Thai naval officers inspecting a a floating dwelling in the Andaman Sea.(Photo: Royal Thai Navy)

Seasteading, living on floating dwelling on oceans outside nation boundaries,is beingpromoted by groups that want to test new ideas on communal living in a utopian experiment.

One groupchampioning it is the Seasteading Institute, which claims that the sea, through "floating cities,"is a way to "allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for how to live together."

Another is Ocean Builders a group that describes itself as "a team of engineering focused entrepreneurs who have a passion for seasteading and plans to sell dwellings.

A floating dwelling, 12 nautical miles off the coast of Phuket, Thailand, is part of a controversy involving a Michigan native and his girlfriend.(Photo: Royal Thai Navy)

Butthis week,Chad Elwartowski, a Michigan man who sought to live on the ocean in a prototype,octagon-shaped dwellingwith his girlfriend, a Thai citizen,is in deep water with theThai government, which alleges that he infringing on its national sovereignty.

Elwartowski said he is is now on the run, and could bebe imprisoned for life or suffer the death penalty if he and his girlfriend are caught.

The Seasteading Institute says that living in international waters on permanent platformsarea way to "allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for how to live together."

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The institute was founded in 2008 by Patri Friedman a political economic theorist who also is the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman and technology entrepreneur Peter Thiel.

It also is encouraging countries to pass legislation that could lead to moreseasteading projects.

Elwartowski, who moved into a seastead built by Ocean Builders,has suggestedthat seasteading efforts allow people a chanceto start over.

"It's basically a blank slate," he says in a YouTubevideo, promising that 20 more seasteads would be built based on what his experience. "Hopefully, with this great blank slate, we can create some great governance."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

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