Day two also highlighted several business concepts we believe can draw people to live on the ocean.

Those of us who attended The Seasteading Conference 2012 can practically taste the refreshing salty air that will one day surround our homes. The convergence of experts, ideas, vacation rentals myrtle beach sc and perspectives that took place in San Francisco earlier this month has left me more inspired than ever about the Institute s pragmatic approach to better the world through seasteading. For those who were not able to join us, while we cannot provide you with the new friendships, the dinner and drinks vacation rentals myrtle beach sc at Forbes Island, or the sunset vacation rentals myrtle beach sc toast on the San Francisco Bay cruise, we hope you will enjoy videos of the conference programming, which are now online .
While the success of seasteading feels closer with each new partnership and piece of research, we are still years away from fully realizing our vision. Until then, the Institute will continue the research and movement-building vacation rentals myrtle beach sc efforts needed to spur the first round of seasteading businesses. vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Fortunately, Peter Thiel is magnifying our community support this year by matching dollar-for-dollar any donations we receive, up to $250,000 . If you see potential for seasteading, and wish to advance humanity by making government an efficient, competitive industry, please donate to the Institute today, and have your gift doubled . Where else can your money make such a large impact?
When our team envisioned this year s conference, we focused on the most immediate steps to actualizing seasteading ventures. This meant bringing together those with the capacity to launch seasteading businesses, and expanding our reach beyond those who have traditionally vacation rentals myrtle beach sc affiliated with the Institute. We have defined a realistic strategy for enabling the blossoming of a thousand new nations on the high seas, with the first step of helping single-purpose businesses launch vacation rentals myrtle beach sc operations on ships or small platforms, to prove the economic viability of the seasteading lifestyle. With this in mind, we curated this year s conference to include a broad spectrum of experts in key areas related to existing and emerging ocean industries.
Our two days of programming opened with Thiel Foundation Board member James O Neill's riveting vacation rentals myrtle beach sc call to advance humanity and restore vacation rentals myrtle beach sc liberty through the means of seasteading. Institute founder and Chairman of the Board Patri Friedman shared the big picture of seasteading by revisiting his recent TEDx talks, which framed seasteading through the lens of competitive businesses (see TEDx Hong Kong ) and evolution vacation rentals myrtle beach sc (see TEDx SF ). On the subject of the economic viability of large floating structures, William Riedy from our ally organization The Maritime vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Alliance, spoke about the driving forces behind the blue-tech industry.
Our next set of speakers focused on seasteading engineering research challenges. George Petrie, the Institute's director of engineering, recapped vacation rentals myrtle beach sc his previous research vacation rentals myrtle beach sc and gave an overview of current and potential future research . Institute intern and recent Northeastern University graduate Melissa Roth discussed her report evaluating the costs of diesel, vacation rentals myrtle beach sc wind, solar, wave and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) . Our engineering advisor, Guillaume Ardoise (who came all the way from France), discussed his research on wave energy generation in greater detail. Biochemical engineer and ocean policy expert Patrick Takahashi, spoke about his team s vision to build the Pacific International Ocean Station. The station would essentially be a seastead a large floating research facility producing fresh water, energy, and enabling a new ocean ecosystem, with OTEC and deep ocean water upwelling as central component. Concluding the engineering talks was Robert J. Nicholson, President of OTEC International, a company with a contract to build a 1 megawatt full-cycle demonstration OTEC plant in Hawaii . This project could lead to a contract for a 100 megawatt commercial OTEC plant floating off the coast of Oahu in the coming decades. Connecting vacation rentals myrtle beach sc the dots, such a plant could one day serve as the heart of Patrick Takahashi's Pacific International Ocean Station.
The afternoon's vacation rentals myrtle beach sc programming featured California Maritime vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Academy cadet Ben Harmon sharing portions of a white paper he and his colleagues produced on securing a seastead from pirates or other intruders. Next, two seasoned distinguished scholars of ocean law and policy gave fascinating talks. Attorney John Briscoe recounted several stories about the origins of the United Nations Convention on The Law of the Sea, and his colleague, Attorney Myron Nordquist , shared some interesting perspectives on beltway politics. Nordquist was actually one of the authors of UNCLOS.
