Seasteading & Artificial Islands

[@gregbrockway4452]

It's not my imagination, you and your team get better with every episode. Can't thank you enough for restoring a positive outlook for our future, kind of like the original Star Trek.

[@mjk9388]

I second this comment. :-)

[@jeova0sanctus0unus]

Welcome to 'Tragically underused Futuristic Movie, and book Settings' with Isaac Arthur.

[@UNSCPILOT]

Even games could leans from Isaac, Imaging an RTS(real Time Stratagy)and or civilization building game type based on the stuff he talks about "your population is getting to high" "oh, ok, time to build some more O'Neil Cylinders, or maybe I should work on that Mckendree Cylinder upgrade..."

[@nil981]

Westworld is set in a massive underwater amusement park that simulates the wild west.

[@antred11]

Yep, but apparently people would rather see the 5 millionth super-hero flick.

[@glenecollins]

jeova0sanctus0unus like waterworld? I think directors etc may still have shellshock from that failure?

[@VibeBlind]

so you're implying that waterworld is the "sequel" to westworld?

[@SempSSY]

My Son has watched with me for the last 3 episodes now. He is 5, and it keeps his attention. It started as him peeking over at the video, and slowly he watched more and more. Well Done Isaac :) I need twice the drinks and munchies every Arthursday now :)

[@MrRishik123]

Thats a special kind of talent that only arthur and few others have. Being able to keep the attention of both 5 year olds and 50 year olds just as deeply.

[@Buh526]

Your son is smart and you should cherish him all the more. Not that your haven't cherished him by showing him educational material.

[@ladyathenaofowls]

Semp nice to see kids getting interested in science. I remember being a little kid and watching animal planet and history channel/science channel instead of cartoons. My parents thought I was weird but I think I’m better for it.

[@SempSSY]

I like to push my kids towards using their minds, and thinking "outside the box". My son and my daughter both will build things out of lego's or some other building set and give you a detailed explanation on how it works. While watching Arthursday videos my son will copy what he hears, and figure out how to apply it to a new "invention" (that is what he calls them) So not only do i get the privilege of watching awesome content and opening my mind every week, but i get one of those "proud parent" moments per week as well. We started going to the website and watching the vids for a specific series in order. He will sit through it all...for hours.....unbelievable.

[@destructionalongthelittled2731]

@Ium Stuff .... Are people commenting actually believing this is a good thing???? very sick!

[@ganaraminukshuk0]

"You can bring your house in pieces, drive it in a long caravan on the highway, and have it reassemble itself." That visual sounds amazing.

[@Zenas521]

My favorite strategy in Minecraft is to find a sand bar out in the ocean or large lake, and build upon that for a base. that way I don't have any hostile mobs to deal with. Sadly, sense the update aquatic, it is rendered moot due to drown and phantoms.

[@Pintroll300]

Zenas Starchild Just make a sea tower with airlocks at the seabed and jumping pads at the top - with an elytra and breathing gear you can basically access anywhere quickly

[@robinchesterfield42]

Sounds like how people used to build right up against the shore in Don't Starve/Don't Starve Together: "Because it means attacks have one less direction they can come from." ...unfortunately, even before THAT game's ocean updates, you were never able to build _right_ up tight against the edge of the land, and monsters can squish through the tiniest cracks. Or eat your walls. Oof.

[@HistoryTime]

Fantastic stuff from my favourite KZbin channel. Thanks Isaac.

[@MardrukZeiss]

History and Futurism are a good combination. To understand how people understood can gives us insight how future people will understand.

[@notablegoat]

The book "Blackfish City" is set on a post-climate-collapse floating city, and it gets into how such a society might function a bit

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

While some might want to build their own island nations at sea, I can see this strategy being used to expand existing coastal cities (it already is, in some places). It would have the advantage that you could just hook up to existing municipal services like power, water, sewer, even public transit, etc. If somebody built an artificial island off the coast of Vancouver and filled it with luxury condos and resorts, it would be sold out in minutes - especially if you built a bridge and a Skytrain station.

[@zak7181]

A couple decades back, I found a book called "The Millennial Project" which was about steps to colonizing the galaxy, but started with down to earth steps like making a self-sufficient floating city. I recommend the book for anyone who's into this channel. Anyway, my favorite videos on this channel are the ones describing steps we could take now, and this is one that I'd get behind in any way possible.

[@Tehom1]

I'm surprised you didn't mention wave power among the energy sources. Besides being a power source, it has the advantage that every joule of wave energy soaked up by the generators is a joule that does not go into rocking your seastead and potentially damaging it. There are some nice recent advances in wave power generation, too. In the past, you needed either a single large floating installation like the Pelamis or the Sea Dragon, or you needed to anchor to the seabed which is not always practical, or you needed to be near a seashore like the Osprey. But recent wave power inventions can do it all with bouys even in the deep ocean.

[@VladimirVasquez]

Thanks, do you have some links to read about this?

[@Tehom1]

@@VladimirVasquez Sure. For the point-absorber bouy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6qYcp-Xma-qhtE www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/powerbuoy The others mentioned: www.wavedragon.co.uk/ kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGiQdoOIbbimbK8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJjXnJJ8qNdjhNE www.power-technology.com/projects/pelamis/ Wave power more generally: tethys.pnnl.gov/technology-type/wave tethys.pnnl.gov/technology-type/wave

[@piguyalamode164]

Only with the small problem that wave energy is very hard to use or convert to anything useful. And the ocean tends to destroy such things

[@Sara3346]

He does just vert briefly.

