Makatea

Makatea is one of the novel's primary settings. It is an island in French Polynesia. In the present, 82 people call Makatea home. Years prior, the island nation found its economic power from mining phosphate. The French annexed the land in 1896 after discovering the mineral on Makatea. The island did indeed do well and saw economic prosperity and socio-cultural growth for many decades. However, when the mines closed in the 1960s, the island suffered and the population rapidly dwindled.

In the present, the Makatea islanders are eager to protect their home. They know that the Californians' seasteading proposition might help them economically, but they also fear that the new modular cities will threaten the island ecosystems and wildlife which have only recently begun to recover from the phosphate mining years prior. They ultimately decide against the seasteading project to protect Makatea.

University of Illinois

Todd Keane, Rafi Young, and...