Nation state is a recent concept. Most of human history didn’t have them. That means what takes over the current US dominance next doesn’t have to be a nation state. It could be some meta-nation concepts like crypto. Such meta-nation state is conceptualized as Network State by Balaji. And indeed, crypto doesn’t care about your nationalities. This is as it should be, because free markets and free speech, by definition, transcend the concepts of nation-states.
Network states are not constrained by physical borders. They are more digital in nature than nation states, and can address the problems the latter inherently possess. For example, it’s easier to address the problem of network defects with network state.
Digital concepts like crypto taking over the political discourse is a great example of software controlling the hardware. Which isn’t surprising considering the flexibility and the expressivity of software.
New framework means new players, and new stars emerge along with the new platform. Turning constants (nation states) into variables will increase volatility, so be prepared!
Related mental model: creative destruction
Next: Left-right consensus is anarchy
- What is a currency (2010s) to what is a nation (2020s)