[@wilmagregg3131]

@@piguyalamode164 but thats is because the bouy system is made up of many small things but one large one that has MAYBE a anchor point to prevent tipping due to eventual possible tsunamis could work pretty well

[@levigriffin5553]

Aside from rotating space habitats, seasteading is my favorite concept for establishing societies independent from current governments that would otherwise dictate the operation of that society. There's no more land to migrate to in order to build a fresh start; it's all claimed already. The pilgrims of the future will either take to the stars or ride the waves to their conception of freedom.

[@biceratopsceratopsia6395]

Every part of the sea is already claimed by different nations....

[@noaha.b.8197]

@@biceratopsceratopsia6395 No, outside of the 200 mile coast zone no country can claim territory. (Except it's an unclaimed island, but most are already claimed)

[@twirlipofthemists3201]

You will need a much more rigorously dictated society on a space colony or a floating city.

[@Cythil]

I am also in favor of exploring this idea. Not so much to evade taxes and do otherwise illegal activities. If you do that to much you will likely have other nation mess with you and possibly invade you. We have examples of this like the Barbary Wars USA and Sweden where at war with the Barbary nations simple due to them not clanking down on there piracy activity. Today we see a lot of effort from the EU and USA to stop a lot of off shore accounts and tax havens. But there are a lot of rules and regulations that are more related to traditions or for other reason would not have the same reason to exist in a newly made community. So relaxed laws when it comes thing that generally effects single individual would be something we would likely see. And while it may be we would see these communities and islands of vice is many not be the case. There might even be harsher rules to. All depending on the believes of the community. But in the end it might open up for more flexible communities where you move where there is like minded people who wont object. In the past we have seen people see out new colonies for looking for religious freedom for example. Which I do not think anyone object to now. So while I think we may see some islands of vice (and we do have that to some degree today with cruise liners having floating casinos for example) I do not think they will be so autonomous if they start impacting the globe. If so the international community will band together to set a stop to them. One thing I think such communities could be good for if we manage to find economic opportunities at sea (that do not directly extra resource from other nations like mass scale fishing might) is being a migration paradise. It would allow people from different backgrounds to work together for a common goal while avoiding a lot of prejudges that people might harbor about foreigners. After all. On a artificial island in the middle of nowhere we are all foreigners. (Of course some concerted effort is need to still integrate people in to the society so they have the right skills and know the language. But still.)

[@jacywilson]

Voluntaryism is the way forward.

[@exoplanets]

Congratulations (in advance) for reaching 300 k subscribers !

[@gumunduringigumundsson9344]

I am confident for his sake to reach a much higher number 😁😁😁

[@mycinematics8948]

300k subscribers. Imagine how many people haven't discovered this channel yet. I envy them, when they discover it.

[@gumunduringigumundsson9344]

@@mycinematics8948 Yes its like discovering curiosity show Red Dwarf and Eureka on the same day! except this time its .. Its mister I.A and buds! I do say that watching a series one time is just a formality.. then after the third or forth time you start to know it better and after absorbing and processing it and then trying to be smart regurgitating like a mole on the roof contemplating flight but always a few steps short somehow.. Quintessential phase then takes over and you can be something like the guide mk.2 if you set a common sense altruistic-ish without being lack of that sense thats supposed to be common.. It is usually super common... just life that is in the way on occasion. Ehm.. . That path to waking up early (or not.. that could be important too) and get ready for round 13.153.. or wherever you find your self now. Be excellent to each other! Wild Stallions 4tw!

[@RJStockton]

Sure, jinx him.

[@gumunduringigumundsson9344]

@@RJStockton I dont have the authority to jinx him 😘 in any way.

[@bjarnes.4423]

22:00 *"encouraging cooperation"* xD

[@MusikCassette]

you forgot one important energy source: Waves for the city sized floating Islands, that is important for an other reason: Wave power plants can be used to calm the water. So I would expect a floating city, to have a periphery of those.

[@PhiloSage]

There was one sentence where he mentioned, but if not paying close attention you might have missed. Specifically the connections between the "buildings" would be the power plants. It would be a great power source.

[@1985ThePedro]

As a bonus, if your floating sections were smaller you could probably slow the movements of the sections relative to each other using power generating equipment. First just install hydraulic shock absorbers and hinges between the island sections, then bleeding the shock absorbers through turbines to collect the energy produced. Then if the turbines break down, you would still have the stabalizing effects from the shock absorbers. I could also see the 'tentacles' doing double or triple duty as both heat pumps to use the temperature difference to generate power as well as using the cooler water a few hundred feet down directly as air conditioning by running it through radiators. My dad already uses this concept to cool his workshop with the water that's heading to the garden, which means warmer water for the plants which they like and a cooler shop which is good for us. In an ocean environment, this could also provide more circulation for densely populated fish farms where the incoming water is less polluted with fish waste because it comes from deeper down.

[@echo9646]

He mentions this around 23:55. Edit: No, he does not. Explained in MusikCassettes reply.

[@MusikCassette]

no, that are tidal generators. that are totally different things. Wave generators use the energy of the waves tidal generators the energy of tides. The layout, that uses one of those is not useful to use the other one.

[@echo9646]

Thanks for explaining what I misunderstood.

