90 days, 150 digital nomads from around the world, Balaji's network state has taken its first step.

Source: Star & Ruby, hosts of Day1global & Web3brand

Compiled by: Jaleel, BlockBeats

This article is transcribed from the podcast Day1global (Born Global) E20, which is dedicated to exploring how to create super individuals in the era of globalization, discussing cutting-edge innovative ideas and practices. Host Star has over 10 years of experience as a user product manager, with a skill set spanning content communities, e-commerce platforms, and artificial intelligence, exploring how to become a super individual in the globalized era. Host Ruby has over 10 years of experience in internet operations, having worked at several tech companies including Amazon.

This episode of the podcast focuses on the Network School project initiated by Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is a Stanford PhD, former CTO of Coinbase, and former partner at A16z, a top angel investor in the Web3 space, who published the book "The Network State" in July 2022, strongly promoting the concept of "network states." Related reading: "Meet Balaji Srinivasan, the Father of 'BUIDL', the Eagle-eyed Investor in the Crypto Space."

As an attempt at the "network state" concept, Balaji has launched the first three-month innovative school called "The Network School" near Singapore, aimed at providing development opportunities for "Dark Talent" (young talents who are marginalized and unnoticed by the mainstream world). The Network School will focus on four core directions: "Learn, Burn, Earn, and Fun."

Balaji expressed the hope that this school will become a true "Stanford 2.0," with the first 3-month term running from September 23 to December 23 this year. Enrollment requires payment of rent. The monthly rent is $1,000 (for shared accommodation) and $2,000 (for private accommodation), and students can also apply for short-term rentals. The rent includes an air-conditioned room located on a beautiful island, equipped with internet, a gym, and access to all courses and community services. Currently, "The Network School" has attracted innovative individuals from around the world, with 150 students enrolled.

In this episode, hosts Star and Ruby engage in a dialogue with three guests, Camellia, Twone, and Arvin, deeply exploring their experiences and insights. BlockBeats has organized the podcast transcript as follows:

Host Star: If you are familiar with digital nomads, innovative education, or cryptocurrency, you may have recently heard about Network School. This school is located in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, initiated by Balaji Srinivasan, a well-known entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, who previously served as the CTO of Coinbase and was also a former partner at A16Z. He proposed the concept of "network states," aiming to break geographical boundaries and connect innovators globally through the internet, creating a new type of society unbound by traditional national systems. Network School is the core practice of his educational philosophy. This school is referred to as "Stanford 2.0," specifically designed to provide learning opportunities for those who do not fit into traditional systems but possess great potential, breaking the barriers and forms of traditional education.

Host Ruby: The first term of Network School received over 3,000 applications from more than 100 countries, ultimately admitting fewer than 150 students, with an acceptance rate comparable to that of Stanford University. This project not only attracts professionals from various fields but also gathers students from different domains and age groups. Surprisingly, these students range from U.S. military personnel to university professors, with ages spanning from 20 to over 50.

Host Star: We are very fortunate to have invited three friends who are enrolled, namely Camellia, Twone, and Arvin. All three guests have impressive backgrounds: Camellia is a globally nomadic bilingual content creator, Twone has made outstanding contributions in the design field, and Arvin is active in DAO and research and practice in crypto-economics.

Host Ruby: In our conversation, the guests shared their unique application processes, with one guest even getting accepted with just three sentences. The learning format at Network School is also distinctive; in addition to academic courses, there are free fitness training and healthy meals provided daily. The education here is not just about knowledge transfer but also about comprehensive cultivation of global thinking, community collaboration, and personal growth.

Host Star: What is particularly impressive is that this school is not limited to any one country or culture; it is truly globalized. Our guests also shared their nomadic lives in places like Argentina and Portugal, demonstrating how to balance learning and living in a globalized context.

Network School Model and Guest Backgrounds

Host Ruby: We will now officially start this exciting content and lively podcast recording. We have invited three friends, and I would like to ask each of them to introduce themselves.

Camellia: Hello, everyone, I am Camellia Yixuan. I am a bilingual creator with a Chinese media brand called Lixiang Tun and an English media brand called Chiwi Journal. I also work as a business consultant, providing marketing and content production consulting for startups and tech companies.

Twone: Hello, everyone, I am Twone, the former host of Uncommons and a member of the GCC community investment committee. I have also made significant contributions in DeSci, serving as a working group member in the Gitcoin DeSci group and a multi-signature holder in DeSci Asia. Before entering the crypto space, I worked as a PM in a large internet company, and I enjoy writing, small animals, and game programming.

