Do I Even Live in a Country Anymore?
I spend most of my time on the internet, usually in my room. Sometimes it feels like I don't belong to any nation-state. I belong to the internet. That’s why @balajis.eth's idea of the network state feels so compelling to people like me.
But turning that idea into reality will take time. A lot of time.
One of the biggest challenges is that we don't even have a shared definition of what a network state is. Take Farcaster, for instance. Many of us spend hours here. It feels like a place. But is it one? Most people are just visitors. A few stick around. So who counts as a real resident? And if we imagined a Farcaster passport, who would actually qualify for it?
Base is another place I return to daily. It’s more than infrastructure. It’s starting to feel like home.
We used to ask where someone was from. Now we ask what network they’re on.
This shift resonates deeply with me. I hope we can get to a point where online spaces are recognized as legitimate homes for people like us. But good things take time, especially ideas that face heavy resistance. Nation-states are one of the biggest obstacles. Governments don’t usually care how much time people spend online, at least not until real economic value starts being created.
When culture starts printing its own currency, power pays attention.
And that economic value is essential to this entire network state concept. Without it, there's nothing to anchor these communities. As much as we dislike talking about money, it is tied to nearly everything we do. Those in crypto understand this reality. Money is a tool. It should be used to grow and uplift humanity, not just exploited by a few who discovered system glitches and turned wealth into a means of control.
The internet is no longer a tool of escape. It’s becoming a place of origin.
Capitalism isn’t the enemy. It's the distortion of it through broken institutions and unchecked power that does the damage. Markets, when allowed to function freely, tend to correct and balance over time. But today's systems are often hijacked by those who know how to bend the rules in their favor.
Maybe one day, citizenship won’t be defined by borders or birth certificates, but by where your time, values, and data truly live. 4 replies
2 recasts
7 reactions
1 reply
0 recast
2 reactions
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
okay. this is interesting. now, i want to read The Network State. i've had it on my TBR list for a while now. lol.
i think i get the feeling of being more connected to an online community than to any physical country. i mean, when you spend your time, share your ideas, and build relationships there, these places start to feel like home.
but being me, i'm cautious. lol.
as powerful as online communities can be, they still depend on the physical world for a number of things. e.g infra.
even electricity and internet access.
no matter how immersive (or meaningful) digital space becomes, i don't think it (yet) replaces the real-world systems that keep us...safe?
also, this is me just thinking out loud again.
talking about economic value, we might repeat some mistakes. if we just recreate capitalism with new tokens and new networks, are we really building something better or just shifting the power dynamic? 2 replies
0 recast
1 reaction
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
