After reading Balaji’s The Network State, I have been growing increasingly concerned about the resonance that this book is having in various communities I’m part of. My hypothesis is that people are resonating with a higher-level concept (that of a post-westphalian, global community with the capacity for collective action) which can be instantiated in many different ways, including - but not limited to - the network state idea. So, I think we need to start a parallel endeavour to promote an alternative instantiation of this same higher-level concept. The current working definition of a communation is the following:
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A communation is a voluntary community of individuals with a shared culture, principles and values, aligned through a common yet implicit agenda for achieving a shared societal vision.
A communation operates both at a local and global level, engaging in collective action in line with the principles of the commons, through collective governance and shared use of resources.
It has a collective identity that constitutes itself through self-sovereignty and self-determination, and is eventually recognized as such by other communations.
A communation exists along with existing nation states, adding new layers of sovereignties to domains that do not inherently belong to a territorial approach.
You can see the current working document where we are developing the concept here. We also started a podcast in collaboration with the Blockchain Socialist, on “Overthrowing the network state”. 😉
Would love to hear your thoughts on this, and let me know if you want to join the effort !