The Network State How to Start a New Country

ooft.

Well, just read it!

An optimistic take on where this whole crypto enterprise may be going. Even if you find yourself vehemently disagreeing with the core thesis or that we’ll ever see such a thing as a diplomatically recognized network state in our lifetimes, it is intriguing to suspend disbelief and dream alongside Balaji for a spell.

For a book espousing a new political theory, there are some moments where attempts to define or postulate things in the style of a physics or math textbook slightly miss the mark. But I guess part of the appeal is this is a political manifesto of sorts for a new kind of audience: people with an engineering or business background who tend to view themselves as “builders” and shy away from the civic sphere, giving them a chance to entertain the possibility of one day participating in a new form of nation building.

I do appreciate that in many ways the book is an act of observation, and not one of persuasion. This is not an ego trip. Balaji is explicitly not trying to rally his personal following to form his own network state that suits his whims. He spends most of the book trying to spell out the dynamics of governments and social infrastructure as he sees it, and otherwise genuinely encourages a multiplicity of network states to form, with a few hypothetical concrete examples but leaving the possibilities entirely open to those who dare to self-organize.

There are some particularly rambly bits where Balaji goes off on a tangent about the many wrongs committed by the NYT over the past century. The man clearly has a chip on his shoulder. How did the New York Times hurt you, Balaji?

Anyway, I do still recommend this book, especially if you are a crypto/web3-skeptic or hater, so you can see why someone might care about this whole endeavor besides all of the shilling and other shenanigans. It certainly got me thinking about a multitude of futures human civilization may yet realize, and hey, at the end of the day isn’t that the point? Balaji is facilitating pushing out the boundary of “thinkable thoughts” for how we might organize ourselves into new sorts of institutions that may better serve the will of the people(s). That’s exciting!

It is nice in a way for this book to come out as we are in the midst of a “crypto winter,” as I can imagine it helping to reshape the direction and intention behind many crypto projects towards a more utopian ideal of true decentralization and intriguing implications to how we live our lives, even if today it seems highly improbable or even inconceivable that we will arrive at such a destination.

The man has said his piece. I guess the rest is up to you.