Ray Dalio, one of the richest people in the world, has teamed up with famed director James Cameron as part of a major new scientific venture. Their project, dubbed OceanX, aims to explore the uncharted depths of the ocean, over 95% of which has never been surveyed.
OceanX is the maritime answer to SpaceX, Elon Musk’s private space exploration & transportation company. The establishment of OceanX comes after years of Dalio proclaiming that ocean exploration should be much higher on our list of priorities than space exploration.
"You go out to outer space and you get an interesting picture of what the Earth in outer space looks like, and then you go to Mars and you get a lot of rocks. I’m not saying it’s not interesting, but how many times can you look at the Earth from up there and say, 'Wow,' and how many times can you go to Mars? I think it’s far more exciting and I think it’s far more intimate in terms of affecting our lives," Dalio said.
Ray Dalio is worth an estimated $17.4 billion, which landed him the number 26 spot on the Forbes 400 list 2017. He founded and manages Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, with a portfolio worth over $160 billion. Clearly, Dalio has the cash to back such a project, although you may be wondering why he has decided to team up with the same guy that gave us Terminator and Titanic.
While Cameron may be one of the most successful directors in the world, he says he only makes films to fund his true passion: deep sea exploration. In fact, Cameron has revealed that the only reason he made Titanic, one of the most famous and decorated films in history, was so he could fund his own deep sea dive to the wreck. He is also the only person to make a solo dive to the Challenger deep, the deepest spot on Earth, and has developed a new type of motion capture technology to record actors underwater to film the sequels to Avatar. So while he might seem like an odd choice at first, he is actually the perfect teammate for Dalio.
OceanX will be used to fund research & development, manned and unmanned deep sea dives, documentaries, and other content, such as virtual reality experiences. Ultimately, the two men believe that the project will help us grow our understanding of rare and undiscovered plant & animal life, develop new food production techniques, and identify potential cures or treatments for a variety of illnesses.