Patri Friedman Ntwk State
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Neo-reactionary views, part 2
This article, "Special Issue: Post-Neoliberalism? Software, Sovereignty and the Post-Neoliberal Politics of Exit" from Theory, Culture & Society, an academic journal, makes a convincing case for Friedman being a Neo-reactionary. I'm going to include this term in the intro of this article. Chisme (talk) 15:41, 19 October 2022 (UTC)
:{The article never claims he is a neo-reactionary, and it is not our role to judge whether associations/funding/comments make him a neoreactionary. The journal only claims he is associated with the project ("co-founder of The Seasteading Institute, a start-up, again originally funded by Thiel, where many NRx ideas are supposedly prototyped")."
Unless if there is a reliable source directly calling him a neoreactionary, please take this to the talk page before adding. LordDiscord (talk) 16:19, 9 January 2023 (UTC)We now have two reliable sources for Friedman being a neo-reactionar, Corey Pein and Smith and Burrows. The sources speak for themselves. I'm restoring this. Chisme (talk) 17:55, 2 May 2023 (UTC)"where many NRx ideas are supposedly prototyped" is not a claim that he is a neo-reactionary. If you want to include a section that says he supposedly prototypes neoreactionary ideas, this would be a good reliable source. The sources speak for themselves. LordDiscord (talk) 01:12, 13 September 2023 (UTC)}:
Is Friedman a Neo-reactionary (NRx). Listen to the sources speak:
- From Smith, H. and Burrows, R. (2021) [sovereignty and the post-neoliberal politics of exit. Theory, Culture and Society], 38 (6). pp. 143-166. ISSN 0263-2764: "As we have already noted, Friedman is another NRx entrepreneur-cum-philosopher backed by Thiel’s dollars, and the co-founder of The Seasteading Institute, an organization supposedly busy designing per-manent (almost Lovecraftian) cities at sea – seasteads – prefigurative gov-corps outside the territory claimed by democratic governments. They are just one example of an NRx envisioning of the emergence of a complex patchwork of small, and competing, gov-corps – autonomous gated communities, city-states, even ‘off-world’ communities (think ElonMusk). (The "Abstract" intro of this paper reads, "This paper examines the impact of neoreactionary (NRx) thinking – that of Curtis Yarvin, Nick Land, Peter Thiel and Patri Friedman in particular – on contemporary political debates manifest in ‘architectures of exit.") Chisme (talk) 19:19, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
Regarding the Corey Pein quotes: "Friedman wanted to improve the image of neoreaction", "he called for 'a more politically correct' neoreactionary movement"; Neither of these claim he is a neoreactionary.Regarding the Smith and Burrows quotes: "Friedman is another NRx entrepreneur-cum-philosopher", "This paper examines the impact of neoreactionary (NRx) thinking"; Only the first one implies it. The second claims he has some neoreactionary thinking, not that he is a neoreactionary....
Patri Friedman (born July 29, 1976) is an American libertarian, anarcho-capitalist,[1] and theorist of political economy.[2] He founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.[3][4][5]
Early life and education
Named after family friend Patri Pugliese,[6] Friedman grew up in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Upper Merion Area High School, class of 1994, where he went by the name Patri Forwalter-Friedman. He graduated from Harvey Mudd College in 1998, and went on to Stanford University to obtain his master's degree in computer science. He also holds an MBA from New York Institute of Technology.[7] He worked as a software engineer at Google.[8][9] As a poker player, he cashed in the World Series of Poker four times.[10]
The Seasteading Institute
Main article: The Seasteading Institute
Friedman was executive director of The Seasteading Institute, founded in 2008, with a half-million-dollar donation from venture capitalist Peter Thiel.[11] The institute's mission is "to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems".[12][13] This was initially a part-time project – one day a week while working as a Google engineer the rest of the time[8] – but Friedman left Google on July 29, 2008, to spend more time on seasteading.[14] He and partner Wayne C. Gramlich hoped to float the first prototype seastead in the San Francisco Bay by 2010.[15][16] At the October 2010 Seasteading social, it was announced that current plans were to launch a seastead by 2014.[17]
Since attending the Burning Man festival in 2000, Friedman imagined creating a water festival called Ephemerisle as a Seasteading experiment and Temporary Autonomous Zone. Through The Seasteading Institute, Friedman was able to start the Ephemerisle festival in 2009, aided by TSI's James Hogan as event organizer and Chicken John Rinaldi as chief builder. The first Ephemerisle is chronicled in a documentary by Jason Sussberg.[18] Since 2010, the event has been annual and community-run.[19]
Future Cities Development
On July 31, 2011, Friedman stepped down from the position as executive director of The Seasteading Institute, but remained chairman of the board.[20] Later, he co-founded the Future Cities Development Corporation, a project to establish a self-governing charter city within the borders of Honduras.[21][22] In 2012, the Future Cities Development Corporation ceased operations.[23]
Pronomos Capital
In 2019, Friedman founded Pronomos Capital, a venture capital firm whose purpose is to bankroll the construction of experimental cities on vacant tracts of land in developing countries. Like The Seasteading Institute, Pronomos Capital is backed by Peter Thiel. Most of the cities will be aimed at foreign businesses seeking friendlier tax treatment.[24]
Poker career...