[@MrRolnicek]

I am so glad this episode exists. Ever sine I was little I wanted to live on a small floating city. I'm glad I'm not crazy.

[@MC_MMV]

I’m actually planning on doing this for my job. I believe it will be possible to do in my lifetime

[@SherrickDuncan]

I am building a floating island Micronation myself. If you are a Bible Believing Christian then you are welcome. If not you wouldn't like it in my floating island.

[@LogicalMayhem00]

The floating island building simulator would be a fantastic game. Think cities Skylines but you can build your own land.

[@mikkelwulff5639]

I would perfer something a bit more Anno 20?? like, but I'm in!

[@vgames1543]

Yes, I think a one to one Simulator of Earth with apropiate physics etc. could be interesting. So whatever you do in the Sandbox, the virtual Earth would behave exactly like in real-life

[@petersmythe6462]

*sink your own land.*

[@robinchesterfield42]

In "Civilization: Call to Power" you can make underwater domed cities and roads, but I'm not sure about making your own land. Too bad that game is kinda janky and many people don't consider it a "proper" Civ game, though.

[@Thorr97]

Another way of making islands and building up existing sea mountains is the use of electrified accretion. Back in the 80s, as I recall, some folks did experiments with this in the waters off of Hawaii. The dropped a metal grid cage out on to the ocean floor a short distance from the shoreline. They'd run wires to the cage and then pumped a current to it. The difference in electrical polarity caused minerals in the seawater to begin accreting to the metal of the cage. In just a few days the surface of the grid was already well covered and it was continuing to accrete. This could be a very inexpensive method of making undersea retaining walls, foundations, breakwaters, etc.,. It would not require the sourcing of large volumes of fill material or processed construction material as it would simply rely on extracting the minerals from the ocean water itself. It would take longer but be far, far cheaper in the process.

[@KoewlBag]

One episode in and this might already be my favorite series that you've done. I never realized how fascinating and futuristic the ocean could be!!

[@erin9377]

Funny you mention the expansion of countries and new provinces being created with land reclamation - the Netherlands already built an entire new province using land reclamation way back in the 50s and 60s (Flevoland). 400,000 people live there now.

[@MrAWG9]

I was half expecting to hear “...and then, we suck up all the water via an O’Dyson Straw and transport it to Europa to combine ecosystems in the future to keep the galactic whale probes away from Earth...” It was disappointing, to say the least! 😉 Great episode, Issac!!!

[@oldkid8811]

Happy Arthursday everyone!

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

Happy Arthursday

[@randymarsh1164]

I really appreciate the work you and your team put into this channel of hope for the future, Thank you

[@TitanicDwarf]

Educational, entertaining, thought provoking. This is why I look forward to your videos every week. Thanks Isaac.

[@NomisCasio]

I have been fantasizing about building a floating ocean nation forever. Watching this video was great as always! I know it somewhat defeats the purpose of Science and FUTURISM but I always like the videos that talk about tech that I personally could experience in my lifetime the most. Always hoping for extream live extension technology so that I can experience all the wonders shown by SFIA.

[@francoislacombe9071]

I'm surprised nothing was said about the artificial Palm Islands off the shores of Dubai. They are exactly the sort of project being discussed here.

[@LeoStaley]

Francois Lacombe I'm especially disappointed he didn't go into any technical challenges or proposed solutions. Seasteading has lots of challenges, and some of the most difficult ones for totally independent colonies involve salt. Large scale desalination will result in especially briny water around the colony.

[@ixisuprflyixi]

@@LeoStaley well he did say he wasn't going to do a deep dive on this episode.

[@GarlicPudding]

Francois Lacombe They're a vanity project and tourist trap. Nothing more.

[@LazyBuddyBan]

It might as well be called uselessly thrashing the ocean for billions. Thats how bad and pointless it is.

[@jasontoddman7265]

You're like Gene Roddenberry and Carl Sagan rolled into one! :-)

[@AGMartinez]

With a deaf accent!!

[@jasontoddman7265]

+A.G. Martinez - I never really noticed it, as a lot of people here in Maine talk much the same way. He actually has a speech impediment, but in Downeast Maine no one would ever notice it!

[@digital_gravity]

The visuals for these programs are outstanding. I have the audio podcast, but much rather watch on KZbin due to how much the visuals add. And, I am a dude with 440 audiobooks and 200 podcast subscriptions!

[@Robinhoodthefletchling]

I assume it would be safe to hope that the Bioshock universe city of Rapture will at least be mentioned when you go into underwater terraforming. While not necessarily a realistic city engineering wise, it opens a very vivid window into a possible outcome of an underwater city not part of any country and without any true moral laws. It also could act bridge to the gaming community and help catch the interest of even more fans. Keep up the "stellar" work.

[@aaronkindi552]

Happy Arthursday..and thank you so much Isaac for your amazing videos, after starting 2 years ago i know more than i ever thought possible, your videos give great ideas for books and the science behind them is amazing

[@elydane]

Arthur fans unite! Time to crowd source Arthurtania - a pro science island nation. The capitol will be Saganopolis. All hail our enlightened King Isaac, the first of his name.

[@UNSCPILOT]

Consider me signed up

[@LMAccount1]

I’m down. Our national holiday shall be Newtonmas, celebrated on December 25th!

[@boreasreal5911]

I would totally move there

[@RandyKalff]

Sounds like a place I would stay away from. It's a great concept, but the amount of corruption and overall ideological delusions it would be infested with would be quite extreme.

