The first steps in that process are currently underway.

"We're going to start very small with sustainable floating islands in the protected lagoon of Tahiti, for about 250 people," Quirk says in Episode 289 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "We hope to have this available by 2020."

Floating cities of the future would feature vast underwater algae farms that would provide a healthy food source for residents. Quirk says that algae can be much more appetizing than most people realize.

"Somebody discovered that if you smoke dulse, it tastes like bacon," he says. "One of the guys that was featured on Iron Chef serves it in his restaurants."

Eventually the Seasteading Institute hopes to develop floating platforms for individual families, which would make it easy to leave one seastead and join another.