51.  The second ZEDE was “Ciudad Morazán” in Choloma. Beth Geglia and Andrea Nuila, “A Private Government in Honduras Moves Forward,” NACLA Report on the Americas, February 15, 2021, https://nacla.org/news/2021/02/12/private-government-honduras-zede-prospera.

    52.  Breaking with Romer’s vision, the ZEDE was no longer envisioned as a city. Instead, it moved more to the Dubai model with specialized districts for finance, media, education, etc. The list of possible ZEDEs allowed by the law was long, including “International Financial Centers, International Logistics Centers, Autonomous Cities, International Commercial Courts, Special Investment Districts, Renewable Energy Districts, Special Economic Zones … Special Agricultural Zones, Special Tourism Zones, Social Mining Zones, [and] Social Forest Zones.” An additional change came in the zone’s governance. The governor and Transparency Commission of the RED was replaced by a Technical Secretary and Committee for the Implementation of Best Practices (CAMP) of the ZEDE. Whereas in the RED, the appointed officers slowly gave way to an elected council, in the ZEDE, the Technical Secretary and the CAMP were unelected and retained permanent veto power. Other policies were locked in, including a ceiling of 12 percent tax on individual income, a 16 percent tax on business income, and a 5 percent sales or value-added tax in the ZEDE. Miller, “The Ciudades Modelo Project: Testing the Legality of Paul Romer’s Charter Cities Concept by Analyzing the Constitutionality of the Honduran Zones for Employment and Economic Development,” 290–96. The CAMP was a who’s who of global neoliberals. One-third were members of the Mont Pelerin Society. See Nina Ebner and Jamie Peck, “Fantasy Island: Paul Romer and the Multiplication of Hong Kong,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 46, no. 1 (January 2022): 40, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468–2427.13060.

    53.  Oliver Porter, “Prospera,” Startup Societies Foundation, December 7, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPKYyD9UuUc.

    54.  Mark Klugmann, “Interview,” Tabula (Georgia), May 6, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHzZp4sx8UE.

    55.  Katharina Pistor, The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019), 168.

    56.  Pistor, The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality, 221.

    57.  Open Corporates, https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_wy/2017–000763896.

    58.  “Honduras Prospera LLC,” https://sec.report/CIK/0001794703.

    59.  Bullough, Moneyland: Why Thieves and Crooks Now Rule the World and How to Take It Back, 25.

    60.  Nathan Heller, “Estonia, The Digital Republic,” New Yorker, December 11, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/estonia-the-digital-republic.

    61.  Piia Tammpuu and Anu Masso, “‘Welcome to the Virtual State’: Estonian E-residency and the Digitalised State as a Commodity,” European Journal of Cultural Studies 21, no. 5 (2018): 552.

    62.  Brustein, “A Private Tech City Opens for Business in Honduras.” The board of advisors also included the former CEO of the Dubai International Finance Center and the chief international trade advisor to the hard Brexit faction of the UK Conservative Party. https://prospera.hn/about/.

    63.  J. Neil Schulman, Alongside Night (New York: Ace, 1979), 106.

    64.  Schulman, Alongside Night, 87–90.

    65.  “Charter Cities Podcast Episode 12: Erick Brimen on Próspera and the Birth of the First Charter City in Honduras,” Charter Cities Institute, September 8, 2020, https://chartercitiesinstitute.org/podcast/charter-cities-podcast-episode-12-erick-brimen/.

    66.  Prospera Arbitration Center, https://pac.hn/, June 3, 2022.

    67.  Schumacher, ArchAgenda Debates 1: Cyber Urban Incubators in the Blockchain Metaverse-Chicago Architecture Biennial, October 16, 2021.

    68.  Graham Brown, “The ZEDEs as a Sudden Change,” PanAm Post, February 22, 2014, http://blog.panampost.com/graham-brown/2014/02/22/zedes-sudden-change/.

    69.  Ismael Moreno, “A Model City for a Society in Tatters,” Envio (April 2011), https://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/4330.

    70.  Wessel, “A Plan to Turn Honduras into the Next Hong Kong”; on Walker see Michel Gobat, Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in Central America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018).

    71.  Maya Kroth, “Under New Management,” Foreign Policy, September 1, 2014, https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/09/01/under-new-management/.

    72.  Brondo, Land Grab: Green Neoliberalism, Gender, and Garifuna Resistance in Honduras, 168.

    73.  Craib, Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from Decolonization to the Digital Age, 223.

    74.  Knut Henkel, “Honduras: Widerstand gegen die Sonderwirtschaftszonen,” Blickpunkt Lateinamerika, June 29, 2021, https://www.blickpunkt-lateinamerika.de/artikel/honduras-widerstand-gegen-die-sonderwirtschaftszonen/.

    75.  Marlon González, “Honduras Economic Development Zones Worry Residents, Experts,” AP News, September 3, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/business-honduras-caribbean-d0496aa49fa1ae75547b56ad5476d790.