[@fredricknietzsche7316]

where the weekend starts on Thursday!

[@LlFE]

Okay perfect pause 0:00 seconds. Ive been tryin to scrape my brain and others for some solutions of world issues I can potentially invest in once I get my money right. Found your channel in a playlist about the Age of Leo (of which I been partially studyin from an astrological as well as a physics standpoint.) I havent been let down by your efforts at all. Im very optimistic for humanity when it crafts such incredible mental bandwidths like yours. Let me run thru this playlist and absorb your dedication. Im new to majority of this stuff but I have faith that one day your efforts and that of those youve studied and made accessible to the lil folks like me will never see the day of depreciation especially the more we all share these passions of revamping humanity. 🙏🏾 p.s. for the past few weeks this playlist is exactly what ive been lookin for.

[@alonzoc537]

I think the easiest power generation setup for an island could be tidal lagoons and geothermal. This also brings up the question of where to build... because we want to minimise depth while being far from land. I suggest south of Iceland due to the shallow oceans and relatively active fault-line which would be useful in generating power. However the weather conditions are less attractive than the tropics.

[@justinokraski3796]

I started feeling a phantom pain when you mentioned using offshore rigs to act as a sovereign nation.

[@robinchesterfield42]

Sealand says hi! :)

[@astrophonix]

This is, by far, the best channel on KZbin. After a day of seeing all the misery, suffering, conflict and waste in the world today, Isaac's incredibly ambitious, yet pragmatic and practical, visions give me real hope for the future of our species. This guy and his team should be awarded a special Nobel Prize for inspiring a positive path for our species to progress and enough money to build the Arthurtania, the island nation mentioned in the comments section below. Also has the best comments section of any channel!

[@widget3672]

I personally hope that your videos are going to be available for the next few decades at least! Hopefully a few centuries! It will be great to see your futurist views and how they turn out compared to the world's actual progression. I know I'll hope you continue to be a frequent uploader for a good long while... The world needs more people with a positive, constructive outlook for the future...

[@timothymclean]

Another thing to consider about ethical issues is the oft-mentioned possibility of off-world nature preserves. If we can't (or don't want to) keep, say, the American Southwest dry enough for rattlesnakes, turkey vultures, and desert bighorn sheep, we can literally build a new Southwest for them to live in. This isn't the cheapest solution, and might not be the best (or even sufficient, depending on how you look at the ethics of the situation), but it's definitely _a_ solution.

[@speedosam5221]

You've litterally had 3 minutes to watch the video...

[@bencoad8492]

or just dome over a certain % of the land and keep it the way it was

[@istvansipos9940]

seeing human nature, I just can't think of any1 or any country who would fund such a project to save animal species

[@LogicalMayhem00]

I think it's more likely that we would have the national parks on land and all live in a combination of mega towers and giant floating cities. After all floating cities incentivize vertical construction.

[@chrisedwards3866]

It's a lot cheaper to declare that a portion of the area is a nature preserve. That way, you won't need to spend billions of dollars (probably tens of billions, maybe more) to create a floating park big enough for a stable ecosystem. Especially considering that the climate will be a lot different than their native climate.

[@StuartFoust]

The floating hexagonal modular city idea instantly made think of Front Mission 3.

[@richardgould-blueraven]

I love your normal videos but must admit a soft spot for this topic. I’m rewatching it now

[@zorastin]

Earliest i've been in the comments section. Love your work Isaac. I really look forward to your videos and you manage to fill me with the same awe,wonder and hope as Sagan used to. No mean feat thank you for your mind and your rigor.

[@alexiordache4835]

Ah, yes, Thursday, the best day of the week. The day i get to enjoy a well documented,intelligent video, made by my hero Isaac Arthur. Thank you!

[@beartankoperator7950]

Laws, are you ever going to do a video on laws as we spread through the solar system I know others may not be too excited about it so I understand if you don't

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

"Future Law" might be a decent episode, but we'd more likely do a "Future Crime" episode first and see if it had interest or caused arguments, law is boring for many and often hotly debated for those who it isn't :)

[@RandyKalff]

@Isaac Arthur I can confirm that last part. (Virtually) Every time I get into a conversation about law it becomes a rather heated debate. And I only try to explain my thinking and understand that of the other guy, so it's probably inherent to the topic to a degree. Although, it's often quite the fun debate nonetheless.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

It can be fun, but I try to avoid that here or in the forums, folks yelling at each other tends to crowd out every other conversation.

[@RandyKalff]

@Isaac Arthur Indeed, so your idea of a "Future Crime" video first is definitely the way to go if you're going there at all. Though, don't shy away from talking about the laws in some detail, because otherwise you won't know the reaction to content surrounding laws.

[@beartankoperator7950]

thanks for the responses to this I agree that it can be a touchy subject, and all of it would be a bit more hypothetical and historical than reviewing future tech, but I have been thinking about this since you did a video on blockchain and extra-system commerce. I think addressing crime first and gauging reaction sounds great.

[@Avitymist]

Hek yeah, another Isaac video.

[@ryo200114]

Your comment was made a couple seconds after the video has been loaded. Cg that was fast. ;)

[@evervigilant]

PODCAST has been a nice way to enjoy content for me lately. I have been checking out the video for the typically very well done graphics, charts, and equations etc., and then go back and listen to the podcast to fully digest the content.. Isaac, you blow my mind with every new video and you truly have opened a part of my brain that has lain dormant for far to long with your far reaching vision and foresight. The way you present your concepts has renewed my belief in human ingenuity. Thank you kindly for that.

