Extropic Nation

Yak Wax (yakwax@yahoo.com)
Sat, 10 Jan 1998 14:23:45 -0800 (PST)


I read just this in a Nicholas Negroponte's recent Wired article about
the upcoming Junior Summit:

<quote>
One topic on the table will be a proposal by five alumni of the first
Junior Summit to start Nation.1 - a virtual nation for children, with
its own voice, flag, and currency, but without borders or centralized
government. This nation would apply for membership to the UN and make
every effort to include children from developing nations. Here is an
excerpt from Nation.1's first proclamation:

As a kid growing up with computers, you have ideas, you see
possibilities, but they don't count, you're just a kid. Adults need
kids, they just don't realize it. They can't relate to what kids have
to offer, because they don't understand technology the way kids do.
Kids have valuable perspectives, but the world offers no mechanism to
voice their opinions. They have no representation in world politics
and they have no influence in the decisions that govern their future.

So with the help of the second Junior Summit, a group of young, very
wired individuals is going to bend, twist, and distort some barriers
with the hope those barriers will come undone. We are going to create
a country in cyberspace, not defined by geography or race, but by
technology and age: Nation.1 - a country populated and run by kids.

Nation.1 is just beginning, and we are considering how to create
digital political systems, how to deal with language barriers, how the
technology behind the country will work. We passionately believe it's
worth it, because uniting kids changes their perspective, widens their
understanding, and leads to a better world.

Proposals like Nation.1 may seem outrageous, even unthinkable,
compared with what we adults would have suggested. That's the way it
should be: ultimately, the world must go past what adults believe will
succeed. The global information society is ours only to dream - it
will be up to these children to live it out.
</quote>

What I want to know is - why only kids? I want to have my very own
virtual nation. NOW! :-(

So here's an idea - make an extropic virtual nation and get ourselves
represented in the UN, how about TransNation? or something similar.
Anyone have any idea if this is possible?

--Wax
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