Arvin: Hello, everyone, I am Arvin. I have previously contributed to and founded various types of DAOs, and I have also experimented with on-chain governance and token economics. Personally, I currently play the role of a product manager and project manager, and I love bringing people together to create things. This is also why I am very fond of the idea of The Network School, as I have a somewhat vague dream of connecting everyone, similar to the character Sam Porter Bridges in the game "Death Stranding," who connects everyone.

Host Star: Welcome. All three of you have participated in Network School. Although Balaji wrote a long article to introduce it, I would like to hear your personal experiences. For example, if you were to introduce this school to your friends, whether they are in crypto or not, how would you describe it in one sentence?

Camellia: Previously, when I introduced it to my friends who are not in tech, like my parents or some friends, I would say that I am going to a place focused on future education, studying what our educational model will be in the future, and emphasizing physical health, giving them a sense of the future. If I were to explain it to those familiar with the crypto field, I would mention Balaji, and they would know who he is. So I would say I am going to learn at a prototype of his network state.

Twone: I think it feels more like a network state, a small social experiment in a physical sense. There were quite a few applicants this time, but only 150 were admitted, which is the Dunbar number, also known as the 150 law, referring to the maximum number of close personal relationships a person can maintain. The final 150 individuals have backgrounds in startups, tech companies, etc., and everyone comes together with diverse backgrounds, learning from each other and exploring a new form of social structure for the future. So I would say Network School is more of an exploratory, co-creative, and continuously self-challenging learning social experiment.

Arvin: I think if I had to summarize it in one sentence, for those in the crypto circle, this project allows us to see how decentralized technology interacts with politics, human life, and culture in real life, and how these different fields can blend together. For those outside the crypto circle, it can be an experience to feel how a different school or society operates and what the process of self-organization looks like. The most interesting aspect of this event for me is that everyone is here because of Balaji. This is a very key point. It’s like a social network graph, with Balaji as one of the nodes, radiating influence to people from various backgrounds. Therefore, the people who come here are very diverse. I think this is actually an interesting experiment of decentralized technology blending with different fields, to see what kind of chemical reactions Network School can spark.

Host Ruby: At the opening ceremony or the start of the term, did Balaji mention the goals of this Network School experiment? What is the goal for the first term of 90 days, and what was the situation like on the first day?

Twone: We started on a Monday, and that day was mainly about handling some tedious check-in procedures, so the formal introductions and sharing took place the next day, on Tuesday. That day, we had a longer sharing session introducing the concept of the Network State, which he mentioned in his previous book, and how this concept is implemented in the network school.

Balaji sharing at the opening ceremony, image source Twone

Camellia: He also mentioned in the enrollment brochure that the core philosophy of the school is to learn, exercise, earn, and have fun, mainly encouraging everyone to develop themselves. In this atmosphere, everyone is encouraged to connect and interact. Now that the school has only been open for about a week, there have already been seven or eight spontaneously organized activities, such as introducing what cryptocurrency is, how to make AI movies, knowledge related to NFTs, and some sports activities. Those who are able to enter this school have a strong sense of initiative, and the school encourages everyone to explore and develop themselves.

Arvin: Following what Camellia said, I feel that the school particularly emphasizes self-policy, meaning everyone must take responsibility for their own growth, which is a very important ability. On a higher level, Network School is actually trying to rebuild a completely new school system. They believe that the American university system has collapsed, so the goal of Network School is to reshape a university model suitable for contemporary young people, providing a brand new educational opportunity for those in their twenties.

Twone: Just like when Bitcoin was first created, no one thought sovereign nations would recognize it. As Balaji mentioned in the introductory article about Network School, it was Bitcoin that gave us the opportunity to have this island to practice this network school. In fact, most countries, except for China and the United States, are small nations, so he said we could first build a Vatican-like community of about 800 people, then grow to 11,000, and eventually, after 10 years of development, reach a scale of 100,000 or even 1 million. In this way, we can cultivate generation after generation of outstanding entrepreneurs to drive the network state towards the next chapter.

Host Ruby: Yes, I find it quite impressive that their philosophy is not a zero-sum game. They are not trying to reform the existing system; rather, they believe that if the current system is inadequate, then simply create a new one. It's like Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin; he was dissatisfied with the Federal Reserve and other sovereign systems, but he didn't confront them directly; instead, he created something entirely new. If the existing education system is not fair enough and cannot stimulate creativity, then it is better to create a new school.

