By Nathalie Mezza-Garcia

Laurel Tincher, Head of Marketing at Blue Frontiers, proudly wearing the seasteading t-shirt that says “Stop Arguing, Start Seasteading”

The current economic position of each nation reflects trajectories set in the past. Statistically, countries that were previously imperialistic are safer and enjoy higher standards of living. A great part of this success is a result of invasions and international wars. Wars are, indeed, a huge business. Seasteading is based on the premise that the lack of fixed territories can lead to freer human societies. Pathologies such as national borders should not exist on the ocean. International conflicts over territory would be less likely and individual mobility would be the norm in the realm of seasteading.

Years ago I was tempted to see if I could trace a direct correlation between individual mobility and high GDP per capita. I saw this relationship as a chicken and egg problem. I didn’t know which came first, individual mobility or international economic power. In a quest to discover the answer, I analyzed the visa policies of 231 places with data from VisaHQ (http://www.visahq.com).

Entry degree vs exit degree without a tourist visa

What I found was that countries with higher GDP per capita have high out-degrees and low in-degrees. This means that the higher the GDP per capita of a country, the more frequently its citizens can enter other countries without a visa, and the greater the likelihood its frontiers are closed to foreigners from countries with low out-degrees. I then realized that, just as with the chicken and egg, the chicken - mobility, in this case- came first. Colonial-driven international mobility led to the current trajectories of many countries with high GDPs per capita.

I have been aware of this issue from an early age, being a Colombian. I have asked for more visas than I can remember. I have wasted weeks and weeks of my life collecting the paperwork required to obtain visas.

The amount of documents required for one of my last trips

Due to this, I feel an intense desire to work on finding ways in which contemporary cutting-edge technologies can lead to a more equal, diverse, and inclusive world. I believe that seasteading is one answer. It can bring new solutions to the economic inequalities resulting from past colonialism. The absence of physical frontiers can lead to an increase in mobility. In turn, this can reduce international economic inequality. In other words, the dynamic nature of self-assembling human settlements at the core of seasteads could mean a more equal world. Seasteading can lead to the end of demoralizing visa policies.

Not only that; Seasteading can solve what neither representative democracy nor the internet have been able to. Representative democracy and the internet also produce gender inequality. Men run most governments and tech companies, despite extensive evidence showing how gender-balanced groups produce more robust business performance (1). Diversity is key to the evolution and success of complex systems (2)(3), which human societies are. Yet, cutting-edge technologies and governance are still male-dominated.

As a seasteader — and a defender of almost no “isms”- I know I am part of a political movement with real potential for creating a fairer world. A world within which it is an individual’s potential, rather than luck or prior success that determines economic income. (I’m thinking here about the findings of these academic articles (4) (5) on the role of luck and randomness on success). A world within which the lack of luck in the initial conditions of an individual do not iterate in fixed, history-dependent processes. I am referring to gender and nationality. I see seasteading as the breaking point in these glass ceilings.

This is why, as the Seavangelesse of Blue Frontiers, I want to make sure that technological transformations of the twenty-first century do result in a better world. Projects that Blue Frontiers is working on, such as Blue Frontiers Global, Blue Communities and the crowdfunding mechanism of Blue Frontiers are exceptionally useful (visit varyon.io). They will crowdsource the individuals who would aspire to move to a seastead. This is important because seasteads are an opportunity to start from scratch. Therefore, unlike other contemporary cutting-edge technologies, seasteading has a very important differentiating factor. Besides being both an engineering and blockchain technology, seasteading is a social technology focused on creating new societies. Once deployed, seasteading could help us avoid the continuation along the trajectory of exclusive gender demographics of governments and the tech world. Seasteads can free us from economic and gender inequalities as well as from our political pasts. As Seavangelesse of Blue Frontiers, a woman and a Colombian, every day I look forward to seeing how seasteading can lead to a more heterogeneous world.

Proudly wearing the seasteading t-shirt for a more equalitarian world