The BlockchainGov Newsletter #12 | May Monthly Report
Welcome back to BlockchainGov’s monthly report! This issue features a new online symposium, a new research approach to LLMs, and reading recommendations!
I. Research
This month we are proud to present the kickoff of the online symposium on Network States & New Network Sovereignties, co-organized by the Robert Schupmann Center at EUI and BlockchainGov.
In 2018, we explored cloud communities & e-citizenship. Fast forward 5 years, the rise of digital innovations has reshaped traditional notions of governance. Today, digital tools like blockchain enable communities to transcend physical borders, forming new network sovereignties. Are Network States technologically and politically feasible, morally justified, and legally possible? The symposium aims to delve into these critical questions through the work of leading scholars and thought leaders from the field.
Primavera de Filippi penned the kickoff contribution, introducing the realm of New Network Sovereignties. Primavera explores the distinct features and motivations driving these new types of sovereign entities, emphasizing the importance of governance over territorial control. In dialogue with Primavera, we have none other than Vitalik Buterin dissecting the idea of Network sovereignties. Vitalik distinguishes among free city-states, satellite towns, exiles, and nomads’ sites.
The symposium will be populated by new contributions in the following weeks, so keep following our social media to be updated. Especially if you’re joining events like Edge City or ZuBerlin, it will give you all the insights you need to jump into conversations!
Kelsie Nabben releases a new post on her Substack “A Language for Studying Knowledge Networks: The Ethnography of LLMs”. The post outlines a research agenda focused on alternative visions of LLMs to that of monolithic, winner-takes-all models, based on localized instances, interactions, networks, and outcomes. Adopting the lens of affordances of Large Language Models (LLMs), it sets out three core strands of investigation: (1) knowledge creation, (2) knowledge infrastructure, and (3) knowledge interoperability.
II. What are we reading
**The Commons and a New Global Governance -** Given the new-found importance of the commons in current political discourse, it has become increasingly necessary to explore the democratic, institutional, and legal implications of the commons for global governance today. This book analyses and explores the ground-breaking model of the commons and its relation to these debates.
**Patterns: Theory of the Digital Society -** Armin Nassehi proposes a new theory of digital society in this volume. Instead of seeing digitalization as an independent force, he asks: what problem does it solve? Nassehi argues that digitalization helps societies manage complexity through coded information processing. A great reading to understand the unfolding of the digital revolution.
**The YouTube Apparatus -** The study of social media and politics has lacked a coherent framework due to rapid technological changes and various crises. This Element introduces a Supply and Demand Framework, using media economics and sociology to analyze YouTube politics.
**Generative AI and the politics of visibility -** Proponents of generative AI tools claim they will supplement or replace cultural production, raising concerns about visibility politics. The paper analyzes three AI tools with various prompts and finds that they often reproduce normative identities and narratives.
**The Metaverse’s Thirtieth Anniversary: From a Science-Fictional Concept to the “Connect Wallet” Prompt -** The article revisits the metaverse’s origins and key antecedents, examining its evolution into a techno-capitalist landscape focused on digital wallets and crypto-assets.
III. Other
Morshed Mannan is seeking lawyers working in the blockchain space for interviews as part of an upcoming research project. If you're interested, please reach out!