Parallel Citizen

4Seas: A Third Space for a Third Culture

I’m very grateful to be the first Crypto Resident at 4Seas, Chiang Mai. Something resonated here enough for me to extend my stay, and so I plan to work from here for the bulk of this summer. While here, I’ve given talks describing my articulation of 4Seas in its being, and becoming. Below, my observations of this physical node and network state experiment. As part of the residency program, I got 1 month free residency, meals, and community gym access. However, this review is not sponsored.

Network SchooI: A Bet on Permanence

I’d visited Network School before, during last year’s conference. May, 2026 was different. I stayed a full month and experienced the place as a daily system rather than a singular event.

Exit Is Not Enough

In case you missed it, I had my first podcast appearance on the Speakeasy Pod where I briefly discussed the cost of exit and touch on how someone might consider exit as a viable option. Below, some expanded thoughts on the four ways you exercise your "vote" every day, and examining why the vote to exit itself may not be enough.

On Change: In 1970, economist Albert O. Hirschman published Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, a slim book that reframed how we think about dissatisfaction.

Announcement: Nodes Digest

Made with ❤️ from us, by Wagmit, Cookie, Eric, & Michael (Parallel Citizen). Hey reader! I’ve shared before that I’ve been busy working on stuff in the background. Below, I wanted to share the announcement and launch of Nodes Digest - a Substack digest publishing as part of nsnodes.com - a dashboard tracking network state experiments happening all around the world.

Podcast: Parallel Societies with Parallel Citizen

Happy 2026 everyone! What a wild year so far… (it’s only January). As a quick update: A lot is happening in the background as I’m building and working on a couple of projects adjacent to the space (in decentralized tech, privacy-focused authenticity, and in open metrics and dashboards within the network state and network society movement).

The Three Leviathans: God-State-Network

We talk about God-State-Network as the three leviathans of the 21st century; a new war of worlds fought between ideology, sovereignty, and cryptographically enforced community.

Not Your: Keys, Infrastructure, Land Title (???)

When It Rains: Two market crises landed almost back-to-back in Oct 2025: a violent crypto flash crash and a major AWS outage. One was sparked by geopolitics, the other by technical failure. Both exposed the same thing: hidden chokepoints, fragile trust, and the difference between what you think you own and what you actually control.

Discord Democracy: Decentralizing Diasporas and Digital Diplomacy

Innovative coordination tools are transforming decentralized governance in digital and physical spaces. Insights from case studies in Nepal and Albania.

Network State & School 2025: Highlights

Welcome to the many new subscribers who joined following the NS Conference. It was incredible to meet so many of you in person and put a face to our online interactions.

How to Value Emerging Network States

Running some numbers behind the socio-techno-capital of human coordination.

Decentralized Social Media: 15 Years in the Making

A brief history of decentralized social media, and a snapshot of the current landscape.