network state

noun

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.

Meanings

nounnetwork state (plural network states)

plural network states

  1. neologismA 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.
    1 more example

    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.

    2024 February 5, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “Meet Me in the Eternal City”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN

Origin

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

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

network state. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/network%20state

MLA

“network state.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/network%20state. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “network state,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/network%20state.

Source: network state on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.