[@SC-zq6cu]

Another Arthursday! yay!

[@joejohns3543]

SFIA == awesome. Been working alot and havn't had time to 'youtube.' A really treat to have a back log of SFIAs to catch up on. Thank you for what you do. You rock homie!

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

The two big problems about seasteading that i can think of are a) seawater is really corrosive, and b) everything in the seawater wants to build on your habitats. There's always the possibility we might invent some new material we can coat the floating islands with that doesn't react with seawater and prevents sealife from attaching, though.

[@sweenie58]

Hey, do you remember those Icecrete ideas to fight the German wolfpacks? A massive manmade aircraft carrier(part ice part Sawdust) could be expanded and throw in some plastic waste for reinforcement. Plastic bottles would give buoyancy. Power the refrigeration units with nuclear, solar and wind. Station 20 of these tied together in the Northcentral Atlantic or just off the coast. I actually met the guy who lives just off Isla Mujeres "Island of women"(just off Cancun) on his own man-made Island. He collected water bottles and other containers bound them together. He put down pallets then dirt then planted mangrove trees. When I was there he had about 6 ducks roaming the Island. He had to steal power from Isla Mujeres but he had plans for creating his own power via salt water in the ocean. I gave him an idea about repurposing an alternator and getting a Neodineum rotor to apply in a wind turbine. The guy's name is Richart Sowa. There were others who were willing to give him all kinds of stuff but he didn't trust their motives.

[@DJRonnieG]

I always liked the idea of Seasteading, especially for making use of undersea mountains that are just below the surface. However, there are some concerns with regard to resource extraction which. Mining in various forms may prove important for sustaining an undersea society as well as to meet profitability objectives. The ability to make money is often a key selling point when securing resources and assistance for a big project. This in turn reminds me of the 'Star Trek: Voyager' where the crew encounters a water planet that is losing volume because the inhabitants were extracting resources including oxygen from the ocean in a harmful manner. The aliens had the ability to upgrade their resource extraction facilities in order to greatly reduce the harm they were doing to "The Waters" but those in charge deemed such corrective action too costly. As a result the alien leadership opted to retain the status quo. How does this relates to seasteading on Earth? Let's say we've successfully built a thriving arcology -- perhaps an upside-down group of skyscraper-like structures. Now, after years of mining the for metals and lithium along the seafloor it is discovered that coral reefs have been severely disrupted and that it has something to do with bottom feeders dying off. Some group comes along and says, "you gotta fix this" but the individuals in charge of the arcology refuse. They say that "this will destroy our already very thin profit margins and make it impossible for 50% of our population to remain here. Just some thoughts. Anyway, I like your videos a lot and appreciate all the efforts you've put into improving your channel!

[@JohnStephenWeck]

I agree that resource extraction should be as safe as possible. However, the “Thirty Days” Voyager episode got it wrong. There was no way that oxygen extraction is going to in the slightest affect the gravity generator at the core of their ocean world. In that episode, the ocean world leadership didn’t decide anything, they just shelved the whole issue. ;)

[@drake000666]

I think the thing people often forget is the ongoing maintenance's cost for anything at sea, I was a engineer in the navy and it is costly to maintain a ship at sea not even including the foul. So really to do a lot of the stuff you bring up would need new materials that are cheaper to maintain.

[@devonrusinek5807]

If we're talking about just fixed islands though (artificially made or otherwise), do you imagine the cost would be equally as high as on ships?

[@zyfigamer]

This might fit more into terraforming deserts, but I was reminded of the sea city in Kuwait.

[@depth386]

Hey Isaac Arthur I have one criticism of this video, around 24:00 you talk about tidal generation and propose a mix of tidal, wind turbine, surrounded by reef / aqua-farming. The trouble is that the tidal generators tend to harm the marine life in a number of ways. The blades are the most obvious but noise from vibration and occasionally leaking lubricants or other contamination can all put a cap on the nearby biodiversity and ecological productivity. The two goals of clean tidal energy and bio diverse reef ecology are mostly at odds with each other, but both are noble. I just feel the video did not do justice there, painting an overly optimistic triple win when including wind power. Otherwise great stuff!

[@hthytrgh]

Hopfully earth 2.0 finally gets us the ultimate question....

[@MechanicWolf85]

I love the idea of having a self sustainable home, even more if that home is mobile It helps the ecology and gives you a more sense of freedom

[@NickPoeschek]

Really enjoyed this, can’t wait for more Earth 2.0 videos! Being on Earth adds in a different dimension though, having to consider political realities. While a floating nuclear reactor or bank of reactors would make a lot of sense for an ocean community, I can’t imagine anything not part of an existing large country would ever have access to nuclear technology due to the potential terrorism and pollution concerns.

[@ladyathenaofowls]

Nick Poeschek well if we would just use Thorium, we wouldn’t have to worry about terrorism as much because of the properties of Thorium, it being fertile instead of fissile, meaning it cannot undergo fission on its own. Which makes it a bit safer than the standard U-Pu reactors, although not completely safe.

[@zj6074]

Political phobia is the single largest reason we don't have nuclear thermal launch vehicle technology yet. That development would allow launch vehicles that are single stage with quadruple the payload fraction of modern rockets, plus massive efficiency increases in interplanetary transit.

