Marisela N. Caylor

July 2, 2013

The Ultimate Exurbs: Exploring Seasteading Communities and Floating Utopias

While exploring the idea of the “suburbs as utopia,” I became interested in the trend of exurbs and what types of communities could be created in search of utopia. I read a transcript of an interview of J.C. Hallman by Thomas Rogers titled “'In Utopia': Modern-day Adventures in Utopian Living" featured as a Critical Source on our course website. Rogers names several utopian experiments including one which piqued my interest, The World cruise ship. I was not familiar with these floating co-ops as intentional communities and found more information about Seasteading communities and floating utopias. Through my research, I found that there are several initiatives and start-up companies, such as The Seasteading Institute, that are paving the way to develop new ideas for government and communities on these floating cities. Since the world’s resources and lands are diminishing, are these floating utopias the answer to this global crisis? My goal is to find out: If Seasteading communities and cruise ship co-ops are the next wave of effective utopian living and what are the implications of living on an ocean community? While researching this topic, I will try to focus on Objective 3b., namely: Does a utopia stop time, as with the millennial rapture or an achievement of perfection? Or can utopias change, evolve, and adapt to the changes of history?

            My research on The World cruise ship from the Rogers’ interview led me to their official website: www.aboardtheworld.com, which features an overview of life aboard the only “privately owned residential yacht” in the world.  The residents of The World live aboard in their luxury apartments while enjoying non-stop circumnavigation around the globe, experiencing luxury dining and entertainment, and exploring the globe with adventurous “like-minded” people. This community seems ideal but excludes the majority of people who do not have the capital to purchase an apartment aboard the luxury liner, which start around $600,000. I appreciate the concept of a community on a ship where the scenery changes constantly and I think that one of the selling points of The World is its ability to “stop time” in a move to achieve perfection (Obj. 3b).  The literature I found on their website was more positive than anything—not that I would have preferred negatives but with utopias we are always curious as to whether they work and who do they exclude? Unfortunately, The World seems more like a permanent cruise ship for extremely wealthy families rather than a typical intentional community that would welcome anyone on the basis of whether they can afford to live there or not. I believe the intent of The World is to live with “like-minded” adventurers but does not fit the communal aspect of utopia. As a utopian concept, The World cruise ship attempts to make the residents feel more like they are on vacation rather than living on a communal-based, self-sustaining intentional community. The residents are allowed to come and go freely and do not have to follow any sort of agenda but their own. The only shared vision the residents share is that of “freedom on the seas,” the ability to see the world in the comfort of their own private apartment, and much like the suburbs themselves, they are able to be communal only if they want to be.

In the J.C. Halllman interview for Salon.com; Hallman describes why some utopias have not always survived over time because “The vision doesn’t always live up to its promise. Sometimes utopias don’t fully account for the frailty of human psychology, and a lot of utopias are actively attempting to change human psychology to adjust for that very problems . . . simply because you don’t always get it right the first time” (Rogers). I believe this is the reason The World cruise ship exists as a “voluntary communal” ship because so many other communities have failed to see the need for individuality and privacy. With the need for privacy, The World community is not so much utopia but rather an individual or family exhibiting communal behavior every once in awhile. Communities like Twin Oaks have survived because they operate on a small scale that adheres to traditions but changes with the times, like allowing their residents to work outside the community. The World was a new concept for me but served as an interesting platform for which to delve further into the ocean as the new utopian frontier.

One of the most interesting initiatives towards floating utopias called Seasteading is led by Patri Friedman, a former software engineer for Google and the grandson of economist Milton Friedman (www.seasteading.org). In the article “Hong Kong is Model for Ocean Utopias” featured in the South China Morning Post, Chris Ip describes Friedman’s fascination of Hong Kong’s infrastructure as the model for his Seastead communities. In 2008, Friedman developed The Seasteading Institution and is working to enable floating cities out in the ocean as models for new governmental ideas that could be used to improve large scale government models (www.seasteading.org). Through my research, I found Friedman is coming from a more political, free-market standpoint with his idea for Seasteading communities. His model for communities leans towards a place off-shore for communities to set up on a platform, much like an oil rig and practice self-governance and self-sufficiency. In the article, Ip describes Friedman’s view of government as “the biggest industry in the world, where countries are firms and citizens are customers. He (Friedman) describes how the ‘operating system’ of most developed countries—by which he means Western democracy—is 200 years out of date” (Ip 1). Friedman’s goal is for these communities to serve as models to test out new ways to govern individuals within communities and use the “successful” models to test on larger-scale government systems. The goal of these Seasteading communities is to end poverty, cure diseases, replace fossil fuels with the use of kelp as an energy source, and explore new ways of self-governance (www.seasteading.org). This idea takes exurbs to a whole other frontier—the ocean. This idea seems far-fetched yet visionary and will eventually allow anyone who wanted to live on them the freedom to form their own utopia on a free-standing platform in the middle of the ocean. The Seasteading communities sound more like utopia but would be funded by corporations and investors. The only negative that I could think of would involve who would fund these floating cities and why? There is much speculation about turning these floating cities into a “safe haven” for millionaires’ riches or allow for illegal activity. However, out of all the utopian communities we have studied this semester, Friedman’s Seasteading communities do not seem as crazy and implausible. The one positive to Seasteading has to do with the ability and vision to be allowed to change if something falters. The Achilles heel of utopias seem to always fall in their inability to change with the times and stick to their vision statement. I agree that this statement changes the conventions of utopia but these floating communities seem an ideal place for making a better life for many countries and thousands of people.

My exploration of the ultimate exurbs has led me to the ocean and floating cities. I believe people would rather build their own version of utopia rather than adhere to the standards given to them by society. Through my research, I have found that many utopian communities adhere to strict rules and regulations and a shared vision of paradise. However, with visionaries like Patri Friedman, a new wave of forward-thinking will propel their communities well into the future if they are willing and able to change and adapt to their ever-changing environment. I have always been fascinated with suburbs and exurbs as utopia and will continue to research this subject further to find new and different ways people try to create their own paradise under their own rules.

Works Cited

The Seasteading Institute Family of Sites. Vision/Strategy, 2013. Web. 30 June 2013. www.seasteading.org.

The World Family of Sites. Frequently Asked Questions, 2013. Web. 29 June 2013. www.aboardtheworld.com.

Ip, Chris. “Hong Kong is the model for ocean utopias.” South China Morning Post 4 Dec. 2011, Sunday ed.: News 7. Lexis-Nexis Universe: General News Topics. Online. 29 June 2013.

Rogers, Thomas. “In Utopia: Modern day adventures in utopian living.” Salon Mag., 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 29 June 2013. (found on LITR 5439 Critical Sources website).