Next came the five-minute lightning round talks. John Trepl from Marine vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Hydroelectric Company presented an innovative alternative energy design . Michelle and Thrond Toftely, winners of the Institute s 2010 "Sink or Swim" business plan contest, presented their idea for outsourcing vacation rentals myrtle beach sc government decision-making to a seastead. vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Henry Mariano, CEO of Harvest Energy, vacation rentals myrtle beach sc shared his company's mechanisms for generating electricity from linear energy on roads, vacation rentals myrtle beach sc sidewalks, ships or platforms. Gabriel Rothblatt spoke about intelligent design, and genetic engineering vacation rentals myrtle beach sc for the advancement of seasteading . Mike Doty, another winner of the "Sink or Swim" contest, discussed his plans , already underway with a Singaporean partner, for a cage fishing vacation rentals myrtle beach sc business. Lissa Morganthaler, CEO of conference sponsor Live Fuels, vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Inc., talked about the looming phosphorus crisis and associated opportunities with algae. Lastly, aquaculture expert Neil Sims shared an idea currently being assisted by the Institute to investigate a potential role for ocean aquaculture to play in reducing vacation rentals myrtle beach sc levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and reversing ocean acidification.
The second day opened with Thiel Foundation s VP of Grants and Let a Thousand Nations Bloom blogger Michael Gibson sharing his perspective on the end of political philosophy vacation rentals myrtle beach sc and why seasteaders vacation rentals myrtle beach sc must be both optimistic and definite in their political ideals. Next, Joe Quirk, author of the book-in-progress, Seasteading: How Ocean Cities Will Change the World, gave a motivating vacation rentals myrtle beach sc speech based on his experiences of writing and doing interviews so far.
Day two also highlighted several business vacation rentals myrtle beach sc concepts we believe can draw people to live on the ocean. Our friends at Blueseed opened with a panel about their plan to create a visa-free tech incubator off the coast of Silicon Valley vacation rentals myrtle beach sc ( Dario Mutabdzija and Max Marty ). Next, Alexander vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Wissner-Gross presented his idea of a mid-Atlantic financial hub , which could execute high frequency trades based on information from major centers in the US and Europe. This was followed vacation rentals myrtle beach sc by three presentations about medical tourism. vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Longtime seasteading enthusiast and supporter Marc Joffe presented some of his preliminary investigations assessing the viability of a medical ship stationed between Florida and Cuba. The ship would employ Cuban doctors vacation rentals myrtle beach sc and provide US citizens with treatments not yet approved in the US or for lower prices than those offered on land. Institute grantee and Duke medical student Peter Wei discussed his proposal to travel to Asia to investigate how foreign hospitals are delivering vacation rentals myrtle beach sc procedures more efficiently, and how those efficiencies might be emulated on a medical seastead. Wrapping up the medical tourism block was Nishant Bagadia of Health Travel Technologies. Nishant has extensively studied medical travel and proposed that medical ships provide noninvasive treatments (to limit risk of associated with a moving vessel) that are not available in nearby coastal states.
The afternoon vacation rentals myrtle beach sc highlighted aquaculture projects. The Institute's staff writer Charlie Deist introduced Project OASIS (Ocean Algae for Seastead Integrated Solutions), and was joined by researchers Baoguang Zhai, and California Maritime Academy student Ryan Larsen . Next, Institute grantee and University of Costa Rica professor of water science Ricardo Radulovich summarized his experience with sea farming vacation rentals myrtle beach sc , as well as his vision for creating platform habitations off the coast of Costa Rica and Panama that sustain themselves with both aquaculture and floating horticulture. Neil Sims concluded the aquaculture talks with a presentation on the Velella Project, his cage fish operation that raised sushi grade kampachi fish in the open ocean near Hawaii.
Later that afternoon, Institute Board member and software entrepreneur John Chisholm led a group discussion about the different methods one can use to introduce seasteading and competitive vacation rentals myrtle beach sc governance to those who have never heard of it. This was followed by an open forum which brought a lively discussion on a variety of topics. vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Programming ended with talks by senior director Randolph Hencken, director of development Chris Williams, and Patri Friedman. vacation rentals myrtle beach sc The conference itself, however, concluded with an elegant dinner cruise on the San Francisco Bay, where attendees were able to reflect and discuss new ideas for advancing seasteading vacation rentals myrtle beach sc over drinks and a delicious meal.
We want to extend our sincere gratitude to Dave Jones and Lissa Morganthaler-Jones of LiveFuels, Inc . for their sponsorship and participation in The Seasteading Conference 2012. Their booth and presentation, which highlighted concerns about waning phosphorus supplies and the ocean's potential to resolve them, were highly informative. Many participants considered this to be one of the most interesting revelations of the conference. We look forward to continuing to communicate with Dave and Lissa on how the seasteading movement can position itself to take advantage of abundant ocean resources like phosphorus, and how innovative firms like LiveFuels can lead the way there.
As we wrap up loose ends related to The Seasteading vacation rentals myrtle beach sc Conference, our contract with Brian Wallace Director of Special Events at The Seasteading Institute since January is coming to an end. Brian was moved and motivated vacation rentals myrtle beach sc by the amazing individuals he interacted with during his term with the Institute,