Archive: https://archive.is/20260924060037/https://www.nytimes.com/20...
> Mr. Brown’s plan is part of a broader drive among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to build tech-friendly havens run like for-profit corporations. The movement is inspired by the concept of a “network state,” first popularized by Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer of the crypto exchange Coinbase.
> In Mr. Srinivasan’s vision, online communities bound by shared values eventually crowd-fund physical territory, form mini nations with their own laws and secure diplomatic recognition from existing states.
> Critics describe attempts to build such a state as elitist efforts by tech moguls to secede from society or unfeasible pipe dreams. But supporters — including high-profile venture capitalists like Marc Andreessen and Mr. Thiel — say they could be essential laboratories for governance that could help cut through bureaucratic red tape to accelerate technological innovation.