What a time to be alive. For those who dream of a brighter future, at least - emerging tools & technologies (like crypto) are giving people all over the world the opportunity to not just imagine a better tomorrow - but to actually have a shot at bringing it to life (on their own terms, of course) in ways that we quite literally could have only dreamed about (and here in Doowopolis, we like to do plenty of dreaming) even just a few short years ago.
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While every great idea may still start with a dream, there's increasing reason to believe those dreams can do more than just live in our head, but actually start to serve as models for the things we actually want to do & build in real life (or "IRL" for short) - and as it turns out, we're not alone.
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Technology entrepreneur & investor Balaji Srinivasan recently published a book "The Network State" which speaks to an idea we've been percolating on here in Doowopolis… (we don't like to take credit for thinking of it first - but maybe we should?!) essentially, the idea that in the (not so distant?) future, new "nations" no longer need to be bounded by physical geography - but rather, by leveraging technology, can come to exist all across the world, wherever their culture & values are desired and welcomed, in a ways that transcends traditional boundaries.
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Stripped down to the basics, the idea is you start with an online community – one that’s economically prosperous, engaged and has shared values – and then manifest it into the physical world. Srinivasan considers the current nations of the world to be “geographically centralized” but “ideologically disaligned”
Balaji Srinivasan, author, "The Network State"
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Start with an online community? Hmm… where have we heard that before in Doowopolis??
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Srinivasan defines the network state as a “highly aligned online community with a capacity for collective action that crowdfunds territory around the world and eventually gains diplomatic recognition from pre-existing states.”
Jeff Wilser, Consensus Magazine / - Balaji Srinivasan, author, "The Network State"
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Interestingly enough, entrepreneur Eche Emole, after digesting some of Balaji's ideas, had a light bulb moment of his own - perhaps a new worldwide manifestation of African culture & society? After all, why should any proud people, with a unique set of values & ideals, and with much to offer the world at large, find themselves bounded by choices & decisions made by previous generations that they had no input on? You may not be able to change the past - heck, you can even learn from it - but why not change the future?
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And in that late-night bout of insomnia, Emole even thought about Alexander Hamilton, the Federalist Papers and the birth of the United States. In Federalist Paper #1, Hamilton wrote, “The important question [is] whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”
Jeff Wilser, Consensus Magazine / - Eche Emole, Entrepreneur
Two words stood out to him: Reflection and choice. Africa has not enjoyed this privilege. “No modern-day African state has been formed by reflection or choice,” Emole says now. “It was always action and force.”
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To say the least, the denizens of Doowopolis may have different problems & challenges to solve for than those of the African Diaspora - but the common theme is - there are all sorts of communities out there with unique sets of shared cultural values & ideals with much to offer the world in terms of everything from art, science, music, food, and heck, even motels & amusement parks - that find themselves, for one reason or another, hampered from reaching their full potential - maybe because of artificial constraints and/or old rules and boundaries they had no input on? If technology can give all those communities a chance to grow in tandem (and a chance to find their audiences) who would stop them? And who wouldn't want to become a builder in such a world?
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On Sept. 13, Afropolitan was recognized by the New York Stock Exchange as the first ever internet country. As Emole says, “So today it’s the New York Stock Exchange, tomorrow it’s the United Nations.”
Jeff Wilser, Consensus Magazine / - Eche Emole, Entrepreneur
And Phase 4, finally, is the manifestation of Afropolitan on actual land. A new country on real turf. “We want not just one particular land piece as a country,” says Emole, “but land that stretches across the world.”
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They might be scattered across the globe but they had shared values, shared roots and the potential for collective action.
Jeff Wilser, Consensus Magazine
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Related Articles:
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Birth of the Network Nations
https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2022/12/12/web3-network-state-balaji-srinivasan/
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Learn More about Afropolitan: A Digital Nation
https://www.afropolitan.io/