Arvin: This morning, when I was chatting with one of the students, he mentioned a metaphor that Balaji often uses, which I found very interesting. He said that the current political situation in the Americas is like a clapping game, with one hand up and one hand down; today the Democrats are down, tomorrow the Republicans are up, and it goes back and forth. But the philosophy of Network School is, "OK, I won't play your game." They have opened a new track, which, as you just said, is a completely different way of playing.

Application Process and Lifestyle Rhythm

Host Star: How did you first learn about this school, and how did you go about applying?

Camellia: I have been following Balaji for a long time; I first heard about him on Tim Ferriss's podcast, where he did a very long episode that lasted over four hours, and I started following him from that point. He later established a community called 1729, where he posted many tasks, and if you completed them, he would reward you with Bitcoin. So I participated in many activities, and later he created a Discord community, which is the early version of Network School. Initially, he only recruited 150 people, but now the Discord community has over 800 members.

When he released the enrollment brochure for Network School, it was first posted in the Discord community and then some information was released through public channels. I opened the application page and found it very interesting, so I wrote an application letter that might have only three sentences. I said, "I have been following you for a long time, and I believe you know my name." Because I had previously participated in some of the online classes he held on Discord before he wrote his book, we could ask him questions, so I had one-on-one conversations with him. When he published the book "The Network State," I also suggested translating it, but it was later translated by someone else.

So I thought he should remember me. I don't know who reviews these applications, but after I finished writing, I felt a bit regretful, thinking, oh no, so many people applied, and I only wrote three sentences; will I be accepted?

Twone: I first saw Balaji's tweet when I was in Argentina, dealing with the time difference. I told Arvin about it first and encouraged him to apply. The next day, I clicked on the link and found that besides filling out some basic information, there was only one question: "Why do you want to apply to Network School?" I spent about an hour writing my reasons for applying, and three days later, I received an email saying I was accepted as one of the first students. Because I have studied in China, the United States, and Hong Kong, my background is quite diverse, which might be one of the reasons they accepted me. Another point is that this batch of applicants mentioned a preference for creators, and I have been continuously writing, which might be similar to Camellia, so they might pay special attention to the content output of applicants during the selection process.

Arvin: I started following Balaji from his book "The Network State," and later saw his recruitment information looking for writers, founders, and coaches. I consider myself a founder type, so I mainly talked about my experiences and background in the application form.

Host Ruby: Are there people in Network School who act like career coaches, such as life coaches?

Twone: Yes, Balaji actually takes the time to communicate seriously with everyone. Yesterday, he had a long one-on-one conversation with one of our friends, lasting about four hours. When we introduced ourselves on Discord, he would look at everyone's introduction and then find each person for face-to-face communication, saying, "I have seen your introduction and know your interests and background." His knowledge base is very rich.

Arvin: The life coaches are more like spiritual mentors, and there are also physical trainers. For example, we have morning Burn workouts every day, mainly for fat-burning fitness. So the school indeed needs many fitness coaches, and this aspect is currently quite lacking.

Host Ruby: Has Bryan Johnson come to share, and does he stay long-term or just for a few days to conduct some course sharing?

BlockBeats Note: Bryan is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, and writer who proposed a new anti-aging experimental project called "Project Blueprint" in 2021 and has undergone a series of plasma transfusions, one of which was donated by his son.

Twone: His son will be living here long-term, while Bryan himself is quite busy, so he only comes occasionally. His team provides us with the Blueprint, such as health plans and body tests. We just did the Longevity Test this afternoon and are testing their developed app, which is in the TestFlight stage. There will likely be more attempts or tests and experiments in the next 90 days.

Host Ruby: Can you elaborate on the Longevity Test part?

Twone: We just completed the Longevity Test today, which mainly records each person's body test data. Since the app has not officially launched yet, scores have not been released, but everyone's results will be compiled. They also mentioned the Blueprint Test, learning tests, sleep tests, etc. There is a dedicated sub-area in Discord called "Qualify Yourself," which measures various indicators. Some people sleep with many devices to measure heart rate, pulse, breathing, etc., which is very interesting.

Camellia: I am quite looking forward to this because I pay a lot of attention to my health and have a habit of recording various health indicators. I want to see how their tests differ from my records. The current tests mainly focus on some basic physical skills, such as push-ups and other simple tasks, but more detailed instrument tests may be conducted in the coming weeks.

Host Star: We are curious; since 150 people were admitted this time, can you share some backgrounds of other students, such as their nationalities, professions, or the gender ratio?

Image source: Twone

Twone: Yes, I noticed a very interesting phenomenon: there are many more boys than girls. So once, when I was waiting in line for the restroom, there was a long line for the men's room, while the women's room had very few people. I even took a photo to document this scene. When we first arrived, the girls held a small gathering because of the Network State, so we jokingly called it the "females State," or women's nation, and we held a simple small gathering to help women establish some connections. There will be a series of other activities to follow.

Host Star: What about the distribution of nationalities and professions? What is the overall situation?

Twone: From the people I have talked to, the majority are from the United States and China, with others present but not in the majority. You can always find classmates from different countries.

Camellia: There are also quite a few Indians because Balaji is very influential in India.

Twone: Yes, we attended a small event in Singapore, and it felt like everyone really admired him; I couldn't even squeeze in to talk to him.

Host Star: How is the distribution between the crypto circle and the non-crypto circle?

Twone: There are quite a few people from the non-crypto circle. For example, one student previously worked in natural movement in Shanghai and was using Discord for the first time, needing me to teach him, and there were others who registered a crypto wallet for the first time. The school's learning model is also a great way to break the circle; after each workout, we mint an NFT connected to our wallets. Many people got their first crypto wallets this way, and the NFT is placed on the Solana chain.

Host Ruby: Balaji is really super supportive of Solana; his conference is held alongside Breakpoint.

Twone: Yes, but the team said the choice of chain was actually arbitrary; the staff set up a TP link that supports Solana. We were discussing at lunch whether to suggest to Balaji to introduce cryptocurrency payments because right now, we can only use traditional methods like Visa to buy food. However, the staff member said Balaji might think that integrating cryptocurrency is too troublesome, worrying that after integrating Ethereum and Solana, other chains or communities would ask why their chains weren't included. So they might still be discussing this internally.

Host Star: The thousand dollars you pay there is just for accommodation, not including meals, right?

Twone: Yes, the thousand dollars a month is for shared accommodation with a roommate; if it's a double room, it's two thousand dollars. And actually, we are in a hotel, so the luxurious KTV you see is part of the hotel's facilities.

Arvin: (Speaking of classmates' backgrounds) When it comes to classmates' backgrounds, I find them very diverse. I met a developer whose Twitter bio says "U.S. Army Paratrooper." After chatting for a while, I discovered that he was previously a special forces medic. I have a personal interest in the military, so I was surprised to meet a special forces medic in this setting. He also told me that his teacher was the medic involved in the events depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down." I think the connections in this world are truly amazing.

There are also people from various backgrounds, such as someone involved in real estate and education in China; he said he works in school education at Country Garden. There are many recent graduates, mainly working in startups. Some come from very distant places, like Iceland, or as previously mentioned, those who practice natural movement in the jungle. The backgrounds are very diverse, but the story of the paratrooper and the medic left the deepest impression on me; such connections are really fascinating.

Host Ruby: (Returning to the previous question) What percentage of your classmates are from the crypto circle?

Camellia: I think about 90%. Even if their main profession is not in the crypto circle, most people hold some cryptocurrency.

Twone: Basically, everyone knows a bit about cryptocurrency, after all, Balaji has always emphasized the importance of Bitcoin holders in his posts. However, we also encountered some people from traditional fields, like a German couple; the husband works in a traditional bank, and they stumbled upon this school online. They have stable jobs, and their company in the Netherlands allows them to work remotely for three months each month, so they are working while checking out the situation here.

Host Ruby: Are there any students who brought their children? Or what is the age range like? How old are the youngest and oldest students?

Twone: The youngest might be in their 20s, while the oldest could be in their 50s or 60s. Some are successful entrepreneurs, and we even met a professor who teaches entrepreneurship at Tsinghua and Peking University; he brought his family and children along. This professor is American and speaks Chinese very well.

Camellia: I met a mother and son who came together. The mother is in her 50s, and the son is in his 20s. The mother applied first; she works in medicine or sports and is particularly interested in Bryan Johnson.

Host Star: So, from what I gather, most classmates may not be working on crypto projects, but they are all knowledgeable about or hold cryptocurrency. I remember that day when Balaji interviewed Pieter Levels, he also asked him if he believed in cryptocurrency, and Pieter Levels said he also holds cryptocurrency. So it can be seen that the penetration of crypto is quite high among some highly educated groups. Let's move on to the next question. The school is divided into four parts: learning, exercising, earning, and having fun. Are there any particularly impressive aspects in these four areas?

Camellia: We can talk about our daily routine. For me, I wake up at 7:30 AM, go to fat-burning training at 8 AM, and have breakfast and chat with classmates at 9 AM. Around 10 to 11 AM, I start working for a while, then have lunch with classmates at noon, eating the blueprint health meals they provide. There are small classes on Monday and Thursday afternoons; Monday might be Balaji teaching, and on Thursday, Bryan Johnson and Vitalik are invited to share with us.

Twone: We might go to bed a bit later because, for example, after finishing activities at night, I return to my hotel room to write tweets. The content you see me posting on Twitter is usually during this nighttime period because during the day, your experiences can be scattered across many other places, and then at night, you organize them or have some personal time.

As for the learning part, as Camellia mentioned, the guest talks on Mondays and Thursdays are very exciting, and there is more peer-to-peer learning. Everyone learns by creating and initiating various activities, such as learning how to build front-end, back-end, design web pages, and even beginner coding courses. They explain things in a very simple and understandable way, allowing everyone to start from scratch and quickly learn some skills. For example, they can teach various basic students how to download Visual Studio software and write a simple "Hello World" website in just over an hour, which I think is great.

Next is the exercise part, which Camellia also mentioned; exercising is currently the most structured part. You can book specific workout times, and professional coaches create workout plans for different body parts. The workout areas vary each day, and you will find that Balaji himself benefits greatly from it; his physique has changed significantly compared to a year ago.

Host Ruby: Yes, I particularly remember at the Network State Conference, Bryan Johnson kept asking Balaji, "Why can't you get 8 hours of sleep? Balaji, how many hours did you sleep last night? I saw you still working on the PPT in the middle of the night."

Twone: Right, in the earning part, Balaji releases a bounty every day that everyone can participate in. Usually, it involves doing some open-source projects, and the winners are announced on Discord and Farcaster. Ultimately, Balaji decides who wins, and the prize cannot be shared among multiple people; whoever completes the task first takes the prize.

Host Ruby: What tasks have been available these days? I remember the prize is quite substantial.

Twone: Yes, $1,000, with $1,000 given out each day.

Host Star: So are these tasks all coding-related?

Twone: The most recent task is that Balaji hopes someone will create an open-source tool to standardize the resume formats uploaded by all students. Some resumes are in PDF format, while others are in different formats, so this is actually a relatively simple requirement. Balaji hopes these tools can be practical.

This is actually a very important part because in the first week, everyone is still in the stage of establishing connections and adapting. We come to this Network School, and we certainly hope to achieve some results and outputs. The earn mechanism has effectively encouraged everyone to work on some substantial projects. Balaji himself is a serial entrepreneur, and he hopes to see more new projects and innovations emerge here.

Host Star: What about the fun part? Is this mainly organized spontaneously by everyone, or are there some planned themes?

Arvin: For fun, I think the most interesting and contrasting thing is that everyone meditates in the KTV. They have also bought a lot of sports equipment, like ping pong tables and basketballs from Decathlon, for everyone to relax and have fun while also exercising. Some students spontaneously organize entertainment activities, like chess; one student brought a chess set, and everyone plays together. There are also people organizing board games, but not many signed up yet, so it hasn't started. They suggested playing Werewolf for the board games; I'm not particularly familiar with these games, but I joined the discussions to see if there are opportunities to participate in some activities.

Regarding the learn and earn parts, I can also add from other perspectives. For learning, besides their guest speeches, there are also some valuable content shared by Balaji himself. Additionally, peer-to-peer learning is excellent; many people spontaneously organize various activities to share what they are good at, allowing everyone to learn together. For example, as mentioned earlier, sharing skills on using AI for filmmaking and video production, as well as programming skills, these peer-to-peer learning experiences are truly valuable. Twone also plans to do a sharing session to discuss some of the content he has written before, helping everyone understand more about topics related to Network School or crypto.