Patri is the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman[27] and economist Rose Friedman and son of economist and physicist David D. Friedman.[27][28] He has two children by his first wife. As of February 10, 2018, he was married to Brit Benjamin with whom he has one child.[29] They divorced in 2023.[30][31] Patri and Brit are self-described transhumanists and rationalists, and they have arranged to be cryonically preserved after their death.[29][32]
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mpu 6 26 mpu
Peter Thiel's Plan To Replace Democracy (And Profit Off What Comes Next)
milton grandson 
lonsdale
gil duran: 9
In 1997, there was a book that came out called “The Sovereign Individual.”
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It argued that in the 21st century, two technologies would result basically in the overthrow of democracy
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and the demise of nations like the United States.
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Cyber currency, which we would call crypto today.
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And the other one was advanced automation that would create a world without jobs,
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and that wealthy individuals who were savvy investors could profit from this coming doom
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and prepare for it by making the right investments.
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This book had a major impact on Peter Thiel.
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And of course, it influenced the people Thiel was paying.
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Joe Lansdale got to work.
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He started a nonprofit, California Common Sense , allegedly dedicated to transparency and government
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spending, so that voters could make a difference if they found things they were unhappy with.
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On the surface, that sounds great, but two founders of that nonprofit started a for-profit:
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OpenGOV.
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OpenGOV is a software service for government agencies to manage data.
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The idea of replacing democratic processes in the hands of all of us
GHIS MAXWELL!
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But the think tanks would herald a few successful versions of their privatization plan.
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Like Sandy Springs, Georgia, famously the first city in America
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to privatize nearly all government services.
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It was the darling of the libertarian press.
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Everything for-profit, nothing public.
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And a consulting firm making a little cash off the taxpayers at every juncture.
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Those extra taxes for corporate profit started adding up, though.
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Eventually, Sandy Springs unprivatized
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saving taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
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There were also nascent communities focused on Christian values
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that the network state media heralds.
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Battle Ground, Washington,
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where a data center billionaire is buying up all the property to own the town,
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the mayor is on his payroll,
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and Highland Rim, a series of developments in Appalachia
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run by the investment firm New Founding.
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And that's not even including the California Forever Project,
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a proposed tech city in Solano County
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funded by Marc Andreessen, Reid Hoffman, Sam Altman and other billionaires.
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But what if this was never really about these little mini governments?
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Here's Peter Thiel saying the quiet part out loud in 2010.
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[Thiel] Technology is this incredible alternative to politics.
...
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You could pass laws, know, Cicero's in 15 states, we're getting dozens of laws passed.
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And then we're going to teach people that and go to the national level.
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[Gil] Riling people up is definitely part of their game plan.
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That's what we saw in the San Francisco recalls.
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San Francisco had a spike in crime during the pandemic,
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but so did almost every big city in the United States.
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Only in San Francisco,
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which has extremely low crime rates compared to most cities in red states,
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did they create this massive panic using social media and doom influencers
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to convince everybody that everything was worse than it ever been.
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And as Lonsdale got into nonprofits and think tanks,
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Patri Friedman – remember him?
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Milton Friedman's grandson?
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Started his own VC firm with backing from Peter Thiel
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called Pronomos Capital, existing entirely for investing in privatized governments.
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In Honduras, Pronomos invested in the first government
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run entirely by a for-profit corporation: Prospera.
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[Gil] Prospera is this little enclave on the island of Roatan in Honduras
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That claims to be its own little charter city
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that was funded by American venture capitalists and has been touted
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as the flagship project of the network state movement.
...
lonsdale
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But the real flagship project is something bigger:
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the entire United States government.
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It shows in policy.
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Remember the whole thing about taking over Greenland?
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That idea emerged and was celebrated by the people we've been talking about.
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I think having a frontier is very healthy.
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I think part of America being great is that it's is growing and creating more wealth for everyone.
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If the people in Greenland want to be part of us, if we can use those resources
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better and make sure Russia and China don't get advantages in the Arctic.
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The Freedom City as a name didn't really gain momentum,
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but the idea is there, and the influence in the administration is clear.
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Joe Lansdale helped staff up the Trump administration
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and just recently accompanied administration officials to the Philippines
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to christen a new regulatory zone.
