Recommended by
- Brian Armstrong: "Took a fresh read of Sovereign Individual - was really ahead of it's time, a lot of original thinking (some really out there stuff too)" source ↗
- Marc Andreessen: "The Sovereign Individual – Written 20 years ago, this is the most thought-provoking book on the unfolding nature of the 21st century that I've yet read. It's packed with ideas on every page, many that are now fast becoming conventional wisdom, and many that are still heretical." source ↗
- Peter Thiel: "This book breaks the taboo on prophecy: We're not supposed to talk about a future that doesn't include the powerful states that rule over us today. Rees-Mogg and Davidson argue that national governments could soon become as antiquated as 19th-century empires." source ↗
Summary
James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg's 1997 prophecy that the information age would dissolve the nation-state and hand power to footloose individuals — the book behind the phrase 'the sovereign individual.'
For founders
Armstrong rereads it because its core thesis — technology dissolves institutions and rewards individuals who control their own assets — is the exact argument behind crypto. Dated in details, alive in mechanism: a founder's framework for betting on where power is going.