A comment written on a TSI forum in answer to the anouncement of a “seasteading reality show” opens a series of questions…
i_is_j_smith said:
I remember reading a post by Wayne Gramlich eons ago about how he had stopped giving interviews or talking to the media…no matter how well you try to talk about seasteading they will always twist the story around to paint you as some crazy anarchist who wants to setup some compound out in the ocean…because that sells newspapers (or, in this day and age…clicks).
Just with a quick check of the news stories picking up this reality show information, I see us referred to as “Techno-Utopians” and “DIY-obsessed group of dreamers and schemers” and “Silicon Valley’s favorite libertarians” and “techno-libertarians” who are interested in “technocratic nautical world-building” and setting up a “unregulated offshore techno-libertarian Utopia”. They also are saying that TSI was “founded by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel”.
So what good will come out of setting up this show? Nothing. There are no engineering, legal, economic or political questions that will be answered that will move seasteading forward. There are no answers to the questions of achieving self-sustainability, or sovereignty, or energy self-sustainability.
The only thing this will do is give people a laugh at our expense. Look at those crazy libertarians trying to escape their taxes. Look at those gun-nuts and doomsday preppers trying to get ready for the zombie apocalypse. Look at all those scammers trying to sucker investors into sicking money into a floating data haven. And at no point will there be a serious discussion about creating new societies or experimenting with new forms of government.
ellmer answered:
….fear of being ridiculized in press…
learn from one of the big it does not matter what press is talking about you it only matters that press keeps talking about you…
What are the alternatives:
- disapear from press mention have no attention get no investors get no supporters do ocean colonization below the radar of “public perception” on budgets that will come from where?
- have the press doing its thing, understand that twisting, yellowpressing, laughing at, demonizing, search for maximizing the media rating, is part of the game, not be afraid of it just try to handle it but basicly try to “surf the wave”. Doing a kind of press strategy, and press management.
A possible press strategy that could emerge is:
We could make emphasis on the idea that ocean colonization will come in a wide range of forms, tastes and colors of which some actually will bring the things like “weired community floating islands”, libertarian paradise island, subdue to nobody islands, bitcoin non interference island, tax free millionair heaven island, captain nemo oceanic headquaters and many more that we can not even imagine at this point of development.
- some of those approaches will be radical political to test out new governments and systems
- some might choose to be “radical unpolitical” and go beyond politics escaping politics in all its forms
- Some might be floating business clusters with no socio political goal
- Some might be community driven and talk business only if it is strictly neccessary
- Some of those floating ventures may be bunker and prepper style
- Some might be highly interconnected world open floating trade hubs
In the Thread what makes a seastead the only common ground we could find is that it must float and serve the purpose of permanent housing.
