Like in the 19th century, when many people left the cities of the Eastern US to gain independence by claiming a patch of land and working it — which was known as "homesteading" — "seasteaders" hope to create a new social, economic and political frontier on the ocean.

That's the vision of "seavangelist" Joe Quirk, author of the new book, "Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick and Liberate Humanity from Politicians."

Quirk got involved in the seasteading movement after attending his 10th Burning Man festival. He says he became fascinated by watching rules emerge that "are not predictable from their initial parameters." "You start imagining, what if we could have more societies like these? What if they didn't just last a week, but all year round?" Quirk says. "What if we could have hundreds [of these societies]? What interesting ways that people could get along would we discover?"