Phyles. Virtual tribes defined not by location or genetics or national identity, but by common interests and links of one member to another.
Neal Stephenson in The Diamond Age updated an ancient Greek term. Doug Casey has talked about the power of phyles. So has John Robb of Global Guerrillas.
Others have waxed more philsophical and even come up with 12-step programs for establishing phyles in the real world.
But you don’t need a program or even a conscious intention. We’re all part of phyles right now. Not only that, but we’re building interlinking networks of phyles, intentionally or not. Communities of hackers or gun owners or preppers linking seamlessly with communities of believers or non-believers linking seamlessly with communities of anarchists or Paulists or political agnostics linking seamlessly with communities of pot smokers or artists or small business people linking seamlessly with residents of New Zealand, Ireland, or Germany linking seamlessly with … well, who knows?
And the state? It plays no role at all (except of course its standard one of snooping and interfering). We are more important to each other than the state is to any of us, no matter what our nominal political philosophy might be.
And this power, and these amazing borderless communities, are going to grow larger and stronger and more independent of any nation-state over time (as long as we have the technology to maintain them). And isn’t that an amazing thing to contemplate? We will create our way around the state. It’s not a new thought, I know. Not an original thought. Just an astounding one.
Think of that the next time the state, with its endless violence and its mad, irrational rules, is doing its best to get you down.
The rest @ Backwoods Home
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