Camellia organized a yoga class, image source: Camellia

As for the earn part, I think the most interesting aspect is the bounty, but earning is not limited to that. Besides bounties, there are also recognitions from others, collaborations, etc., which are also part of earning. For example, Camellia helped tidy up the coffee machine, and I think that is also a way to earn; earning is the community's trust in you. Yesterday, Twone and I helped install Starlink, filming a video to document the installation process. Later, we might release a video on how to set up Starlink. This process involves technical work like pulling cables and testing speeds, and everyone collaborates, which is very interesting. This is also a manifestation of earning because through these collaborations, everyone can quickly build relationships, reach a consensus, and form partnerships.

Twone: I also want to add that regarding the sharing next week that Arvin mentioned, I might do a presentation on crypto public goods. I have previously participated in writing related reports and hope to share how to build more public goods to improve the infrastructure of Network School. To be honest, the team is really busy right now; some people even go to bed at 4 AM. While we are maintaining healthy routines, the team is continuously working hard to contribute to the overall environment. As the first batch of members, we are more part of the community, using our strengths to do what we can. For example, whether it's the coffee machine or Starlink, these are parts of the infrastructure. As members of this V1V0 batch, we hope that future arrivals can enjoy increasingly better facilities.

So I think that the 150 of us coming here is more about being a community, where everyone can use their strengths to do what they can, including the coffee machine or Starlink, which are all parts of the infrastructure. As members of this V1V0 batch, we hope that future arrivals can enjoy increasingly better facilities.

Host Ruby: So earning also resembles a collective effort from our community, where we think about how we can contribute to the community and earn more connections and trust, etc.

Camellia: Yes, and there are many spontaneously organized groups here, such as writing, dancing, morning runs, and meditation. You can gather friends to participate in activities based on your interests.

Host Ruby: You mentioned the Network School team; how many people are operating this school?

Twone: Very few, about four or five.

Arvin: There are at most ten staff members on-site, probably around six or seven.

Host Star: Very streamlined. From what I hear, it feels like the whole format is about mobilizing the power of the community rather than designing and arranging everything from the top down.

Host Ruby: Including the courses and the content you publish, Balaji only has set sharing sessions on Monday and Thursday afternoons; the rest of the time is blank, meaning everyone designs their own learning content.

Arvin: Yes, we discussed some improvement suggestions today, such as setting up more discussion areas for specialized fields in Discord, where everyone can establish different "faculties" based on their skills, with each person responsible for different courses. This way, we can form a curriculum, and I think this process is very interesting.

Host Ruby: That's very constructive. I feel it shouldn't even be called a "school"; it resembles a co-governed community, where learning is just one part. In the future, if four-year full-time universities are no longer needed, such a model might be more ideal. People can find a balance between life, earning, and learning while growing together with like-minded community partners.

Twone: Indeed, this is somewhat like the theory of Network State; this is his first experiment, the first time putting these theories into practice, allowing everyone to see their actual operation. Here, everyone's identity is also very diverse. For example, the developer Arvin mentioned is both a former U.S. military member and a code developer, now exploring more possibilities in the network state. I think this might be a trend for future network states and startup societies.

Host Ruby: Theoretically, this is his first physical node, and there may be more nodes in the future. According to the steps in his book, there should first be one physical node, which will gradually expand into multiple global nodes, like an archipelago.

Twone: Exactly, people from the outside will be very curious, observing this startup society to see whether it will grow or shrink, whether the experiment is successful, and whether the members' lives are better. For early members, they will also calculate whether their investment is worthwhile to decide if they will continue to invest, which will also instill confidence in later participants regarding this startup society. This belief-driven initial motivation will make this society better and better.

Host Star: Yes, because I have seen Balaji's "admissions brochure," he actually encourages everyone to cultivate remote work skills, enabling them to work from anywhere in the world. This way, once you master this skill, you can easily form a digital nomad community, breaking free from geographical limitations to live and work anywhere globally.

Arvin: Yes, I want to add something. You mentioned that the curriculum feels quite empty; why is that? Because many people come here and still need to do remote work, it's not possible to arrange full-day classes like traditional schools. Everyone has to handle their work, so the curriculum won't be too packed. On one hand, it allows the community to spontaneously organize activities, and on the other hand, it gives everyone time to manage their work. For example, many students from the U.S. need to adapt to the U.S. time zone, so they may need to rest during the day and work with their U.S. colleagues at night. So, this is also one reason why the curriculum looks relatively empty.

