The Theory Of Everything

Encompassing art, culture, science, and technology, CEO Aaron Olivera’s Earth 300 mega yacht could potentially herald humanity’s second renaissance

- Jonathan Ho

The Renaissance of the 14th to 17th centuries was a time of great growth, not just in terms of culture, art, civility and economy a rebirth following the Middle Ages but also in terms of the human spirit. It coincided with the Scientific Revolution, traditionally assumed to have started with 1543’s Copernican Revolution. It is perhaps historical irony that now, more so than any other time in Antiquity, that there are a growing number of humans who believe that the world is flat.

In the face of growing income gap, a contagious plague and a new breed of capitalist aristocracy, Aaron Olivera stands out as a beacon on a darkening horizon. As governments hoard vaccines and political parties debate the veracity of climate change, the 42-year-old Gibraltar native wants to build a high-tech nuclear-powered ship equipped with state-of-the-art technology not to explore not the final frontier, but the one that is in our backyard.

Ironically more than 80 per cent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved and unexplored. The Earth 300, with its liquid metal walls and advanced robotics, is Olivera’s dream-given form. At the cost of US$700 million, the 300 metre-long megayacht will be home to 160 of the brightest minds on the planet, working in a “science sphere” of 22 laboratories. With the backing of Martin Yates, Dell Technologies’ chief technology officer for international smart digital cities, we can think of Earth 300 as a seafaring Starship Enterprise, a vessel dedicated to science and exploration with 20 “experts in residence” spanning across all fields, over 160 support staff and of course, students the next generation of scientists.