[@avid0g]

@@zj6074 There are extremely severe technical barriers to nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) boosters, or even second stage. However, with a sea launch in international waters, the "not here" political barriers are gone for an NTR upper (3rd) stage. All that is required is design/fab transparency and trustworthy guidance systems.

[@elevenvolt1]

@@zj6074 Nuclear thermal has a poor thrust to weight ratio.

[@jmc22475]

You should read "the millennial project, colonising the galaxy in 8 easy steps" by Marshall T Savage

[@____________838]

It is strange, I don’t think Arthur ever has mentioned The Millennial Project in any of his videos, despite heavily overlapping the same basic ideas.

[@MartinCHorowitz]

Interesting to seeislands that are flloding due to rising sealevels replaced by floating islands.

[@gunnarthegumbootguy7909]

I wonder about the airport islands really being a good idea, modern planes of medium size and even pretty small ones can fly really far, and oceans tend to have significantly higher windspeeds at surface level which is bad for safety. Even small seas like the baltic sea or big lakes like the Big Lakes in North America, have much higher windspeeds than the surrounding land. Maybe if they made the floating islands so big that there were artifial hills, ridges, and forests and the ends kilometers out from the airport to slow the winds down and walls that you could raise in some directions hundreds of meters up in the non-wind- and non-runway-aligned directions so you get a steady wind direction at near surface level. Even as it is now, small flat islands in oceans do have airports and they are much more often closed because of weather windspeeds and even when they're open they're often not so easy to land at, but if you can rotate the island to always land and take off in perfect crosswind, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal, and specially if you can minimize the shears with some other technique

[@andrewthwaaa4009]

This comment is a few years late, and probably irrelevant since it’s a vague understanding made by myself after watching a totally irrelevant video. Making airport islands is a possible idea since they ALREADY exists now on Earth. A KZbin video tried to find out how many US oversea bases there are on Earth, and the result was interesting when some extremely small sites are found: they are just one single runway in desserts, mountains, or middle of Atlantic/Pacific. There are no big stations like those in Europe or East Asia, just a runway, and probably some Gas and equipment warehouse beside the runway. I think there existence proves that airport islands is a possible idea.

[@gunnarthegumbootguy7909]

@@andrewthwaaa4009 Yes I'm not saying it's not possible, and of course many flat islands have airports, and airports have been built on artifical islands in Hong Kong, Osaka, and some other places, and for military purposes a little here and there, the military use is one thing but for civilian traffic, it's just no needed today... modern engines are so fuel efficient on big jets airliners you can fly to anywhere on earth without a stopover. Maybe building one in the mid atlandic to serve as a hub for airlines to serve shorter flights directly to smaller locations in Europe, Africa and the Americas near the middle of the atlantic, maybe slightly closer to africa than the americas at 15°N to 20°N would be a good location for hub that could fly smaller flights to all over africa, europe, most of north america (but NA west coast, but flying to Seattle, SFO, LAX, Vancouver, Tijuana with some bigger flights might be enough...) I'm not sure if it would make any economic sense though

[@SherrickDuncan]

Gunnar making a blanket stament like "the ocean is windy" is silly. Have you not heard of THE DULDRUMS?

[@TheebayOffroader]

I love space and everything about it. I have been looking for years for a channel that will satisfy my hunger for knowledge, both factual and fantasy. I have finally found it. Thank you Isaac and team. As for the "speech impediment". It's no impediment, this channel wouldnt be the same without your AMAZING Gone With The Wind lilt. SCARLETT: Isaac, Isaac....Isaac, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do? ISAAC: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'm off to Mars!

[@gvasilyev84]

I enjoyed this episode immensely - it's talking about things we might well see in our lifetime! So simple, that I envisioned most of them myself, but you display them so elegantly and with just the right amount of details :) Thanks for this episode Isaac! :)

[@AlohaMilton]

Lived on a small boat in an anchorage at an island commercially fishing sea urchins, dropped off daily catch at a pickup ship that arrived nightly with groceries and supplies and occasional parts for minor maintenance. Usually 3-5 days at sea, sometimes a few more than that. Sort of 'seasteading' in a way. I think this topic is happening and has been for a long time. The oil industry has done it for a century, surfers in california have been dodging the rusting pillings of 'ghost towns' since the 70's. Old oil piers and islands focusing swells near shore. The reason most dont just stay at sea and have the groceries delivered is not technological, it's that the ocean is freaking powerful and at times it turns itself inside out. 20 foot ground swells with a crossing 15 foot wind chop, happens. The fetch area of the wind over water, imparting energy, you do not want to just live in that, it gets very VERY intense, frequently in just about any large body of water.

[@stuffhappensdownsouth9899]

i once watched a video of a guy down in mexico who built his own island with empty plastic bottles and nets a layer to dirt and and planted trees it cant go into sea water because the plants need the fresh water but its an interesting concept, why not use Styrofoam? it doesn't break down easy and even if a catastrophic event happens it would still remain buoyant and any part of it underwater wouldn't burn

[@microsoftaddict]

Jay Means his name is richart sowa. His island is near isla mujeres. It is in salt water and the plants are mangroves so they have no problem with it. His island actually held up pretty well but he got sidetracked with a project with discovery channel or something and now his island has begun to deteriorate quite a lot

[@10gamer64]

@@microsoftaddict The first one was destroyed in 2005

[@ihaveyoud9553]

Thanks for uploading, Isaac.

