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lots of different economic and governmental structure... that can survive existing on a raft with no natural source of fresh water let alone any other natural r

lots of different economic and governmental structure... that can survive existing on a raft with no natural source of fresh water let alone any other natural resources except maybe fish. >>And small island nations with good access to shipping and lots of economic freedom have tended to do very well in general. rafts don't actually have good access to shipping, docking two ships at sea is an entirely different proposition than a deep water harbor.

DennisP 8y ago
"Raft" is a slightly ridiculous description of these things. 300 houses is a small pilot project. We're actually pretty good at building large, stable structures at sea. The book covers the technical side of things fairly well. Here's one approach: - Use an OTEC, which pumps deep water to the surface. It generates electricity from the temperature difference and outputs distilled water. - The OTEC also pumps organic material to the surface. That's what happens at natural fisheries. Most of the open ocean lacks any significant ecosystem because everything that dies sinks to the bottom; natural fisheries are places where currents bring that back to the surface. The OTEC does that and makes massive aquaculture possible. Some companies are already doing open-water aquaculture, and the economics have been much better than traditional fish farms, which are quite profitable themselves.