# Why hasn't there more of a push for ocean colonization? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146 "2022-06-29T21:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SmartBulbInc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@SmartBulbInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartBulbInc)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/61 "2022-06-30T23:22:53Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Such as? I am curious. I have been following the technology for nearly a decade, and I’ve not seen anything out there saying they’re on the verge of advances, other than slightly reducing the amount of brine produced for each amount of fresh water. “Slightly” is the keyword here. Even reducing it by 1% would mean millions of gallons of water that could potentially be extracted for the use of a hypothetical city that otherwise would be basically useless otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/62 "2022-06-30T23:28:52Z")
Right now the cost of water from a desal plant is 100 times more expensive than water used for agriculture in the desert southwest. It’ll take a lot more than a 1% reduction to make that viable. And you’ve still got brine waste. You asked why there hasn’t been more of a push for ocean colonization. The responses in this thread clearly answer your question. It’s not economically viable. Thanks for generating an interesting and thought provoking discussion about it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/63 "2022-07-01T00:17:50Z")
> [@SmartBulbInc](#): > > At least in the case of the oceans, it would be more probable that they could build our colonies in the open ocean where few ecosystems exist. So you are saying they will be built outside the environment? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3m5qxZm_JqM/hqdefault.jpg "Clarke and Dawe - The Front Fell Off") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/64 "2022-07-01T00:43:59Z")
Earth is existentially screwed due to the massive climate changes that humans are causing. We continue to make almost no effort to do anything about it. Your great-grandchildren will have to live in refrigerated caves deep underground just to survive but many of them will still die horrible deaths from famine and war. Are we fucked? Yes, yes we are. Thus, it’ll clearly be far better to try to colonize space instead of the oceans because: _In Space No One Can Hear You Scream_ ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/65 "2022-07-01T01:00:09Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > So you are saying they will be built outside the environment? Damn you! I was coming here to post that clip! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/66 "2022-07-01T03:39:14Z")
> [@SmartBulbInc](#): > > “Space,” is finite as well. Not within the next few trillion years will we even see all of it. But, it is still for all purposes, limited to the local cluster. Sure, it would take far longer to colonize all of that than populating the oceans, but the argument of “it’s finite bro, what’s the point” doesn’t really make sense. Your argument seems to be the oceans are big and space is big, so they’re about the same size. Which is not true. Space, even with our current technology, is far far far bigger than the oceans. > [@SmartBulbInc](#): > > Not even taking into account the idea that the middle of the ocean, or the ocean floor might be colonized, with just the surface, the oceans could support tens of billions of people. How do you figure that? The total population of Earth right now is less than eight billion people and, as you noted, were overpopulated. There’s about twice as much ocean as there is land. So if we could fill the oceans to the same overpopulated degree we’ve filled the land, that would be around sixteen billion people. But that’s a ridiculous assumption. We’re a land-based species and all of our environment throughout history has been land-based. Let’s be charitable and assume an ocean-based society could function at a quarter of the population density land-based societies can. That means the total population capacity of the oceans is around four billion additional people. And then the oceans are full. Because, as you put it, it’s finite bro. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/67 "2022-07-01T03:39:58Z")
I define future probability by the number of “ifs” needed for it to succeed. If we have a breakthrough in desalinization technology is one. If we find a use for brine is another. I see at least three or four others in your earlier posts. Five or six if futures will happen one time in a million years. You can’t use hindsight to say that the present is full of ifs. Of course it is. But except in the vaguest of terms, no one ever predicted a future with five or six specific ifs that has come to pass. The world is too random for that. Some technological breakthroughs will occur. Some totally unexpected advances will occur. They will lead to remarkable worlds. Just not any predictable ones. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/68 "2022-07-01T03:48:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The total population of Earth right now is less than eight billion people and, as you noted, were overpopulated. And already overfishing the oceans. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/69 "2022-07-01T04:18:20Z")
If I’m remembering correctly from other threads, if we run out of space in the oceans, we can just suck all the water out of the Great Lakes and use it to make more ocean. And the newly-exposed land can be populated with Solar Freaking Roadways and tiny houses made out of shipping containers to solve all of the land problems as well! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146/70 "2022-07-01T12:50:40Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Earth is existentially screwed Earth will be fine. 20 million years from now, it’ll be tough to tell we were ever here. A billion years from now, nearly all traces will be gone. We’re the ones who are screwed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-hasnt-there-more-of-a-push-for-ocean-colonization/967146.md?page=3)