A feudal warlord system is geographically local by nature, and culturally local by accident. Corporations strong enough to out-power governments would be by nec

A feudal warlord system is geographically local by nature, and culturally local by accident. Corporations strong enough to out-power governments would be by necessity global and trans-cultural. This would be a very very different power and freedom dynamic, closer probably to that of large empires or current interior of mega-states, only projected globally so all can benefit from it. You'd get the freedom & liberty that you'd get in a loosely managed empire at the bottom of it's power pyramid, because the "top of the pyramid" would focus on profit and growth, not bother imposing strict rules towards the bottom, and would favor open borders and open trade for reasons of efficiency optimization. States would keep their power functioning as "providers of order" and "regulators of religion, culture etc.", but whenever they'd try to restrict the flow of goods or information, the "outer gods" would come down and give them a good whooping. Also, the natural tendency would be to have the decision making of these corporations more and more automated and diluted/distributed (the media-focusing founders' power would eventually dilute in big corporate cauldrons), until step by step they'd actually become non-human, half-biological AGIs in effect, using humans inside them as components, solving the annoying problem of having "other humans" ordering you from the top of the pyramid. Sure, the power transition needs to be gradual to avoid violence, but this is the road towards "crafting our gods". Nation states, as you'll start to see more and more, will try to restrict, regulate and slow down technological progress, even at the cost of their own (and of all of us) economic impoverishment.