Over five years ago I launched a project in Fiji, called Tribewanted. The basic idea was to bring together people from around the world, online, in order to create and develop an eco-island on an uninhibited 200 acre island in Fiij. The result of Tribewanted are, humbly, far reaching.
There are people who have met, through tribewanted, and, subsequently, have got married. Babies have been born as a result. Some people have even moved to the other side of the world and, have barely returned. When I came up with the idea of Tribewanted I could never have imagined any of these things, but herein lies the power of potential.
I have recently come across another project, launched this week, by the serial entrepreneur, Ben Way, called ‘Arc Island‘. Launched on kickstarter with the intention of raising an initial $50,000 seed money, the aim is to build a floating island, the size of Manhattan, in what would be the biggest civil engineering project in history. Ben’s goal is that everything, will be built from scratch, and a new structure of civilization will be created.
When I first heard of this project I genuinely thought, ‘what is the point!’ It sounds like a load of cash and for what purpose? However, having thought about this over the course of a week, my thought process has changed. When I launched Tribewanted many people asked, ‘why?’. Some people didn’t get it and for awhile it was in the ‘weird’ section of the press until it became more mainstream and became a tv programme.
When Thomas Edison set about creating the electric lightbulb, was he fully aware of the effect that this would have, what it would become? Did Thomas Edison know that the lightbulb would light homes, streets, workplaces, providing lighting for cars, did he know that it would dramatically improve the lives of so many? Of course he didn’t. The only thing that Thomas Edison knew is that it could be done and he wanted to prove to himself, not necessarily, to anyone else, that it could be done. After 10,000 attempts later the lightbulb was invented and history was changed. Where would we be without the lightbulb? One of the most exciting and fascinating aspects of human life is that we have the power to create, to create whatever it is within our imagination to create.
At the beginning of the week I read about the Arc Island Project and thought, ‘why?’ and now I am thinking, ‘what if it never happened?’ Just like the lightbulb, could the existence of the Arc Island Project radically change our lives in ways that we cannot even conceive right now? Of course it could!
I believe in the Arc Island Project, not because of what I see, but, because of what I don’t see yet, but what I know is there, it’s untapped potential.
So, with this in mind I am contributing to the KickStart Fund and I hope enough people get on board in order to make this happen. Thomas Edison was one person, who made a dramatic contribution, that changed the way that human being’s live their lives. Imagine what a heap of mini Thomas Edison’s could do, by contributing a small amount of money, and making the Arc Island Project happen, and how future generations may be revolutionised by this very project.
Click on the video below to hear more about the Arc Island Project:
Please add your contribution to fund this project via Kickstarter.
Good post Mark, especially when you say “I believe in the Arc Island Project, not because of what I see, but, because of what I don’t see yet” – as the entrepreneur David Murdock once said “To do the impossible, you must see the invisible” so true!
Great stuff Scott. I am really starting to get excited by the things that we do not see. Who would have seen google, twitter, facebook, who would have seen many ‘inventions’? Only one pair of eyes, the eyes of the believer and, so each of these projects were born and changed lives forever. What else is lingering in the unseen. Time will tell, exciting times!