These giant floating piers let visitors walk on water, made from renewable interlocking plastic cubes

submitted by magnora7 from youtube.com

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[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (13 children)

I like how he used mangrove trees to hold it together too, that's smart. The use of trash is cool too. But I wonder how much all those plastic netted bags cost that he used.

I wonder if you could combine his techniques with the plastic cubes island idea to achieve a bigger island for lower cost...

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

Rather than worrying about the cost though, you'd probably want your island to be built to last on the stormy seas!

Richart's first island was destroyed by a hurricane in the Caribbean because he didn't have any built-in navigation capabilities or he may not have been able to tow it out of danger quick enough with a boat. The new island Jyxee is better updated and expanding but, if you are going to spend as much time and effort into something; might as well build it with contingency plans and tactical features in mind to avoid the known dangers.

And I would assume, it wouldn't be very cheap due to the increasing number of those tactical features and regular maintenance of them. But the cost cutting aspect would really be in the logistics of bringing those features together gradually without skimping on the longevity of the project. You'd still need a secondary income of being an internet business starter or something for sure to keep your private island lol.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

Here's a map of every hurricane recorded: https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/7000/7079/tropical_cyclone_map_lrg.gif

So it seems there are large areas where you could avoid the hurricane problem altogether.

Then you want a place with small wave energy so there's not huge waves: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/World_wave_energy_resource_map.png

So you could overlay those maps and find a good spot where nature wouldn't mess with you too much. Seems maybe either side of South America?

And then if we were counteracting tides, we'd want a place with low speed current flow of water, so here's a world current map: https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/91/53891-004-88DDD871.jpg

Looks like east of Brazil in the middle of the ocean might be a good spot, it's good on all 3 maps.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Nice find! Those are prime locations for ocean parking but if you are too close to land, you'd still need permissions from respective governments to stay and would probably have to pay taxes/fees since this project would be considered a glorified boat. Being isolated out in the ocean without contact to land for very long would be too messy; so this wouldn't be a cheaper project if it was to be done right.

However, there is a chance to build more of these islands and rent them out accordingly... the sky could be the limit on what you could get, and may solve your money woes :)$

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Here's a map of international waters, just overlay that with the previous maps: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/International_waters.svg/1200px-International_waters.svg.png

I think this might be a doable thing.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Totally doable and maybe even worth the challenge! You're going to need a team with some skills and expertise than going it alone though. You will be much faster by yourself, but a dedicated team can help you go further over time. Start by contacting some engineers/architects and develop a model of the product with its different components and simulate it against the forces involved. If your product is sound, create your own business model and you may just have a lucrative career as an island leasing ocean-lord pirate ahead of you!

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Yeah I think I'd need like $400k to get started though probably. I'd imagine just to get it going I'd need 2 ocean-worthy boats, and then enough of those plastic cubes to do like a quarter-acre of land. And then several more electric motors, and many solar panels and the electronics to run that. And then the mangrove trees, and gas to gather all the floating plastic and to bring everything out there. Sounds like about $400k minimum. Maybe I could talk to that french orange island artist guy and see if he'd fund me lol.

Wouldn't it be cool if there was like a saidit island that was a real place you could move to, with its own laws

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

o_O You've already planned so far ahead...

Wouldn't it be cool if there was like a saidit island that was a real place you could move to, with its own laws

Probably not. I enjoy the conformist order of mainstream society so I can chaotically pull at the strings for the increased confusion and bewilderment of local citizenry and many surveillance operators. Pretty much what I do around this site sometimes lol.

But in real life if it was an outlaw paradise, I wouldn't have the counterbalance to keep me in check. As a vacation or a bug out place, absolutely! Who wouldn't want their own private island they can drive around the ocean to get away from the local autho... I mean bugs. Those darn bugs and mosquitoes. :XD

[–]magnora7[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

o_O You've already planned so far ahead...

Haha thanks.

Good points, it wouldn't be total anarchy. Also people would have to pay to get there, so that would act as a filter as well. But anyway I just think the concept of inventing a nation on what was previously just open ocean, to be very exciting. Lots of possibilities! Imagine if it got up to being a city of hundreds of people... you could literally create real-estate where there previously was none. It could even become profitable if you could sell the "land" for more than it costs to build it. If it was profitable then it could grow very quickly.

To run with the idea to the full extent, imagine 300 years from now 5% of the oceans are covered in floating land... It sounds like a sci-fi novel, but it could potentially happen someday! I'd love to be in on the ground floor of an idea like that

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

That is an interesting and risky idea! The majority of the earth is water in comparison to the land, and we still do not completely know everything about the depths of the oceans. If there could be fully sustainable, floating oceanic cities; it might also drive the impetus to finally uncover the depths within them.

There is some room for uncertainty though as tectonic plates have been known to rise and fall with changes happening to the ocean periodically. So its risky for the cities involved due to tsunami's, whirlpools and water-spouts. If those cities could sail AND fly then the technology could be be employed in extraterrestrial arenas.

A lot of this sounds like it is already in the beginning phases under Ocean colonization with projects like Very large floating structures, Freedom Ship and theoretical havens operating outside government territories called Sea-steading.

I'm not entirely sold on the premises of this movement though despite offering some initial relief to scarcity of land. Maybe if they more thoroughly ironed out the pitfalls of human dwellings in general through simulated modalities, then a movement towards the ocean could be ideal.