Headline Nov. 18/ ''' 1WOW1 SEASTEADING !WOW! '''

''' !WOW! SEASTEADING !WOW! '''

THE WORLD'S BEAUTIFUL SPRING : 

*The !WOW! Marathon* is all set. Accept that or not. And there are very few antiheroes :  

Like Seasteading, !WOW! to will write a new chapter in the History of the World : How a Floating World will restore the environment, Enrich the poor, cure the sick, and-

Liberate Humanity From Politicians.

After ''Mad Men'', It seems that the television shows really have replaced the novel as the preferred mirror of our very busy lives, - then writer and author Matthew Weiner is surely one reason.

But in Real Life Rohingya learn that 'never again, doesn't always apply.      

If Myanmar presented a test of the world's pledge to stop atrocities and protect civilians then it is difficult to recall a clearer failure.

Great Power Gridlock? No Cards To Play?

The term SEASTEADING has been around since at least around 1981, when the avid sailor  Ken Neumeyer wrote a book, *Sailing The Farm* that discussed living sustainably aboard a sailboat.

Two decades later, the idea attracted the attention of Patri Friedman, the grandson of the economist  Milton Friedman, who seized on the notion.

Mr. Friedman, a free thinker who had founded ''intentional communities'' while in college, was living in a Silicon Valley at the time and was just so inspired to think big.

So in 2008 he quit his job at Google and co-founded the Seasteading Institute with seed funding from Peter Thiel, the libertarian billionaire.

In a 2009 essay, Mr. Thiel described seasteading as along shot, but one worth taking. ''Between    cyberspace and outerspace lies the possibility of settling the oceans,'' he wrote. 

The investment from Mr. Thiel generated a flurry of media attention, but for several years after its founding, the Seasteading Institute did not amount to much.

A prototype planned for San Francisco Bay in 2010 never materialized, and seasteading became a punch line to jokes about the techno-utopian fantasies gone awry,     even becoming a plotline in the HBO series ''Silicon Valley''.

But over the years, the core idea behind seasteading   -that a floating city in international waters might give people a chance to redesign society and government-

Steadily attracted more adherents.

In 2011, Mr. Quirk, an author was at Burning Man when he first heard about seasteading. He was intrigued by the idea and spent the nest year learning about the concept.

For Mr. Quirk, Burning Man, where innovators gather, was not just his introduction to seasteading. 

It was a model for the kind of society that  seasteading might enable.

''Anyone who goes to Burning Man multiple time becomes fascinated by a the way that rules don't observe their usual parameters,'' he said.

The next year, he was back at  Burning Man speaking about seasteading, in a geodesic dome. Soon after that, he became involved with the Seasteading Institute,   took over as president and, with-

Mr. Friedman wrote  ''Seasteading : How Floating Nations Will Restore The Environment .   Enrich The Poor,   Cure The Sick    and Liberate Humanity From Politicians.''  

Seasteading   is more than  a fanciful hobby   to Mr. Quirk and others involved in the effort. It is, in their minds, an opportunity to rewrite the rules that govern society.

''Governments just don't get better,'' Mr. Quirk said. ''They're stuck in previous centuries. That's because land incentivizes a violent monopoly to control it.''

No land, no more conflict, the thinking goes.

Even if the Seasteading Institute  is able to start a handful of sustainable structures, there's no guarantee that a utopian community will flourish. 

People fight about much more than land, of course, and pirates have emerged as a menace in certain regions.

And though maritime law suggests that Seasteading  may have a sound legal basis, it is impossible to know how to read governments might respond to new neighbors floating offshore.

Mr. Quirk and his team are focusing on their Floating Island Project in French Polynesia.

The government is creating what is effectively a special economic zone for the  Seasteading Institute  to experiment in and has offered 100 acres of beachfront  where the group can operate.

Mr. Quirk and his collaborators created a new company,  Blue Frontiers, which will build and operate the floating islands in French Polynesia.

The goal is to build about a  dozen structures by 2020, including homes, hotels, offices and restaurants, at a cost of about $60 million.

To fund the construction, the team is working on an initial coin offering.

If all goes as planned, the structures will feature living roofs, use local wood, bamboo and coconut fiber, and recycled metal and plastic.

''I want to see floating cities by 2050, thousands of them hopefully, each of them offering different ways of governance,'' Mr. Quirk said.

''The more people moving among them, the more choices we'll have and the more likely it is we can have peace, prosperity and innovation.''

So like !WOW! and !WOW! Cities riding the waves are already taking shape in the minds of promoters. So too is the honor of selfless service for humanity.

With respectful dedication to the Inventors, Innovators, Leaders, Parents, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!  -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' !WOW! & Shake-up '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless