New way of life under the sea

Maybe Rudiger Koch is not in the Octopus’s Garden the Beatles once sang about, but he certainly is liking being under the sea as he pursues a world record for the longest time spent alone under the waves.

He’s been under the water off the coast of Panama for the past two months and he still has two more months to go.

Koch, a 59-year-old aerospace engineer from Germany, hopes his stunt could change the way we think about human life – and where we can settle, even permanently.

“Moving out to the ocean is something we should do as a species,” he told AFP.

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“What we are trying to do here is prove that the seas are actually a viable environment for human expansion.”

Koch’s 30m2 capsule has most of the trappings of modern life: a bed, toilet, TV, computer and internet – even an exercise bike.

Supporting the project is Grant Romundt, from Canada. Both he and Koch have grander visions linked to the libertarian – and at times controversial – “seasteading” movement that envisions ocean-based communities outside government control.

On a table beside his bed, his reading matter is – what else? –Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a 19th-century sci-fi classic.

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