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Just last week, we signed a historic deal with the Philippines, 4000 acres
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right next to Subic Bay, where we're going to build a
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first-of-its-kind, AI-native industrial park.
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I was there for a day in the Philippines with everyone.
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They’re, they’re excited, what you guys are doing.
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That sounds a lot like a startup city....
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that this stuff could travel to the White House.
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[Gil] In September 2024, there was a conference at Fort Mason
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in San Francisco called Reboot 2024,
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and its website announced that we are now in a new reality.
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And that Silicon Valley was waking up and about to become this powerful force in politics.
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And the guest speaker was Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation
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who was the guy who had shepherded Project 2025.
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So here you had tech VCs in San Francisco...
kishner
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for maritime prosperity zones,
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districts on American soil with fewer regulations
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for corporations to build ships and reinvigorate the industrial base.
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Then there's the New American Industrial Alliance,
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a tech industry interest group pushing for unrestricted data center growth.
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They were listed as co-sponsors of the Blueprint for America,
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lobbying for prosperity zones on American soil.
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A plan to sell federal and public land to private companies
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to build low regulation, low tax havens for progress.
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Their co-sponsor on the Blueprint was the company behind Prospera in Honduras,
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whose lobbying disclosures show they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars
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pushing for prosperity zones.
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But they also spent big on begging the American government for handouts of your money.
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They've lobbied on refunding the US International Development Financial Corporation,
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a government organization run by Epstein associate Ben Black
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that uses tax dollars to invest in American companies abroad.
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That's privatized foreign aid.
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And they might finally get their way.
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Black went to Honduras and promised investment in real estate and technology there,
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including an investment in La Ceiba, which is slated to be absorbed by Prospera.
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But it's more than just government handouts.
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It's war crimes.
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So we did a master plan.
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And we've developed ways to redevelop Gaza.
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Gaza is President Trump's and saying has amazing potential.
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And this is for the people of Gaza.
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We've developed it into zones.
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[Gil] It was sort of insane to see it all come together in this way.
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there's always the idea of a new city that they're proposing.
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And it's not clear why we need these new cities.
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You know, Gaza should be rebuilt for for the Palestinians.
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But these guys see it as an opportunity to take the land.
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And so that shows you the degree to which this thinking is starting to imbue everything that they do.
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[Sean] Look at how the people in this fringe movement
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reacted to other invasions.
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In 2019, Mark Lutter, leader of a Peter Thiel funded new city think tank, said that
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overthrowing the Venezuelan government would be an opportunity for these projects.
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And when the invasion did happen, Lutter suggested America
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establish a Florida or Texas style government there.
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He cites America paying for a wholesale development plan after regime change.
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Which is exactly what we're doing in Iran today,
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to the tune of $300 billion.
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Palmer Luckey, Lonsdale and Thiel associate, and founder of AI defense contractor Anduril,
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pictured here in cosplay,
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suggested a privatized city on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba,
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which President Trump also threatened with invasion.
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Again, nobody wants this.
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They know that.
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That's why they hate populism.
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That's why they hate democratic representation
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despite all of this being couched in freedom.
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What they're asking for is to exit entirely from any government structure.
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But that's just not how it works,
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especially when most of these guys are government contractors, and are still wanting
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to have the benefits of our society without having the responsibilities of our society.
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These are people who don't like being told “no.”
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They're angry at the pushback against data centers, that we don't want AI to take over everything,
gil
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that no one supports annihilating a civilization to replace it with one they can profit from.
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People need to understand that the billionaires have become radicalized against democracy,
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and they're in the process of using everything they have to try to destroy it.
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And that's the battle of our moment.
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That's the battle of our time.
...
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It's not too late to push back.
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Public response to data centers works.
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Many of the governance as a service startups are starting their work
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in towns and states where you can still have a voice to stop them.
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The billionaire class wants to turn your home into their playland,
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completely change how everything is run to funnel more wealth to themselves,
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create chaos,
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and then when everything is all f*cked up,
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walk away with their winnings to their own private enclaves,
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all under the guise of fixing a broken government.
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A government that they broke.
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And yeah, sure, the government is broken,
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but it's not because of democracy or lack of corporate privatization.
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It's because of corporate power.
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We need more democracy and less corporate control.
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Patri is the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman [27] and economist Rose Friedman and son of economist and physicist David D. Friedman. [27][28] He has two children by his first wife. As of February 10, 2018, he was married to Brit Benjamin with whom he has one child. [29] They divorced in 2023. [30][31] Patri and Brit are self-described transhumanists and rationalists ...
america2.news
https://america2.news › decoding-the-network-state
Decoding the "Network State" - america2.news
Jan 6, 2025Balaji Srinavasan and Curtis Yarvin While Milton and Patri Friedman provided the much of the ideological roots for the Network State concept, entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinavasan has helped crystallize it into a movement with actual followers.
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