[@dlt074]

Anexed? I think the word you were looking for was liberated.

[@Terenin]

Not everyone here speak American.

[@TeddyKrimsony]

depends on who you are, if you're the US or EU then it's liberation but if you're Russia or China then it's annexation.

[@eaudesolero5631]

@@TeddyKrimsony i'm not sure that is what russia or china say about it

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

@@TeddyKrimsony I think that in China's case it is more like "nah, this was always ours".

[@d007ization]

This was such a "realistic" episode that it restored my faith in ... some humans, some generations down the line, not repeating our mistakes and catastrophes.

[@SkitterComic]

not done with the video yet, but I think this is where "The Expanse" got things a little wrong. If people can live in outer space, they can totally make sea habitats. That overcrowding thing seems off if you can make floating cities. and they certainly had the technology to do so.

[@darthmortus5702]

Who says they did not do that though? Earth on TE has 30bil people, provided that on average they live like average Westerners today (they should live better with all the new tech, plus their avg. lifetime is much much higher than ours) that is a great strain on the planet and it is likely the seas are tapped, not to mention polluted too as we saw.

[@sankhyohalder97]

I upvoted your comment because that is a good observation, unless they outright show us the level of overpopulatio and nonexistent resource availability on earth, we have to ask why the belters interested in a free state or culture wouldn't just find a place on land. With much less economic coercion to boot. Unless they just want to go to space, with those ideals as as secondary nice to have!

[@sankhyohalder97]

@@darthmortus5702 ah, but they didn't! I don't remember seeing a floating city or such in the show. And while you could say that it would be needed for a population of 30 billion, that might also have been met by building superdense cities, with some quality of life improvements over living in the belt. That's too much to assume for most people, so its glaring absence indicates the writers ignored the possibility or wrung their hands of it..

[@sankhyohalder97]

Ps: I've been writing a pet novel for a while, one as hard core in the SciFi realism scale as I could get. I already had ideas about independent island stages or great ocean faring cities, having sibling rivalries with space based colonies for fights and recognition from the incumbents... It's a fresh look, and I'm very happy to have an original approach haha

[@notablegoat]

There could be political or economic reasons why it hasn't happened. "Everybody needs the oceans, nobody gets to stake them out with cities." Or, maybe they're worried about environmental impact. A past evironmental crisis is part of the Expanse canon, and the UN was put in charge to deal with it - maybe the idea of moving millions or billions of waste-producing people into the sensitive, vital oceans is dangerous or nearly universally abhorrent.

[@12Mantis]

One material that might be useful for pontoons and platforms could be pykrete (ice with impurities added to change its melting point) since it wont rust like metal. Granted these would need active cooling (though perhaps not that much with access to cold water from deeper ocean levels) but with a desalination system and freezing facilities on hand repairing sections or even creating expansions onto that island would be much easier.

[@trenchf00t88]

Isaac, I appreciate the quality of your videos, and I've noticed that your speech has improved considerably! Thanks!

[@thumper8684]

One thing you have to bear in mind with oceans; they are not just big but stupendously massive. When you have a lot of water all going in one direction that is hard to hold back.

[@smguy7]

Anyone remember the fictitious Sea State in David Brin's Earth?

[@soareverix]

I love the views : comments ratio! This community is great :)

[@DrunkenUFOPilot]

Must watch this twice! The first time, I was enjoying the imagery too much to listen! Very good food for the eye and imagination.

[@rhuiah]

Great episode. I absolutely love the thought of taking a lifetime or three to go island hopping from one continent to another, with every island along the way being it's own unique location.

[@andreaaristokrates9516]

I'm sorry to say, but I think this episode, how should I say this... It is the most down to Earth one, with the most potentially-actually-one-in-the-future concepts. Living on water is the most tempting thing, you just hang a big net (oversimplified of course) out and food collects itself or plastic. If done properly it will be a great test run for space habitats, a lot of closed loop systems can and should be used on floating cities. The greatest problem is populating and getting it started, people don't like to move to an empty city, even with government incentives.

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

"We're going to leave the ethical aspects for other people to ponder on their own." So... we're going to talk about it in the way that humans have actually proceeded thus far.

[@kairon156]

oh oh. Algae or Kelp as bio-fuel for seafaring habitats would be an interesting location. I recently found out there's a tour ship that sold it's rooms rather than rent. Like condos I assume.

[@Khannea]

Hi! from the Netherlands

[@woodsmanwhitesmith6928]

howdy from Texas

[@6anon]

Hey! Ive seen you all across the youtube science sphere for a long time now

[@andrew1717xx]

@@6anon Hi. Who you talking to?

[@6anon]

the op meng

[@thumper8684]

If you want to see how hydraulic engineering should be done visit the Netherands. They made half of their own counntry by reclaiming land from the sea. I wish hydraulic engineers had the same respect in my country.

[@oldkid8811]

Didn't see the most currently relevant reason for artificial islands listed. Militarized artificial islands, effective non-mobile aircraft carriers. See China's artificial islands in the south China sea. This could even be a factor in a coming major conflict.

[@petersmythe6462]

Immobile UNSINKABLE aircraft carriers.

[@oldkid8811]

@@petersmythe6462 unsinkable by conventional means anyway. There is always a nuke, or a tsunami or asteroid strike. The later two could be man caused/guided.

