Network State

A man named Balaji Srinivasan has served up an extraordinary vision. He addresses the ways in which technology will further upend a world in which the very meaning of community has been primarily defined in terms of physical proximity. Even now, perhaps a cloud buddy eight thousand miles away is closer to you than your next door neighbor.

Now extend and extrapolate. The implications are enormous, including the potential reordering of the familiar nation state into overlapping or even autonomous network states -- highly aligned online communities with a capacity for collective action, even political power.

The challenge comes in breaking down this ambitious macro-topic into bite-sized iterative segments. Mr. Srinivasan has done so. His vision is both compelling and free (google Network State for his entire book). The only investment by you is a bit of your time, attention, and some imagination.

The focus interview (02-33-34.webloc) truly sparkles but is long. Be sure to at least watch/read the thirty-minute essence (starting at minute 114:45 of the video and/or page 39 of the transcript linked therein, though the rest of the material provides context and is quite interesting in its own right). The session will consist of our shared epiphanies.

Described in the broadest possible terms, the online world is midwife at the birth of startup communities, rooted in aligned interests. Although these intentional societies may begin in the digital world, a circle of trust arises out of this commonality of purpose as supported by members’ shared contribution, whether it be in-kind or capital. Online communities become “real” once they achieve the capacity for collective action. These online carve-outs themselves are a kind of quasi-decentralization.

The insight of the presentation lies in the subsequent recentralization of those virtual communities into real-world alignments, as we all know true community is fundamentally a human experience. See how the application of readily foreseeable technology can and will bridge these two worlds as pockets of shared trust, interest, and physical interaction coalesce regionally, nationally, or even cross-border into tangible energy. Open-source collaboration, more than geographical proximity, will mold the world.

A tiny glimpse of this promise might be had in the example of Real Vision, which hosted the interview. With its founder and principal located in the Cayman Islands, the organization hosts local, regional, and international forums and is even positioned to offer work space in New York City. The sun never sets on such a community.

Now apply this principle to most any place, to most any subject, including the most recent Member Monday on Virtue Politics (MM 9/12/22 Apocalypse Porn). Just imagine how the Network State might be applied to foster the vetting of candidates, first as a lobby, later as political operative e.g as an extension of the No Labels and/or Forward movements.

Yes, but one may caution, who is to judge whether an alignment of interest necessarily translates to greater good? After all, even a self-defining community with the best of intentions can devolve cult-like into pernicious inbreeding, eventually leading to the moral equivalent of bowed legs and crooked teeth.

But, for now, let us imagine the promise of the Network State to expand Member Monday (and by extension the Highland Institute) from mere lunch chit-chat entertainment to “capacity for action.” So many subjects, so little time – the Global Dialogue Project, Looming Monetary Reset, Social Engineering. Then there’s a personal favorite i.e. the cited Keeping Down With The Joneses, a community dedicated to living simply and frugally.

If not now, when? If not here, where?