DeepSummary
Ben Wilson introduces the idea of a "network state" from the book The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan. A network state is an online community with a shared moral vision and sense of identity that acquires physical territories around the world to establish a decentralized state with distributed governance. Wilson discusses the concept, drawing parallels to historical figures like Walt Disney and their ambitions to create new communities or cities.
Wilson explores the core ideas behind network states, including having a "moral innovation" that critiques the existing order, developing a strong shared identity, and gradually acquiring physical spaces for the community. He uses examples like effective altruists and dietary communities to illustrate potential moral innovations that could drive the formation of a network state.
While intrigued by the idea of creating new systems of governance aligned with shared values, Wilson acknowledges the challenges in developing coherent moral visions and cultivating a sense of citizenship and belonging. He expresses interest in resurrecting classical ideals of active citizenship and proposes the idea of starting his own network state oriented around those principles.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Network states are highly aligned online communities that acquire physical territories to ultimately form a decentralized state or country.
- A core tenet of network states is having a shared "moral innovation" that critiques and offers an alternative to the existing order.
- Cultivating a strong sense of identity and citizenship is crucial for a network state to coalesce and thrive.
- Historical figures like Walt Disney and Alexander the Great demonstrated ambitions to create new communities or cities akin to network states.
- Potential drivers for the formation of network states include effective altruism, dietary movements, religions, and a yearning for owned spaces.
- Challenges in realizing network states include developing coherent moral visions, fostering a national consciousness, and collective action.
- Network states aim to transcend ethnic dynamics and identity politics of traditional nation-states.
- The podcast host expresses interest in starting his own network state oriented around classical ideals of citizenship and belonging.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “We want to be able to peacefully start a new state for the same reason we want a bare plot of earth, a blank sheet of paper, an empty text buffer, a fresh startup, or a clean slate, because we want to build something new without historical constraint.“ by Balaji Srinivasan
- “Unlike an ideologically disaligned and geographically centralized legacy state which packs millions of disputants into one place, a network state is ideologically aligned but geographically decentralized. The people are spread around the world in clusters of varying size, but their hearts are in one place.“ by Balaji Srinivasan
- “I think a lot of the modern lack of meaning, purpose and belonging comes from that lack of owned space.“ by Ben Wilson
- “Conversely, woke America is to America as Soviet Russia was to Russia. It is the most left wing country in the world, the place where whites go to the back of the line for vaccinations and the self admitted sponsor of global revolution. Its core premise is ethnomasochism, which can be paraphrased as white people are the worst.“ by Balaji Srinivasan
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Episode Information
How to Take Over the World
Ben Wilson
3/15/24
Want to take over the world? Well, how about we start with a country? On today's episode I review Balaji Srinivasan's The Network State where he explains his vision for the future of governance and how you might be able to start your own country sometime in the near future.
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Sponsors:
Incogni.com/takeover - Use code takeover for 60% off an annual plan.
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Writing, production, and sound design by Ben Wilson.
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