[@sh4dow666]

@Old Kid the first one too

[@singletona082]

I am a big fan of the modular island concept where each unit is able to attach/detatch so it's all like a giant RV except on the scale of however big you want to make ships, which can get pretty big. Then have those do seasonal (or whatever intervul) migrations around the globe for the sake of sightseeing, research, trade, or whatever. Not sure how practical they are, but then again Hi, you must be new here.Welcome to SFIA.

[@michaelhayes7849]

Well done. The high sea operations has been a field of study for me for around 10 years. I'm an ex-commercial fisherman who has the time for such heavy STEM based reading over such a wide field of subjects. I've compiled a sort of outline of the engineering package I believe to be the most useful for a rapid deployment with the greatest potential for scale. I'll past that file along. We need scale above all else as the planetary carbon cycle needs a 6-8 GtC/y adjustment for a few generations and we have ~60M displaced people needing far better lives. That population can explode most any day. Deep sea operations offers rapid scale up potential which is unlike near shore operations due to policy, funding, and STEM reasons.

[@jbrassard100]

Always glad to see these ideas get attention. The founders of America viewed their new nation as an opportunity to experiment with different styles of government. They allowed each state a high level of autonomy so as to encourage different approaches. I look forward to seeing how enterprises like the Seasteading Institute's project in French Polynesia tackle the political and engineering challenges facing stateless, seafaring societies.

[@AzoreanProud]

In the Amazon's people created floating islands on lakes and rivers for agriculture. And created "Terra Preta" still a mistery since it occupies thousands of square miles it's a man made fertile land.

[@doomslayer417]

When I think of floating islands moving the first thought that comes into my head is the raft cities from mortal engines

[@hughmilner7013]

All of your videos are fascinating and I'm always happy to see a new one, but these earth-based ones in particular just get me so excited about the possibilities for Earth's future.

[@m.c.miller]

Finally covered the topic that I'm most interested in. I think it's a priority alongside space exploration and colonization.

[@alexandroutsos5990]

Holy crap!!! I'm so happy this series is coming out!

[@thetigerking2613]

We already have a country built on seabead, the Netherlands.

[@justarandomname420]

Arthur's Day, huzzah!

[@wildanS]

Yallah Yallah!

[@jesseedmondson2861]

This sounds like an exciting series. I'm looking forward to what you have in store.

[@greggillson388]

A favorite topic/day dream of mine. You've hit most of the points I've thought about. Another plus for modularity is to repair/ dry dock sections. I like the partially submerged floating pontoon idea because it exists today (as oil rig) and has survived hurricanes. It seems to me that pirates/ drug gangs might be a reason to make such islands parts of actual nations for protection. I'm looking at it as "new land" for sea homesteaders.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

I enjoyed this one a lot. Thank you. I read the Millenium Project, and got really obsessed with floating islands for a while. This was nostalgic, and inherently cool.

[@QazwerDave]

7:05 Is that my beautiful Norway ?

[@anonymeroverlord]

Is it? I was going to ask where that location is.

[@hwplugburz]

Hie Isaac! Awesome I think its the first time I`ve seen anything from Norway in any of your videos, (and I have seen every1 you have posted atleast onse). But those airphotos at 7:05 to 7:33 ish just have to be the norwegian lofoten islands, right ?

[@QazwerDave]

How about big floating constructions that could chase the weather for crop production with free rain hydration ?

[@englishcoach7772]

I love your videos. I think a lot of your ideas are so thought provoking, i never know which videos will be more interesting.

[@theroh1552]

Hello Isaac, I'm really glad you made this video. This is probably my favorite episode so far. I have some nitpicks though as I have been an advocate by the years. 1) You didn't mention the Seasteading Institute/Blue Frontiers and the work done in the French Polynesian Islands. 2) And the point of starting your own Island isn't "lawlessness". It's about that restart button on society. It's about making your own society and having the freedom to leave it as you wish. Currently, it's not very realistic for people to leave under current situations as their house, job and family keep them in one place. Either I have to spend tens of thousands of dollars or convince millions of people to think like me whom many are hostile to my ideas. I understand it would be immoral to force my view on millions of my fellow citizens against their will and hence this would be the best place. 3) I wouldn't worry about relationships between current Nation States. Many of these nations will have international citizens on them. Even if a modern government would want to take over a platform by force, it would lead to casualties on both sides and death of foreign citizens which would not look good internationally. Attacking a bunch of peaceful people isn't the best optics. By the time these nations are big, I'd imagine they would have some serious military power and attacking individual floating houses isn't smart. 4) You should have gone thought floating fusion reactors where there is a near endless supply of Hydrogen. I believe this will be the new frontier of medicine. And it would also solve the immune system problem by providing an isolated area for a sterile environment. This would allow the body to adjust to more radical changes. I mean this would allow for things like ~showracemenu command in the Elder Scrolls Series to work in real life (but much more complicated). As soon as Seasteading is affordable for my self, I'm moving provided I can get a job there.

[@megaseano100]

Absolutely love this topic and looking forward to more of Earth 2.0 Series. I am very interested in the application of technology not only to become a space faring civilization, but focusing on applying it to where we live now to create a much improved society.

[@jaifuller4828]

I think this has been my favorite episode so far.

[@marinuslouis]

Thanks Isaac, I'm so excited for this new series!!!

[@MilanSvitek]

Yay! SFIAday! My favourite day of the week! ❤️

[@sspence65]

Absolutely fantastic. Educational, and insightful.