This is a combined reading of Balaji's "How to Start a New Country" (1729.com/how-to-start-a-new-country/), with some commentary, and my response essay, "Towards An Anti-Adversarial Cloud State" (available at cactus.substack.com). In it I describe the game-theoretic principles at play in building a country over an online community. It is not as thoroughly rigourous as my typical content, but hopefully, is an interesting piece of your day.

My essay is at 23:31.