What is the business model for network states? 

@balajis.eth has a great chart showing subscription revenue ($100s - 1000s / person-year) in between current consumer products and existing state taxes

What goods/services can be provided to a network of people that justify this cost?

building a network city @cabin | jonhillis.com

go straight to the source: energy

and where you can't transmit energy for profit, transmit bits (something something fixes this) & ship photovoltaics/batteries instead.

I feel like prepared farm-to-table food is only low-margin in densely-populated areas. rest stops are lindy, imho.

I'm online sometimes

https://bento.me/m-j-r

the question is when solar PV reaches grid parity (https://www.whatnextnow.com/home/solar/sunmetrix-grid-parity-map-for-residential-solar-energy-in-the-united-states)

fundamentally, the question is what the best monetization happens to be (it's compute). grid utilities are notoriously awful at compensating for this.

What’s the competitive advantage for a budding network state in becoming an energy producer? How do you compete with natural monopoly utilities?