Alexander C. Kaufman on Warpcast

Alexander C. Kaufman pfp

Alexander C. Kaufman

A left-wing journalist I know on Bluesky was saying that the push around Greenland is clearly related to the VC-backed Network State idea. I spent some time yesterday perusing this website: https://www.vcinfodocs.com/what-is-the-network-state Obviously there’s a big crypto connection. What do you guys think of the project? Anyone involved? What does this clearly very skeptical site miss?

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shazow pfp

my personal take: i don't stan a specific approach (network states vs coordi-nations vs network societies vs whatever) but i do think we need to re-evaluate our bias that "creation of new sovereignty is over because it's 2025" -- i don't think there's any special reason why our current global borders are Correct (tm). i don't know what the correct approach to creating new sovereign spaces should be (perhaps it must be purchased? perhaps it must be a vote to secede? perhaps it must be through military power? perhaps it can be a multi-ownership cyber overlay? i dunno) but it's hard for me to imagine a better world in 500 years with the same nation state players and borders as today.

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Nounish Prof ⌐◧-◧🎩 pfp

Nounish Prof ⌐◧-◧🎩

This makes no sense — isn’t it more likely the push for Greenland is coming from 1) Russia and 2) Elon for minerals I haven’t seen any push for a network state any where in a climate that unforgiving.

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ionspired pfp

not sure where the push comes from, but I am sure from the standpoint of Trump, Musk and Czar it’s a tactical move to draw the attention away from geopolitically more meaningful actions

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Garance pfp

Some envision it as the rise of CEO-monarchs (which is the also the trump administration mental model), but there are other and more interesting possibilities. It's a major question for the future imo. A vast subject but here's a first link : https://youtu.be/F-ckcvpSttA?si=oHWpX341WewlzQqa

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matthewb pfp

a journalist completely making shit up to suit their personal political bias? I, for one, am shocked

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ted (not lasso) pfp

ted (not lasso)

are they sharing this on Bluesky? what’re they saying? fwiw i spoke at the network state conference last year about farcaster, happy to answer any questions :) also cc @balajis.eth (but he has a healthy dose of skepticism for journalists, heads up!)

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Señor Doggo pfp

> The Network State is the nation-state of tech fascists "Okay, so this is gonna be a bit biased"

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keccers pfp

I think this is unlikely. At the end of the day the Network State movement does want to create communities and have people move to the sovereign states they set up. Greenland while resource rich is super inhospitable. I could more easily foresee a deal where a network state gets the ruins of Gaza than Greenland

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Bluclaat.eth pfp

There’s a channel 4 Uk documentary ‘Seeking Satoshi’ touches on some of this and visits one of these places… they don’t like conversations around how they employ an underclass of servant’s whilst living billionaire lifestyles. Not as if any of the billionaires will be cleaning the toilets, but only those with capital get to vote!

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Stuart pfp

Well on its face it sounds fine - autonomous communities, experimental schools, crypto stuff, whatever. As a leftist, I agree with a lot of things that Balaji says. But the scary part is the billionaire stuff. If it was just about freedom, why would it involve a bunch of people who run weapons companies for empires? If they were for sovereignty why would they fight against the sovereignty of their host nations? If they were for crypto freedom why would they support authoritarian fascists like Trump? So I have to assume there's something more nefarious and evil going on, just based on that. But I also wonder if we'll ever have something like what Network State says it wants to be, but anti-fascist and anti-colonialist. Communism, basically. Except the people behind NS are also the people hell bent on destroying communism. So... I think they're full of shit, personally.

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Omar pfp

They lost me at Praxis

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highplains.base.eth 🎩✨🔴 pfp

highplains.base.eth 🎩✨🔴

Im not sure how concerned to be about this network state stuff. On the surface it seems ok but then you look at the people pushing it and their values and then it doesnt look too hot.

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Chris Carella pfp

This is an unhinged take. If you want to learn about Network States here is the source https://thenetworkstate.com/ written by @balajis.eth

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Phil Liao pfp

@philipliao.eth

The author combines a conspiracy theory viewpoint with vomit inducing levels of bad faith interpretation of Network States. The position is built on a premise of “billionaires bad” and the reporting is done with a tone of “anything that can reinforce billionaires bad” The network state is not some coordinated movement of tech fascists led by Balaji, Marc Andreesen, Chris Dixon, Joe Lonsdale and other bad evil VCs. It emerges from a natural urge to build new communities and new Singapores, since our current cities and places leave so much to be desired by many Sure, Balaji might have coined the term, and he is a bit weird, but by no means is this fascism Instead of focusing on Prospera, which is a special economic zone and likely becoming a failed experiment, one should be focusing more on Esmeralda and Zuzalu, popup cities that have had much success and who have good leaders Esmeralda - @devon Zuzalu - https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/10/06/why-i-built-zuzalu/

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RoboCopsGoneMad pfp

RoboCopsGoneMad

@robocopsgonemad

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torii.base.eth pfp

these conversations tend to always skirt into murky waters. where the remnant of what was in Silicon Valley feel like they have created their own monster, in the consumer sector. It’s discussed in Alexander Karp’s book The New Technologic Republic

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highplains.base.eth 🎩✨🔴 pfp

highplains.base.eth 🎩✨🔴

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