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There’s a book called the Sovereign Individual co-written by William Rees Mogg - he picked up the moniker “Mystic Mogg” in his lifetime on account of his pencha

There’s a book called the Sovereign Individual co-written by William Rees Mogg - he picked up the moniker “Mystic Mogg” in his lifetime on account of his penchant for predictions that turned out false (but he’s probably more likely to be known today as the father of UK politician Jacob Rees Mogg). The book’s central thesis is an expansion of the ideas in TFA. He predicted something like bitcoin in the book and opined on how a supranational currency would inevitably lead to something of an anarcho-capitalist existance. He spends a lot of pages on the loss of nation’s monopoly on violence. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Sovereign_Individual.html https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Sovereign_Individ... In his view, countries would ultimately be forced to bid for citizens to choose to put down roots there. The would become more akin to privately owned and run civic service enterprises. For what it’s worth, i finished the book thinking he underestimated the desire for many humans to live near where they were born but i was impressed that he predicted bitcoin about 30 years ahead of its time.

denton-scratch 5y ago
Was it him that proposed that we should abolish national currencies, and allow people to accept whatever currency they see fit? People would accept the most stable or well-managed currencies (or switch into them quickly, if they're using currency as a store of value), and so deter chancellors from debauching their national currency.
xg15 5y ago
> In his view, countries would ultimately be forced to bid for citizens to choose to put down roots there. The would become more akin to privately owned and run civic service enterprises. I mean, the first part of that prediction seems desirable and increasingly reality. Already today, it's gotten a lot more common to migrate between countries (at least if you're rich and/or qualified enough and have the right country of origin...) As for the second part, I'm continuously amazed how free-market fundamentalists seem to view "my way of the highway" as a viable way to run a state. If I get to choose in which one of three authoritarian countries I want to spend my life, this will not magically make the countries stop being authoritarian due to some nebulous competition.
dredmorbius 5y ago
That's one of the references in Andrew L. Sullivan's The Control Revolution, a 1999 book which explored the (then future) prospects of pervasive information networks. Sullivan does a pretty good job (and a much better one than I'd thought reading through the first part of the book) of predicting and laying out the fault lines of our present Internet, including some eerily accurate scyring of our present wars on facts and institutions, as well as the rise of monopolies and the fall of traditional journalism.

denton-scratch 5y ago

Was it him that proposed that we should abolish national currencies, and allow people to accept whatever currency they see fit? People would accept the most stable or well-managed currencies (or switch into them quickly, if they're using currency as a store of value), and so deter chancellors from debauching their national currency.

xg15 5y ago

> In his view, countries would ultimately be forced to bid for citizens to choose to put down roots there. The would become more akin to privately owned and run civic service enterprises. I mean, the first part of that prediction seems desirable and increasingly reality. Already today, it's gotten a lot more common to migrate between countries (at least if you're rich and/or qualified enough and have the right country of origin...) As for the second part, I'm continuously amazed how free-market fundamentalists seem to view "my way of the highway" as a viable way to run a state. If I get to choose in which one of three authoritarian countries I want to spend my life, this will not magically make the countries stop being authoritarian due to some nebulous competition.

dredmorbius 5y ago

That's one of the references in Andrew L. Sullivan's The Control Revolution, a 1999 book which explored the (then future) prospects of pervasive information networks. Sullivan does a pretty good job (and a much better one than I'd thought reading through the first part of the book) of predicting and laying out the fault lines of our present Internet, including some eerily accurate scyring of our present wars on facts and institutions, as well as the rise of monopolies and the fall of traditional journalism.