When I think about a protocol or a group of protocols, it really needs clear example use cases to cement in the minds of others as a guide to what they can build. In my mind, Logos needs early examples of network states trying the tech, trying to coordinate, trying to build a working model to give advice, best practices, show failures for others who want to build later.
What are some early network state concepts that might thrive in a small testbed?
Some ideas (american point of view, I welcome many other pov):
Local music scenes suffer from lack of coverage in mainstream press or any real way to get word out about events, needs, or how the business of local music works. It’s already an insular scene that depends on the goodwill of club owners (who don’t always have artist goodwill in mind), and the whims of Instagram algorithm. Is there a testbed for a small local music scene in smaller cities that could adopt network state principles and act as a loose collective with a north star of helping artists get better and make a living wage from their music?
Informant networks - A decentralized wikileaks? Press suffers from a lack of credibility due to bias in reporting and selective sourcing. Signal has acted as a way for informants to anonymously contact press as whistleblowers or informants, but this still depends on the mediator of the reporter, editor, and publisher to move that story to publication. What if a collective informant network was public and anonymous with a clear set of rules on a censorship-resistant network?
Local security networks. Many people have home and personal security practices, but what’s even more powerful to my home and family security is a known and trusted network of participants watching out for each other. it’s better to know that my neighborhood is safe than just my home alone. Knowing when neighbors and friends are out of town or are leaving the house even for the night or having assurance that I can send my kids somewhere nearby in an emergency, all sorts of security practices could be valuable information in a secure network. I’d have to think about whether this is an actual network state or just a loose community org, but I think that may be the case with all of these.
Very curious about other perspectives, what are the use cases we can start building, even in thought experiments, to prove out network states as a functional alternative.
What about a DAO (with the broad goal of becoming a network state type entity if the members desire) that focuses on documenting and surveiling the hardware of the surveillance state?
where I am there are neighborhood associations (or homeowners associations) that you have to join (and pay dues for) if you move into certain neighborhoods. It would be an intersting experiment to try to do a homeowners association network state takeover. Basically try to get people to join the digital version with an alternative governance set with the eventual goal of replacing the analog model.
Hey magic, there are some very thoughtful insights here as well as some very new takes on the topic. How would you define a network state tho? To me it seems like the concept is still up for grabs and until someone lands a consensus working example it will remain open.
As for your examples, they seem closer to what I have been imagining as a potential app layer for the Logos stack or self-sovereign virtual territory. In order to stoke the imagination I think a key question to ask at this point is: what ecosystem projects can we seed in our community that make sense for our movement and our core primitives? It is essential that these projects are open source, community driven and complementary to our tech stack.
As a starting point I listed a few potential ideas or topics. In this early stage we can consider these initiatives as research oriented communities, the embryo of a project or application to come.
What about a church? In the states, churches have very special privileges as institutions wrt income, taxes, etc. I don’t know about their geographical requirements but it’s likely they have very forgiving rules around that as well.
Trustlines look like a cool project (esp being open source). It does seem like they share similar values of censorship resistance. What are your concerns about the current Trustlines tech stack?
Is there a potential legal framework that could have teeth that could bring back unions in many industry sectors in which they have been dismantled over the past few decades?
Unions were a bedrock of economic prosperity, and their marginalization is one major factor that has allowed the wage and market manipulation that has run rampant in recent years.
Hey Magic I was thinking about ‘Informant networks’ aka DWikileaks last month or so, and feel it could be a great one to develop… Would love to see someone bringing this up at some privacy hackathon.
My answer would have been different a few months ago… I note with great pleasure the restyling of status, which I have considered a remarkable app for years and which unfortunately very few people use.
I feel that at this stage there is a need for truly disruptive use cases, and by truly I mean: with an impact for people who suffer from unfavourable conditions / stop developing stuff that 1% of the population of bored popes’ sons, nerds and philosophers use and embrace.