Bitnation – Crypto Anarchy or a Step Towards a Better World

Ok, what's particularly interesting about this project? The thing is, it brings into the spotlight the idea of governance per se, the whole philosophical concept. Like, do we even need traditional governments? Or, do nation-states in the form they exist now matter, like, are they necessary? A remarkable example that constantly surfaced among the materials I studied was Facebook itself. It's somewhat even more relevant in light of recent Zuckerberg's congressional hearing. Like, the key question was essentially "What's Facebook?" And the answer was uncomfortably far from conventional definitions such as Tech Company, or Media Company, or Financial Company. In fact, it's a somewhat of a virtual Empire that transcends borders. Something quite powerful and influential. Like, Facebook can in some way be compared to the state in the virtual world. It has its rules, principles, and values, which it upholds, allowing its residents to convivially coexist and thrive within the platform.

Extending this thought further, can the governance be based on algorithms, not relying on human State leaders and politicians? (This question is especially relevant in light of Trump's recent tweets and ramping up tensions, and the real looming prospect of nuclear war.) I bet algorithms are at least more predictable, rational, and not driven by emotions. So, maybe, it would make sense to replace governments with AI. And eliminate nation-states and borders and stuff. Bitnation project's paradigm, though is not about creating a global utopia with unified rules, governed by a big benevolent, magnanimous, and good-humored computer. It's rather an idea that our belonging to some state shouldn't necessarily depend on our physical location, and state boundaries shouldn't be defined by geography. For example, there could be people living territorially at the same location but belonging to different states and jurisdictions, which scope would be defined in virtual space, namely whether a person belongs to that jurisdiction or not. However messy this idea might seem being implemented in practice, it's somewhat interesting.

Another relevant example that also constantly resurfaces in all the materials about virtual governance is an Estonian experiment, allowing anybody to get e-residence. Namely, it works the following way. For instance, I can live in Moscow or anywhere for that matter, and I just register on their site or something, and I become e-resident of Estonia. No shit, it's as serious and consequential in some ways as getting citizenship. With that, I get rights and obligations. I can conduct business as e-Estonian, and all my actions will be subject to Estonian law. Also, I'll be protected by Estonian law (Or rather its digital space equivalent or something). The key thing about this system is that it doesn't in any way imply that I should live in Estonia; I can never actually visit it, neither have any intention to do that. My location, in this case, doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm subject to Estonian laws and at the same time I'm protected by Estonian laws, wherever I'm physically located. As a matter of fact, Bitnation project partners with Estonia in that it provides a blockchain based notary service that allows e-residents to notarize various documents, like marriage and birth certificates, business contracts, and so on.

As I see it, the idea of Bitnation, in general, is also similar to the Estonian experiment. Maybe, the difference is that it has a broader scope and takes into consideration the possibility of automation of government functions, basically delegating them to algorithms. Speaking of this, I recall another relevant example of implementation of this idea, Distributed Autonomous Organization. (DAO) This was one of the most exotic blockchain applications, and what it was trying to achieve, it literally attempted to implement a corporate structure where roles of executives and managers were delegated to algorithms written in smart contracts. (It had actually been implemented but due to some glitch in algorithms all the funds invested in it by its founders, several million $, were sucked out by a hacker. When the community around the DAO project tried to reverse the situation via the hard-fork or something, the hacker threatened to sue them because according to some key Ethereum principles his pumping out the funds was totally legit, and the attempts of investors to get them back were not. But anyway.) Speaking of DAO, it's another example, illustrating how it's possible to delegate government functions to a computer program. In this case, it's a relatively simple set of rules. Since it's written in smart contracts, it's immutable, which can be a good or bad thing in different circumstances.

Another important thing Bitnation currently does; it helps Syrian refugees in Europe through the series of Refugee Emergency Response services it launched. The services allow refugees to create digital identities that can prove their existence and determine who their families are. Also, the project provides Bitcoin Visa debit card that makes possible for refugees to make payments without having a bank account. Another part of the project provides the mapping of safe and dangerous zones, places to sleep, health and support services, and so on.

All in all, in our divided and turbulent world that currently balances on the brink of nuclear war, all because of the ambitions of shady politicians, this idea of digital governments run by algorithms and erasing ofnation-state borders sounds like the most sensible thing I heard during this week. Maybe, we should go for it.

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Authored by: faragly