Are You Ready to Become a Citizen of a Digital Country?

Dec 02, 2021

So, have you ever dreamed of becoming a digital nomad? Someone who could live and work from anywhere? Sounds like a charmed life, doesn’t it? But, becoming digitally independent does come with its challenges. For instance, if you decide to leave your country and become an expat, you often have a steep learning curve.

It’s one thing to take a vacation to, say, Tahiti, and it’s another to live there, and the same goes for any country. Every country and culture comes with its history, shared culture, and of course, bureaucracy! Expats learn rather quickly that they need to get exceedingly comfortable at being entirely uncomfortable until things settle. Often, that takes four changes in season—making friends and staying open and curious, of course, also help.

Since these nations have borders, depending on the passport you carry, you may have the right to stay for a month or a couple of months. You may or may not require a visa. As we know, these days, a whole host of logistical issues occur with concern to demonstrating to your host country your COVID-19 status.

Becoming a Digital Nomad is No Longer Just a Dream

For whatever it's worth, the pandemic accelerated the planet's use of working and living in the virtual space. And, while nothing's perfect, becoming someone who is location-independent is something that's much more attainable. With the realities of more people working independently and with remote or hybrid work options on the rise, becoming a digital nomad is more viable.

How About Becoming a Citizen of the Digital Country of Plumia?

So, it was only a matter of time before a digital country took form. As the world fast-forwards to creating the metaverse, a digital nation is almost inevitable. Enter Plumia, which is accepting applications for new citizens. If you think that might be something of interest, they are indeed accepting applications. Ready to go?

Now, I don’t know if Plumia will take off or not, and I tend to think it would have to get recognized by the other bordered land nation-states eventually. Imagine if millions want to relinquish their current passports for Plumia. What would the world's countries do? If there’s a critical mass of citizens of Plumia, wouldn’t that disrupt the global order?

The idea of Plumia is fascinating on many levels, especially for those who understand the experiences of living in other countries where let's face it, sometimes bureaucracies, corruption, and inefficiencies can sour what could otherwise be extraordinary experiences. And if people are living more location-independent lives, why do nation-state borders matter?

Why Do Countries Have Borders?

If you even know a little bit of global history, then you know that land is something that has been conquered and fought to possess for millennia. Borders got developed for a variety of reasons for those with money and power interests. However, for practical reasons, country borders exist now to delineate the power of governments. As a result, citizens or residents of those nation-states have to follow their laws.

Sometimes, the more land, the more power the country and its people possess. And, as we know, borders are also a way for governments to control populations. Fortunately, the world's moving away from colonizing and taking away from people who don't want others in their countries and lands.

Technology Allows More Freedom for People

At present, we have billionaires tripping over each other to conquer space. The reality is that most of us living today will never experience outer space. At best, we may take a trip to the outer atmosphere, but that’s only after all the billionaires have first had their turn. However, most of us will never colonize anything but Earth, and that’s why we have to focus on trying to save our planet and living things from extreme weather.

So, at a time where there’s a real push to allow people to live in a metaverse, here on Earth, where people exist in the natural and digital worlds, what makes the idea of Plumia any different than billionaires wanting to conquer space? In my opinion, nothing. And if this concept takes off, it could allow for truly fascinating ways for people to move. Could it be that one day we're all going to have nearly 200 digital nations as we do land nation-states? And who controls those digital countries?

In a world where you could now purchase a digital building within Upland, the more one thinks of it, Plumia or any other digital country starts to make a lot of sense. If you invest in cryptocurrency and NFTs, then perhaps becoming a citizen of a digital country isn't that far of a stretch. Digital nomads, expats, and location-independent people lead the way!

Balancing the Digital World

Writing is a process, as any writer knows. So, is art and, well, everything worth doing. And the more people speak to each other about the disruption and massive uncertainty driven by technology, you find those who are tech lovers and promoters. But then you also get those who feed into technopanic.

The answer to questions is usually found somewhere in the middle. Nothing is ever all good or all wrong. What Plumia demonstrates is that if you happen to be someone who does fear tech, the more you start to see the possibilities or its abilities, the more the worry subsides. The flips side of that same coin is that the more you know about its power, the more urgent it becomes to stand in the space of ethical, responsible, human-driven technology.

When people purchase digital real estate and create countries in the digital age, it's certainly a brave new world. And we each have a choice. We could learn as much as we can about it (and in the process ourselves) or give into techlash, or blind technology support. Extremes never serve us well. So, let’s continue to create to shapeshift the story of the 21st Century by standing in our powerful space of curiosity and learning.