Final month, enterprise capitalist Balaji Srinivasan introduced the Community College, a three-month studying retreat marketed to individuals curious about “community nations,” a type of utopia for the anarchocapitalist set. The inaugural class is 150 individuals. It begins at the moment.
Particulars concerning the college have been shrouded in secrecy, even for the candidates. Aspiring Community College members put down deposits of as much as $2,000 with out even understanding the Community College’s location. Srinivasan has nonetheless not disclosed it publicly, though social media posts and WIRED reporting point out that it’s Forest Metropolis, Malaysia.
The Community College is likely one of the most bold initiatives but for individuals curious about creating what Srinivasan calls a “decentralized nation.” The objective is for individuals dissatisfied with their very own society to band collectively and create a motion spawning “parallel” societies, particular financial zones which have different training programs, media establishments, and foreign money—in addition to wealth-friendly tax legal guidelines. A vital step is having bodily territory, and the Community College clears that bar. On Sunday, Srinivasan mentioned he’s working to “construct out the actual property” with the objective of “scaling the college.”
Whereas Srinivasan has nonetheless not publicly disclosed the Community College’s location, he’s been extra clear about its values, to which he says college students ought to conform. In line with his Substack submit introducing the Community College, these necessities embrace an admiration of “Western values,” seeing Bitcoin because the successor to the US Federal Reserve, and trusting AI over human courts and judges.
“It’s for many who imagine in expertise, concord, internationalism, and capitalism,” Srinivasan’s Substack submit reads. “It’s for many who need Silicon Valley with out San Francisco.”
Srinivasan added that the college is open to artists, athletes, and technologists from any nation.
On the appliance for the college, persons are requested to fee a sequence of issues in numerous classes on a scale from damaging 10 (not favorable) to constructive 10 (favorable). The matters embrace “protocols” equivalent to Solana and Bitcoin maximalism, “politics” equivalent to Karl Marx and Jordan Peterson, “expertise” equivalent to AI accelerationism and army tech, “locations” equivalent to Dubai and Israel, “tradition” equivalent to tattoos and conventional masculinity and femininity, “insurance policies” equivalent to Drag Queen Story Hour and carbon credit, and “progress” equivalent to synthetic common intelligence and area exploration.
On X and Reddit, a number of individuals mentioned they had been accepted to the Community College and needed to pay for the primary month’s lease upfront inside two enterprise days of being accepted or danger dropping their place. The time crunch, and never understanding the place precisely they might be staying, prompted stress for some individuals.
One tech employee who was accepted to the Community College tells WIRED that he’s very on board with the college’s premise, however that sending cash with out understanding key particulars was a bridge too far.
“I chatted about it with some buddies, they usually had been like, ‘Wow, that sounds so dodgy’—after which I used to be like, ‘Yeah, you’re proper,’” says the applicant, who requested for anonymity, citing privateness issues.
When it comes to day-to-day life on the Community College, Srinivasan says in his Substack submit that college students will full every day issues in mini lecture rooms. These will contain a mix of coding and posting on social media, and incomes “proof-of-learn” NFTs upon completion. Srinivasan says college students may also compete for every day “crypto prizes” value $1,000 “for open supply initiatives, AI content material creation, and microtasks.”
