Have you heard of homesteading? (How about 'Seasteading'?) The idea of sustainable self-sufficiency has always appealed to me. I'd love to live that way.
Location location location
"Where?" though. Long ago, you just grabbed a piece of unused land, and went to work. Nowadays, countries occupy all of the land on Earth, right down to tiny uninhabitable islands in the middle of nowhere.
Some countries still allow or partially allow homesteading in a traditional sense, but for various reasons, often these countries aren't places you'd want to live. Harsh climates, warzones, radiation fallout regions, extremely remote, etc.
I'm also very big on liberty (you could call me libertarian) and anarchy (no rulers). 8 years ago, I begged YouTube the question "Is there anywhere still free?" If only the Freedom-loving people of the world could obtain a place of their own!
There are some uncontacted peoples living in various isolated parts of the world. They're self-governed - for example, the ones in the Amazon rain forest aren't part of Brazil. Their territory isn't disputed, they use the resources and land any way they deem fit. They are free. But I'm not part of any of those communities, so that's not an option for me. (Also, I need hot showers and access to the internet.)
There are various sections of Canada which are "unceded territories" (the native people who have lived there for thousands of years were never conquered, nor did they sell their lands). In many cases, they exist with freedom from the federal government (I recall recently one group decided that cannabis legalization wasn't legitimate and opened their own dispensary, saying while technically within Canadian borders, they don't have to abide by Canada's laws). The idea of small sovereign regions completely enveloped by other nations is strange. I believe there are similar first nations within the USA and other countries, with varying degrees of independence from the countries they're embedded within.
Also, it seems that when groups of people try to separate or break off from larger nations, results are unpredictable and dangerous. Things like the siege at Waco Texas, the Quebec sovereignty movement, and Liberty dollars come to mind. Trying to claim parts of already-claimed property causes friction and sometimes war.
The Amish come to mind as another related concept. Like unceded territories or uncontacted peoples, they are small communities living within - but separated from - a larger one. But the Amish tend to shun technology, so I'm not about to ask to join them.
Liberland is a new country, calling itself a micronation, arising due to border dispute between Serbia and Croatia. And there are other projects in theory or planning stages, so there may yet be a way to homestead in freedom somewhere on land. But tyranny pushes us to seek new locations.
Space
We're not really even sure if humans can leave Earth under current technology, let alone trying our hand at terraforming Mars, or constructing farms and homes on space stations. The idea is enticing, and perhaps freedom does await us in the stars someday, but I'm hitting mid-40s and I need a solution available fairly soon. Unless Elon Musk actually starts transporting people and cargo all over our solar system in the next few years, I need to look on this planet.
Airborne Cities
This is also not something available with current technology. Besides, what good is a floating farm, if it takes away the sunlight from the farm below it? Not really a winning concept. We might someday live far above the ground (aside from in skyscrapers), but farming as we know it will probably occur mainly on the surface.
High Seas / Open Ocean
Earth's surface is 2/3 ocean. Enter "seasteading", which is homesteading on the high seas (unclaimed international waters). There's no government to infringe your liberty, but there's also no infrastructure, and no land, which is essentially why it hasn't been done until this point.
As technology puts living on the ocean more and more within reach, and established countries prohibit freedom within 200 miles of their land, seasteading is gaining attention. It seems people are that hungry for Liberty today - they're considering moving to the middle of the ocean!
The lighter blue areas represent oceans claimed as territory by various nations (generally along coastlines, including tiny isolated islands). This reduces the parts of the planet available for seasteading.
I then used a sky blue colour to denote areas of open ocean otherwise not suitable for seasteading. Reasons include extreme cold temperatures at the poles, Fukushima's immediate radiation zone, regions such as that of the Sentinelese, ocean regions without access to the greater international waters, the Bermuda triangle, former nuclear test sites, known military bases, and so on:
It's still a huge portion of the planet. All that potential freedom! Surely there's somewhere suitable and available, in this massive area spanning the globe?
By my estimation, HALF of Earth is unclaimed and potentially available for uses like seasteading!
How, exactly?
I'm going to research this further and present it in a future post, but for now, some thoughts:
There are a LOT of "almost islands". Some of them come within meters of the ocean surface, and could be built up into proper islands.
Dredging sand is one way islands are already reshaped and created. Perhaps technology could be developed to encourage underwater volcanoes, which is how a large number of existing islands came to be. New islands happen all the time, and countries are quick to claim them (and the surrounding ocean). Maybe we could make and/or claim a new island?
Could you, would you, on a boat? Check out Sealand, a micronation existing around an abandoned offshore platform from WW2.
Where on Earth would YOU go, if Steem went to $5000 USD (or for some other reason you didn't have to worry about money), to escape tyrannical governments?
Could you live on a tiny island, with the right technology? Who would you want with you? How would you do it?
To get true freedom, would you even consider living in a floating neighborhood? (It's hard to not mention Waterworld at some point in this discussion.)
What are other things you've imagined, when you dream about being completely free, and living a sustainable lifestyle of your choosing?
DRutter
