I wish I could give credit to whoever mentioned Balaji Srinivasan's The Network State: How To Start a New Country (not an affiliate link) within my field of vision on the Intertubes, but I can't because I can't remember who that may have been.
From the description at Amazon:
This book introduces the concept of the network state: a country you can start from your computer, a state that recruits like a startup, a nation built from the internet rather than disrupted by it.The fundamental concept behind the network state is to assemble a digital community and organize it to crowdfund physical territory. But that territory is not in one place -- it’s spread around the world, fully decentralized, hooked together by the internet for a common cause, much like Google’s offices or Bitcoin’s miners. And because every citizen has opted in, it’s a model for 100% democracy rather than the minimum threshold of consent modeled by 51% democracies.
Sounds like panarchy -- which long-time readers will know is one of my hobbyhorses -- doesn't it?
One of the great joys of Amazon Prime membership is being able to accrue credits toward digital goods by choosing "just in time" shipping versus the normal "two-day shipping" membership benefit, so I just got The Network State at a deep discount.
I'll start reading it at my earliest convenience ... but I think it may deserve more than just a review. This looks like "online book club" material. Anyone else interested in reading it and, here on the blog, discussing it chapter by chapter?
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