Plan B

Fri 7 Jan 2022 update

https://www.notion.so/basex/BaseX-wiki-9fa4e5cd47e3406988eba79fa9d504e5

Also obtained basex.com domain - proof of seriousness about the project.

Fri 31 Jul 2020 update

XPRIZE: https://community.xprize.org/discussion/825/basex-meta-xprize-habitat-technology-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F-%EF%B8%8F/

BaseX: https://basexisland.com/

Tue 13 Aug 2019 update:

Actually, we can do something about it, Extinction Rebellion brings us hope: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xZUVnHsMNZQEWee6IkkdUmz04cfA51XirIdW2swsGCI/edit

The result of many thinking hours and rounds of feedback.

Crystalised vision that awaits implementation.

Response to Deep Adaptation, even before it was a term.

Do you think it is too late and we need a Plan B?
Background thinking process:


 * 1.5°C Tipping Points and Feedback Loops, Existential risk, Nuclear Threat
 * Open letter to Extinction Rebellion, Civil disobedience, Global Political Party,
 * Entire Climate Change category

The trouble with climate change is that destructive effects were too slow to trigger immediate actions. Think of some most notable projects in history:


 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program

They were made possible thanks to a common enemy, a goal big enough to motivate the brightest minds.

 $1000 life-support capsule 

 Food + Water + Oxygen + Energy + Waste 

In the simplest form: some space and a shipping container, just add people: craftsmen, geeks, and engineers.



Initial market
Not only preserving humanity but need to make it profitable.

Who will be early adopters, initial target audience? 1% who wants to increase their survival chances.

https://medium.com/s/futurehuman/survival-of-the-richest-9ef6cddd0cc1

"hedge funders asked me the best way to maintain authority over their security forces after 'the event'"

Just like the military, Wall Street and Formula 1 being the predecessors of technological innovation to the masses.

Who will design it?
Inviting engineers and scientists to work on a goal that is way more meaningful than "geek porn".


 * See Human Creativity for examples of infinite potential.
 * https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Hackerspaces
 * https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/07/make-magazine-maker-media-layoffs/ - it's hard to imagine that a company with 15 years in business and events that attract millions of people is shutting down

Collaboration AND competition (antirivalry)
Milestones. Checkpoints. Metrics. Scoring. Reviews.

Open source from the ground up, including the meta-design of the competition.

Periodical checkpoints to compare the notes, do the scoring, allow less successful teams to catch-up and resume another round of collaboration AND competition.

More opportunities learn from each other. Sharing knowledge to maximize the impact.

Avoiding dead ends, putting teams back on track.

Ensuring the right incentives to share the progress at all stages of the program.

Materials and technology
Now we have much more than just stone, wood, steel, glass:
 * superconductors, graphene, aerogel, carbon fiber
 * GoPro suction - if you touch it with your hand it isn't even sticky, but on a flat surface...
 * Facebook 3D-printed drones beaming the internet through the lasers - so incredibly lightweight, staying up in the air for months
 * Sugru
 * Space blanket

Food

 * https://www.astroplant.io/
 * insects: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22508439
 * mulitple growing cycles a year
 * growing meat from stem cells? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat
 * apparently X-Prize already is covering it: https://www.xprize.org/visioneering/feeding-the-next-billion



Water
Recycling and harvesting.

Oxygen
Not applicable in the Earth version. Not required for MVP.

Energy
Efficient use, store and production.

Waste
Ideally "leave no trace" policy.

Budget
$1000 is a round number that in the future will be achievable in the future due to the economy of the scale.

Initially, the one-off purchase cost of materials surely will be higher.

Shipping containers are built to last and they preserve value.

$10000 is more attainable as of now.

Next steps
I do not have the spare resources to fund the main prize. In the meanwhile - polishing the idea, being resourceful with what is available. See also: https://astralship.org/voyages


 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansari_X_Prize#Motivation
 * Diamandis developed a fully formed idea for a "suborbital space barnstorming prize", and set an initial goal of finding backers to support a US$10 million prize.

Related

 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500
 * https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/19/poshtel-shipping-containers-techcrunch-disrupt-startup-battlefield-2017/




 * Lightnign Talk at Boom Festival: https://youtu.be/r8wPzoX1Ctw - one could argue Burning Man is a terrible waste of resource. It's an unprecedented energy upgrade and it's definitely worth it. Adding a twist - making it a real challenge, 1 year on a desert, you need to grow your own.

Plan B vs BaseX
When sharing the concept of "Plan B" with others, a common reaction is - that's something Elon Musk is doing, making humanity the interplanetary species.

SpaceX - mission to Mars. But who will design the settlement? See: Mars Colony

Also BaseX, decimal system, human have ten fingers.

XPrize has "X" in their name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Prize_Foundation + https://www.xprize.org/visioneering

TODO: Definitely don't want paralysis by analysis and dwelling on the name without getting anything off the ground.



Blueprint of a civilization
The concept could be modular and create aggregate and use of common parts - a few capsules coming together and making use of shared equipment (economy of the scale).

Learning how to live on Earth before spreading out to other space.

A few decades from now you can just hop into the capsule and float in the space - either independently or as a part of a compound.