 'Do you have a submarine cable?' So we checked that one off. In 2010, French Polynesi...

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