Network States

Elon vs Trump: who is more powerful? 

Could there be a better metaphor for the theme from The Network State? 

Power is shifting from the State to the Network. 

The only question is where/when is the tipping point?

Cohost of /gmfarcaster, a live stream Farcaster news show.  Engineer. Mom x 3.

I’m not sure there’s an obvious answer, and I think we’ll only know in hindsight. I think @balajis.eth spotted the right trend, and network will trump state in the long run (pun not intended), it’s just not clear to me it’s reached the tipping point. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the network state book this week. And it reminded me of reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat when it came out. He was identifying trends as they were happening, and they were easy to spot but most people didn’t give it much notice because the world didn’t feel that different.

So I guess looking for a tipping point is the wrong analogy. We won’t be able to spot it. We’ll only see it in hindsight.

Omg yes, you’re so right. They both 
have network power. 
But have different weapons at their disposal to use.

Trump’s power doesn’t (only) come from the state. He’s head of a movement / cult and that’s where his power comes from.

And same w/ Elon. His power is as much from his followers as his wealth. Bezos, for example, can’t move elections like Elon.

During the campaign, one of my favorite questions to ask people was whether they thought elon or trump had more power. Always led to interesting discussions. 

This week kicked off watching mountainhead and my favorite scenes where the ones that explored the power balance between network and state.

The elon and trump breakup playing out later in the week puts the question even more out in the front:

Which is more powerful: the network or the state?

This is something I've had some thought about 

Global leaders ... Political vs Corporate

Like you said power shifts (possibly already happened)

Trump is still more powerful. He has the executive powers of the US, and could crush Elon who would not go without a fight. 

Though you are right that the power is slowly shifting.

The public’s attention is what they both crave and is the source of each of their power. I vote “all of us” as the third option for the most powerful.

This is a very dangerous shift for the US and geo politics in general.

Tbh, I don’t want to see this happening in Europe.

Truth should be told always but ellections and people’s decision should prevail.

Right now, Trump has more state power(system) but Elon has more network power (internet)