Your Questions Answered.

By Joe Quirk

A lot of misinformation about seasteading gets repeated in the press. Want the real story? Come to the Blue Frontiers blog. We’ll do our best to keep you informed about our emerging floating society of the future.

First let’s answer the most common questions.

Will Blue Frontiers build seasteads in a place where people don’t want them?

No. Blue Frontiers will only build seasteads in a place where most people are proud to host it. Seasteads are intended for any coastal community in the world that wants education, employment, and entrepreneurship based on the blue ocean economy.

Is Blue Frontiers open to moving the seastead project to another place?

Yes. Blue Frontiers has opened discussions with other island nations that are just as concerned about sea level rise, the fate of their people, their culture, and their homeland.

Are seasteads for billionaires?

So far no billionaires have applied to live on our seasteads. We’re working to keep our costs low so researchers, knowledge workers, and people of medium income can live on seasteads.

Is Blue Frontiers funded by Peter Thiel?

Peter Thiel is not funding Blue Frontiers. Blue Frontiers will be funded by people like you through our crowdfunding sale, one of many twenty-first century innovations we hope to feature that will allow almost anyone to participate.

Is The Seasteading Institute building seasteads?

No. The Seasteading Institute promotes the idea of seasteading around the world. Blue Frontiers is an independent company that will build seasteads. The Seasteading Institute is one of more than 40 collaborators in the project, many of them businesses in French Polynesia. We regularly add new exciting collaborators in a wide range of fields to our ecosystem. Come and join us.

Is the government funding seasteads?

No public money will be spent on seasteads. The project will be funded by Blue Frontiers.

Are French Polynesians helping to develop the project?

Yes. Six marine research institutions in French Polynesia met with Blue Frontiers for a two-day workshop hosted by the UC Berkeley Gump station on the island of Moorea, CRIOBE, Institut Louis Malardé and the Université de Polynésie française. The government also sent two representatives from the Ministry of Research.

Dr. Neil Davies, director of the UC Berkeley Gump station, created Polynesia FIRST (Floating Island Research: Science and Technology), a consortium discussing the potential of hosting permanent marine research laboratories and housing for scientists on board the pilot project.

Several of the leading companies and institutions in French Polynesia co-sponsored The First Tahitian Seastead Gathering in May 2017. These include Air Tahiti Nui, the Maritime Cluster of French Polynesia, the PRISM business incubator, the Poly3D digital school, the MEDEF business organisation and many others (list here).

Polynesian business and government leaders will ensure that local knowledge, which is very relevant when it comes to living in harmony with nature and the sea, is deeply embedded in everything that Blue Frontiers does in the pilot project.

Why are some Polynesians excited to host a seastead?

It will be the coolest sustainable floating island in the world. It will look just like a real island from the shore, with grass roofs and trees. Blue Frontiers hopes to work with marine scientists and develop ocean technologies so that Polynesian youth will apprentice to be leaders in the Blue Economy. Many Pacific Islanders are optimistic about seasteading.

How many people will live on the first seasteads?

The first seasteads will be home to about 250 people. President Fritch made it very clear he expects Polynesians to participate in the project to assure that it aligns with Polynesian values. The Blue Frontiers community is strongly invested in setting the best first possible example so that Polynesians are proud. This will be a real sustainable solution for the world.

Will Polynesian people live on the seasteads?

While we do not know how many Polynesians will eventually choose to live on seasteads, among the pool of qualified applicants, Blue Frontiers will give priority to Polynesians for 25% of the residences.

How big is the first seastead going to be?

The current pilot project is designed to be roughly the same total area as a soccer field. We have several designs, and their modularity will make it easy to change the size and shape of the seastead as needed to fit human and environmental needs.

What about the images of giant floating cities I’ve seen on the media?

Ignore images created by people who are not part of Blue Frontiers. Study the actual designs proposed by Blue Frontiers’ architects or watch this short animated video of how the Blue Frontiers’ seasteads are designed to look beautiful and natural in the lagoon.

What is the ideology of seasteads?

Seasteads are a technology, not an ideology. The Blue Frontiers community already includes people of many religions, races, and philosophies. Our community includes the most extraordinary team of scientists, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, and teachers from around the world who aim to make French Polynesia the world leader in the Blue Economy.

Don’t residents of seasteads want to avoid taxes?

There are already many places people can go to if they want to avoid paying taxes. They don’t need seasteads for that. Some, like Americans, have to pay tax in the US no matter where they live anyway. By reducing taxes for businesses on the seastead, it will allow more money to be spent in the local economy, which will promote jobs and entrepreneurship.

Seasteads will have a separate fiscality because they do not benefit from public funds and need to pay for everything themselves. This is important so they can organize their internal finances in innovative ways without affecting others in French Polynesia.

Will you dump trash in the lagoon?

No trash will be put in the lagoon. No wastewater will be put in the lagoon. Seasteads will be sustainable, with a goal of protecting the lagoon with innovative technologies. We hope to be reef guardians.

How is this project going to create prosperity for Polynesians?

Jobs and entrepreneurship will flourish on the seastead and on the shore as the seastead becomes an international locus of attention.

It will create more than employment. It will create education. Youth will visit the floating island to learn to become leaders in the Blue Economy. Seasteads will allow qualified Polynesian expatriates to come home to good jobs, and to be a part of a forward-thinking and innovative global movement.