    76.  Ian MacDougall and Isabelle Simpson, “A Libertarian ‘Startup City’ in Honduras Faces Its Biggest Hurdle: The Locals,” Rest of World, October 5, 2021, https://restofworld.org/2021/honduran-islanders-push-back-libertarian-startup/. See also Jeff Ernst, “Foreign Investors Are Building a ‘Hong Kong of the Caribbean’ on a Remote Honduran Island,” Vice, December 2, 2020, https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a7ae/foreign-investors-are-building-a-hong-kong-of-the-caribbean-on-a-remote-honduran-island; Geglia and Nuila, “A Private Government in Honduras Moves Forward.”; and Beth Geglia, “As Private Cities Advance in Honduras, Hondurans Renew Their Opposition,” CEPR, December 3, 2020, https://cepr.net/as-private-cities-advance-in-honduras-hondurans-renew-their-opposition/.

    77.  Bay Islands Entertainment TV, https://fb.watch/a96do32miK/. Broadcast is undated but followed the incident in September 2020.

    78.  Erick Brimen, “Free Trade, Not Aid, Is How to Eliminate Poverty,” Newsweek, September 29, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/free-trade-not-aid-how-eliminate-poverty-opinion-1633458.

    79.  Romer, “Escape from the Great Distress,” 63.

    80.  Gwartney, Lawson, and Block, Economic Freedom of the World, 1975–1995, 63.

    81.  Quoted in Danielle Marie Mackey, “‘I’ve Seen All Sorts of Horrific Things in My Time. But None as Detrimental to the Country as This,’” New Republic, December 14, 2014, https://newrepublic.com/article/120559/ive-seen-sorts-horrific-things-time-none-detrimental-country-this.

    82.  “Incoming Honduran President Wants UN Help to Battle Corruption,” France24, December 4, 2021, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211204-incoming-honduran-president-wants-un-help-to-battle-corruption; and Ana María Rovelo, “Zelaya: Gobierno de Xiomara derogará las ZEDE con un plebiscito,” Tiempo, December 8, 2021, https://tiempo.hn/xiomara-derogara-zede-con-plebiscito/.

    83.  Mark Lutter, “Honduras and the Future of Charter Cities,” Charter Cities Institute, December 2, 2021, https://www.chartercitiesinstitute.org/post/honduras-and-the-future-of-charter-cities.

    84.  Michael Strong, Startup Cities, podcast, Startup Societies Foundation, April 19, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZtFdagJuc.

    85.  Benjamin Weiser and Joan Suazo, “Ex-Honduran President Extradited to United States to Face Drug Charges,” New York Times, April 21, 2022, ProQuest.

    86.  Gustavo Palencia, “Honduran Congress Unanimously Nixes Special Economic Zones,” Reuters, April 21, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/honduran-congress-unanimously-nixes-special-economic-zones-2022-04-21/.

    87.  Naomi Klein, “Disaster Capitalism: The New Economy of Catastrophe,” Harpers (October 2007): 55.

    88.  John Ruch, “Sandy Springs to Bring Most Government Services In-House, Ending Much of Landmark Privatization,” Reporter Newspapers (Atlanta), May 14, 2019, https://reporternewspapers.net/2019/05/14/sandy-springs-to-bring-most-government-services-in-house-ending-much-of-landmark-privatization/.

    89.  Laurie Clarke, “Crypto Millionaires Are Pouring Money into Central America to Build Their Own Cities,” MIT Technology Review, April 20, 2022, https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/20/1049384/crypto-cities-central-america/.

    90.  “Adopting Bitcoin,” capture April 26, 2022, https://adoptingbitcoin.org/speaker/VeronikaKuett/.

    91.  “Free Private Cities: Brazil’s New Libertarian Dystopia,” Brasil Wire, February 24, 2021, https://www.brasilwire.com/free-private-cities-brazils-new-libertarian-dystopia/.

  CHAPTER 11: A CLOUD COUNTRY IN THE METAVERSE

      1.  Stephenson, Snow Crash, 40.

      2.  “Everything Facebook Revealed About the Metaverse in 11 Minutes,” CNET, October 28, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gElfIo6uw4g.

      3.  “Investing in the Online Property Boom,” CNN Money, October 20, 2006; “Making Real Money in Virtual Worlds,” Forbes, August 7, 2006.

      4.  Jake Swearingen, “Steve Bannon Saw the ‘Monster Power’ of Angry Gamers While Farming Gold in World of Warcraft,” New York, July 18, 2017, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/steve-bannon-world-of-warcraft-gold-farming.html.

      5.  James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State (London: Macmillan, 1997). Page references that follow are from the most recent edition. James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age (New York: Touchstone, 2020).

      6.  Davidson was a longtime libertarian. He started the magazine The Individualist in 1970 and lobbied Washington as the executive director of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) with Murray Rothbard on its executive committee. “Against Taxation,” Libertarian Forum, January 15, 1970. The Sovereign Individual was Davidson and Rees-Mogg’s third collaboration after Blood in the Streets: Investment Profits in a World Gone Mad (1987) and The Great Reckoning: How the World Will Change in the Depression of the 1990s (1991).

      7.  Preface in James D. Davidson and William Rees-Mogg, The Great Reckoning: How the World Will Change in the Depression of the 1990s (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1991).

