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We need network societies, not network states — The Collective Intelligence Project

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Balaji Srinivasan aspires to be the John Locke of the Digital Age. His book, The Network State (TNS),  puts forth a new social contract enabled by “Web3 technology,” centered on blockchains. In a sentence, he defines the network state (NS) as a startup country—“a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states.” The book is slapdash but sincere.  It is also a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and endorsed by a bevy of Silicon Valley titans. Readers tempted to ignore it as a fringe polemic do so at their peril: Srinivasan has crystalized a strand of post-libertarian thinking that is shaping much of the technology industry. His inspiration, a 1997 book by British authors William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson entitled The Sovereign Individual, argues for a world in which nation-states crumble in the face of digital innovation, leaving the masses scramblin

We need network societies, not network states May 20 Written By Divya Siddarth By Divya Siddarth, Glen Weyl, and Anne-Marie Slaughter Balaji Srinivasan aspires to be the John Locke of the Digital Age. His book, The Network State ( TNS ) , puts forth a new social contract enabled by “Web3 technology,” centered on blockchains. In a sentence, he defines the network state (NS) as a startup country—“a highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states.” The book is slap

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