I agree. This is needed. Many people are missing the point, which is that there is no real government in those places. The fact that the entrenched powers are w

I agree. This is needed. Many people are missing the point, which is that there is no real government in those places. The fact that the entrenched powers are warlords and oligarchs means the gating and exploitation angle people are worrying about already exists in an even worse and more dishonest form. Any such experiment could not possibly make things more broken than they are. That things have settled at such a dismal equilibrium is why so much aid is needed in the first place. Sending aid is attacking the symptom and not the disease. Something like this would be like a culture attack in Civilization. It would show that something better was possible and not an ocean away, completely destabilizing the status quo. I am not surprised so many African leaders denied it - they would not try something that has such a high risk of eroding their power base and the iron hold hold they have over the path of revenue. Will this work? Well it either will or it won't. If it doesn't then things are no worse beyond a few bitter people. And if it does? The implications extend beyond Poor countries if the richer ones all of a sudden have to start competing for the flow of talent. If they run slightly different versions in different areas they can even do some optimization on the best features of an economy and government. I can't see this as anything other than a good thing.