      8.  Davidson and Rees-Mogg, The Great Reckoning, 13, 69.

      9.  Davidson and Rees-Mogg, The Sovereign Individual, 388.

    10.  Davidson and Rees-Mogg, 291.

    11.  Davidson and Rees-Mogg, 31.

    12.  Davidson and Rees-Mogg, 301.

    13.  Patrick McKenzie, “AMA with Marc Andreessen,” Stripe (n.d.), https://stripe.com/atlas/guides/ama-marc-andreessen.

    14.  George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013), 133. For an insightful reading of the book and Thiel see Mark O’Connell, Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World (New York: Doubleday, 2020), 77–80.

    15.  Caroline Howard, “Peter Thiel: ‘Don’t Wait to Start Something New,’” Forbes, September 10, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2014/09/10/peter-thiel-dont-wait-to-start-something-new/?sh=2b27fd571e69.

    16.  Another related story line links the web to Burning Man, the gathering in the desert where a makeshift city emerged once a year. Paul Romer and Patri Friedman both promoted the idea that their start-up societies were extensions of the spirit of Burning Man. Craib, Adventure Capitalism: A History of Libertarian Exit from Decolonization to the Digital Age, 186–88.

    17.  Fred Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

    18.  Jathan Sadowski, “The Internet of Landlords: Digital Platforms and New Mechanisms of Rentier Capitalism,” Antipode 52, no. 2 (March 2020): 562–80.

    19.  “Innovators Under 35,” MIT Technology Review (2013), https://www.technologyreview.com/innovators-under-35/2013/.

    20.  Balaji Srinivasan, “Silicon Valley’s Ultimate Exit,” Y Combinator Startup School, October 25, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOubCHLXT6A.

    21.  Drew Olanoff, “Google CEO Larry Page Shares His Philosophy at I/O: ‘We Should Be Building Great Things That Don’t Exist,’” TechCrunch, May 15, 2013, https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/15/google-ceo-larry-page-takes-the-stage-at-ceo-to-wrap-up-the-io-keynote/.

    22.  Max Chafkin, The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power (New York: Penguin, 2022), 209. On Tlon and its primary project, Urbit, see Harrison Smith and Roger Burrows, “Software, Sovereignty and the Post-Neoliberal Politics of Exit,” Theory, Culture & Society 38, no. 6 (2021): 153–57.

    23.  Balaji Srinivasan, “Software Is Reorganizing the World,” Wired, November 22, 2013, https://www.wired.com/2013/11/software-is-reorganizing-the-world-and-cloud-formations-could-lead-to-physical-nations/.

    24.  Srinivasan, “Software Is Reorganizing the World.”

    25.  Marshall Kosloff and Balaji Srinivasan, “#3 Network State with Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and Founder of 1729,” The Deep End, podcast, May 26, 2021.

    26.  Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964); and Naomi Klein, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (New York: Picador, 1999).

    27.  For an influential pioneering example see Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996). Hundreds of similar books followed.

    28.  Balaji Srinivasan, “How to Start a New Country,” 1729.com, April 9, 2021, https://1729.com/how-to-start-a-new-country/.

    29.  Srinivasan, “How to Start a New Country.”

    30.  Balaji Srinivasan, “The Network State,” 1729.com (n.d.), 12.

    31.  Srinivasan, “The Network State,” 6.

    32.  Srinivasan, “How to Start a New Country.”

    33.  Balaji Srinivasan, Twitter post, December 28, 2020, http://twitter.com/balajis.

    34.  Kosloff and Srinivasan, “#3 Network State with Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and Founder of 1729.”

    35.  See Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) (New York: PublicAffairs, 2020).

    36.  Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America.

    37.  O’Connell, Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World.

    38.  “The Rise of Cloud Cities & Citizen Journalism with Balaji Srinivasan,” The Paradox Podcast, July 29, 2020, https://podcastnotes.org/paradox-podcast/balaji-srinivasan-on-the-paradox-podcast/.

    39.  Kosloff and Srinivasan, “#3 Network State with Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and Founder of 1729.”

    40.  Srinivasan, “The Network State,” 9.

    41.  Balaji Srinivasan, “Bitcoin, China, the ‘Woke’ Mob, and the Future of the Internet,” Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist, August 11, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMuIyspn7s0.

    42.  “The Rise of Cloud Cities & Citizen Journalism with Balaji Srinivasan.”

    43.  Balaji Srinivasan, Twitter post, August 28, 2020, http://twitter.com/balajis. See Anna Verena Eireiner, “Promises of Urbanism: New Songdo City and the Power of Infrastructure,” Space and Culture (2021): 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1177/12063312211038716.

    44.  F. A. Hayek, Denationalisation of Money: An Analysis of the Theory and Practice of Concurrent Currencies (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1976). On the earlier history see Eric Helleiner, “Denationalizing Money?: Economic Liberalism and the ‘National Question’ in Currency Affairs,” in International Financial History in the Twentieth Century: System and Anarchy, ed. Marc Flandreau, Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich, and Harold James (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

    45.  It was called 21, no doubt after the maximum number of million bitcoin that could be mined.