network state

English

Etymology

Coined by American entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan in The Network State (2022).

Noun

network state (plural network states)

1. (neologism) A hypothetical community of common interest on the Internet that digitally crowdfunds physical territory around the world, eventually becoming large enough to be legally recognized as a sovereign entity.
   • 2024 February 5, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “Meet Me in the Eternal City”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 May 2026:

     Hypothetically, Srinivasan suggests network states for people who eat specific diets (kosher, keto), for people who don’t like FDA regulation, for people who don’t like cancel culture, for people who want to live like Benedictine monks, for people who might want to limit internet use by putting public buildings in Faraday cages.