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---------- by William Gale Building Aquarius will require a lot of money and experience. We believe that we can start now on acquiring some of the experience that will be required. Aquarius Rising (AR), defined as an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)-based research facility, will be the site of research on OTECs, seacrete, and mariculture. The expense of an OTEC makes it uncertain when Aquarius Rising can be built. The practicalities of zoning and environmental regulations make it uncertain whether a community can be built in association with the OTEC. We are planning a community that will add usefully to the collective experience of FMF either as a community that begins operating before AR or simultaneously with AR. As an expensive facility, AR will lack one property that Aquarius is expected to have--ownership by the residents. The first role that an experimental land-based colony (which we are, for the moment, calling "SEE") can play is research in the social structure of a settlement which is owned by its residents. To study this, we must make SEE as low-cost as possible. However, it is extremely important to maintain an "attractive" settlement. We mean "attractive" quite literally--it should attract FMF members to move into it, and it should attract non-members to join the FMF. Another sort of question which can be researched at a low cost settlement is whether by reducing our cost of living it is possible for us to direct substantial savings towards FMF-related investments. US savings rates are low, a few percent, and that mainly due to savings by the rich. A study of expeditures suggests that a settlement could allow about 30 percent reductions in cost of living. However, we won't know until we try it. Especially, we will not know how well this reduction in living cost can be translated to an increase in savings rate. A high savings rate among residents of Aquarius (25 percent of income) accounts for a greater cash flow toward further FMF projects than does profits, in economic models. Thus establishing low living costs and supportive social structures that enable and encourage savings is quite important for long-run success of FMF plans. Specific social structure questions that can be addressed include: (1) The settlement is composed of "households." Although the basic guideline is that the household is largely autonomous within its quarters, the relationship between household and settlement is expected to be among the most difficult to evolve. (2) The size of an individual settlement that we can attain. A study of relevant intentional communities in the US shows that it is rare for an individual settlement to exceed 100 adults. The bare data on community populations do not show why this is so. Can our settlements be larger than this? No secular intentional community in the US exceeds 1,000 in population, and yet we want Aquarius to have a population of 100,000. (3) Probably there is some limit to how large an individual settlement of ours can be. There is a model, among religious communities, of growth by multiplying the number of communities. The Hutterites are a religious group who live in about 350 communes worldwide with a total population of about 40,000. The method of growth is quite organic. When one commune becomes too large, then the entire group pitches in to build a new physical structure, and the commune splits. We expect that this model can be followed, but the Hutterite communes remain only very losely coordinated. This is an aspect that we wish to explore. Can direct electronic democracy bind groups of settlements together, for instance? (4) Besides these social and economic issues, SEE can complement Aquarius Rising by gaining experience in technologies which do not require salt water. These technologies are not necessarily new, but they are not ones that our members have professional experience in. We expect community members to have access to modest amounts of capital for starting businesses from savings by community members. Thus we hope to see members develop businesses based on technologies relevant to ocean or space colonies. (5) One set of likely candidates for development into relevant businesses will be technologies that can be developed to make SEE more self sufficient. Recycling technologies, agriculture, and hydroponics are examples. (6) Water recycling fits well with hydroponics, agriculture, and perhaps even aquaculture, especially if SEE is located in a relatively dry area. (7) Another set of businesses are those based on the Internet. Businesses on the Internet are about two years old. They are still dominated by small and nimble companies. Thus there is likely to be room for entrepreneurs on the Net during the next several years. (8) The plans for Aquarius and space colonies call for telecommuting as a major income source for members. We need to develop a generalized expertise at helping members capable of telecommuting sell their services over the Net. This could be in the form of a consulting company able to offer expertise in many areas individually or jointly. In short, we see SEE as a route to gain experience which will complement the experience we can gain through Aquarius Rising. Since it is designed to be low cost, it can proceed independently of outside funding.
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