A Mysterious School for the Network State Crowd Is Now in Session

Last month, venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan announced the Network School, a three-month learning retreat marketed to people interested in “network nations,” a kind of utopia for the anarchocapitalist set. The inaugural class is 150 people. It starts today.

Details about the school have been shrouded in secrecy, even for the applicants. Aspiring Network School participants put down deposits of up to $2,000 without even knowing the Network School’s location. Srinivasan has still not disclosed it publicly, although social media posts and WIRED reporting indicate that it’s Forest City, Malaysia.

The Network School is one of the most ambitious projects yet for people interested in creating what Srinivasan calls a “decentralized country.” The goal is for people dissatisfied with their own society to band together and create a movement spawning “parallel” societies, special economic zones that have alternative education systems, media institutions, and currency—as well as wealth-friendly tax laws. A crucial step is having physical territory, and the Network School clears that bar. On Sunday, Srinivasan said he is working to “build out the real estate” with the goal of “scaling the school.”

While Srinivasan has still not publicly disclosed the Network School’s location, he’s been more clear about its values, to which he says students should conform. According to his Substack post introducing the Network School, these requirements include an admiration of “Western values,” seeing Bitcoin as the successor to the US Federal Reserve, and trusting AI over human courts and judges.

“It is for those who believe in technology, harmony, internationalism, and capitalism,” Srinivasan’s Substack post reads. “It’s for those who want Silicon Valley without San Francisco.”

Srinivasan added that the school is open to artists, athletes, and technologists from any country.

On the application for the school, people are asked to rate a series of things in different categories on a scale from negative 10 (not favorable) to positive 10 (favorable). The topics include “protocols” such as Solana and Bitcoin maximalism, “politics” such as Karl Marx and Jordan Peterson, “technology” such as AI accelerationism and military tech, “places” such as Dubai and Israel, “culture” such as tattoos and traditional masculinity and femininity, “policies” such as Drag Queen Story Hour and carbon credits, and “progress” such as artificial general intelligence and space exploration.

On X and Reddit, several people said they were accepted to the Network School and had to pay for the first month’s rent upfront within two business days of being accepted or risk losing their place. The time crunch, and not knowing where exactly they would be staying, caused stress for some people.

One tech worker who was accepted to the Network School tells WIRED that he’s very on board with the school’s premise, but that sending money without knowing key details was a bridge too far.

“I chatted about it with some friends, and they were like, ‘Wow, that sounds so dodgy’—and then I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right,’” says the applicant, who asked for anonymity, citing privacy concerns.

In terms of day-to-day life at the Network School, Srinivasan says in his Substack post that students will complete daily problems in mini classrooms. These will involve a combination of coding and posting on social media, and earning “proof-of-learn” NFTs upon completion. Srinivasan says students can also compete for daily “crypto prizes” worth $1,000 “for open source projects, AI content creation, and microtasks.”

Srinivasan has also advertised that students will get group workouts, meals, and health lessons led by Bryan Johnson, the former tech executive best known for spending about $2 million per year trying to slow his aging, a process he has documented extensively on social media. Johnson created the company Blueprint to trademark his protocol and sell various health foods.

Students will also get mentoring, according to Srinivasan’s Substack post, and lectures from “visiting technologists,” who are not named.

Students don’t pay tuition, but do have to pay $1,000 per month for a shared room or $2,000 for a private room. Srinivasan has said on X that families are welcome. According to the Network School website, this cost also includes gym access, coffee, and internet through Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet company.

During a Zoom “orientation” in early September, according to posts on X and a blockchain-based alternative Farcaster that featured screenshots of the Zoom call, Srinivasan told students, “If you want to change your mind, no problem … We have 1000s on the waitlist, so refunds are easy—but do speak now.”

People still hoping to get into the school have been told on their applications that they can pay $10 for a “Standard Review,” or $100 for a “Priority Review” in order to “show that you’re really serious.” It warns that a faster review does not guarantee acceptance.

On Monday, students began posting about the Network School being held in Forest City, and shared pictures and videos of its opening that showed the city’s distinct buildings, with signs for the local Forest City Marina Hotel visible in the background. Two employees of the hotel tell WIRED that the Network School will take place in the city. Azli Salim, director of sales and marketing at the hotel, says that he’s been in touch with Network School organizers, but did not specify the nature of those conversations. Srinivasan did not respond to several requests for comment.

Some people on X and Reddit had already guessed this location because the Network School website originally included pictures of Forest City and the Forest City Marina Hotel, according to screenshots shared with WIRED. However, a few days later, these images were replaced with what appear to be AI-generated versions of the originals.

Forest City is a duty-free zone in Malaysia, just a few miles from Singapore. In recent years, it’s developed a reputation among locals as a “ghost city.” Chinese developer Country Garden has invested about $100 billion into the city within the past decade, constructing most of the city’s condos and skyscrapers. However, the city struggled to find tenants to fill them—a problem that worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sam Chua, a member of the ETHKL community, which is focused on Ethereum adoption in Malaysia, tells WIRED that he visited Forest City in August. He says there are signs that the city is beginning to turn things around.

“It was better than I had expected,” Chua says. “The landscaping was in pretty good shape. It was a lot more populated than I had expected—some of the condominiums had people that had moved in.”

One person who applied got an email signed by Srinivasan saying that while the school was currently at capacity, they “are actively building facilities and will get back to you as soon as space opens up.” On Sunday, Srinivasan confirmed this onstage at the Network State Conference.

On September 22, the day before the Network School was scheduled to begin, Srinivasan hosted a “Network State Conference” in nearby Singapore, where speakers discussed “everything related to startup societies.” In addition to Srinivasan and Johnson, the speakers included AngelList founder Naval Ravikant, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, and Coinbase cofounder Brian Armstrong.

The Network School, and the Network State project generally, has its detractors. On X, some users have circulated an image of a flyer posted in an unnamed city that warns about network states perpetuating “tech facism.” They argue that by acquiring low-cost land, relying on low-wage local labor, and using their new states to allegedly hoard personal and corporate wealth, network state founders exacerbate colonialism and inequality. A website cataloging issues with network states lays out these concerns in further detail.

However, believers in the Network State philosophy have spun the flyer as a positive advertisement for the Network School. Roko Mijic, known for creating the “Roko’s basilisk” thought experiment about AI superintelligence, posted a picture of the flyer and captioned it, “Finally some good news!”