Digital Nomad Lifestyle and Future Prospects

Host Ruby: We have actually collected a lot of audience questions. We previously shared our experience at the conference on Twitter, and some listeners privately messaged me, asking if we would interview people from Network School later, so we gathered some questions from them. Some listeners actually applied and received admission notices but couldn't come due to work reasons, and some emails were missed and ended up in the spam folder, which is quite unfortunate. So the most concerning question for everyone is whether you achieved the expected gains during this first week or if there were any unexpected surprises?

Camellia: I think it really exceeded my expectations. At first, I thought it would be like ten people living in a big dormitory because on the first day of school, Balaji mentioned not to have too high expectations here. So I had very low expectations, but when I got here, I found the infrastructure to be better than I imagined. Although there is still a lot of room for improvement, everything is progressing very quickly. For example, regarding the coffee machine issue yesterday, everyone mentioned that the school didn't have coffee, and the team resolved it immediately; it was really fast. As for the people here, I initially thought the meals would be short, about an hour or so, but every meal and chat lasts two to three hours. The material I've accumulated this week is enough for me to use for several months.

Also quite randomly, one time I was working in the lobby on the first floor, and a classmate asked if I had time to record a podcast. I was thinking of scheduling a time and sending him a link to book, but he said we could go out and record while walking. I said, sure, and we casually recorded it. Everything is progressing quite quickly, and I really like this speed.

Twone: Yes, I actually think my thoughts are quite similar to Camellia's. Before coming, I didn't have many expectations; everyone mainly came out of trust and curiosity towards Balaji. What surprised me the most was interacting with different people; every encounter brings new insights. Many people are very interested in us Chinese and even asked if I could hold a Chinese learning session; everyone is learning from each other.

I think Network School is very different from other projects I participated in before, like Zuzalu or Crecimiento in Argentina. First of all, it lasts longer; three months give everyone more opportunities to learn and create together. Every interaction here is full of unknowns, which is particularly interesting, like an experiment showcasing the realization of Balaji's network state concept. We can see how technology drives the evolution of social forms; blockchain technology has reached a turning point, enabling immutable records and unseizable assets, which is a transformation of production relations guided by new productive forces. I feel very fortunate to witness these changes at this moment.

Host Ruby: Yes, I was thinking, if such schools could expand globally, with each community having such diverse backgrounds and people from different countries living together, within ten years, the Nobel Peace Prize would have to be awarded to Balaji. This is truly a fantastic way to promote communication.

Arvin: I feel the same way; it also exceeded my expectations. Before coming, Twone was still in Argentina, on his flight back home. At the opening, Balaji shared some expectations with everyone, but it was very vague. I was thinking, is this Network School? It seems Balaji didn't make many plans; we are just going to take it step by step, so I didn't set very high expectations.

But after arriving here, I met many interesting people and saw various lifestyles. Understanding these stories online and chatting with the person face-to-face feels very different. Unlike Camellia or Twone, all my educational experiences have been on the mainland, and relatively speaking, students from the mainland may have a stereotype and path dependency in their development routes, but here, I see more possibilities in life.

On the first day, I met an Australian entrepreneur around my age, and it was like "a world apart." Seeing what he was doing was particularly shocking. Recently, I've also watched many stories of entrepreneurs from San Francisco and how they went from 0 to 1. This time, I really met many entrepreneurs from San Francisco, and face-to-face communication with them is much more vivid than listening to podcasts or watching interviews; it's very interesting.

If I had to summarize the most important gain, it would be seeing a group of digital nomads gathering through Balaji's Network School, all of whom have the ability to work remotely, and what can be accomplished in this space. Because typical digital nomads only need a handy electronic device, a computer, and an internet connection, but they generally don't have much connection to this place. However, here, after finishing our remote work, the physical work we do is also a very interesting point, just like we discussed earlier, how to identify what else we need to make our lives better.

Host Ruby: Are you still accepting applications now?

Camellia: Yes, you can apply anytime through the official website; the timing is quite flexible.

Host Star: Is there any part that you think will be very useful in your upcoming work and life, to adjust some of your long-term work, life, or study?

Camellia: I think it's mainly about networking. I really enjoy meeting different people. The reason I moved to Portugal was also that Lisbon is a gathering place for digital nomads, with a large space to meet people from different backgrounds. So here, I also feel there are many interesting people, and in the future, we can gather together to do some fun projects. Other than that, I don't have any specific goals; I generally don't make plans for the future.

Arvin: One of the biggest thoughts I share with Twone is that we really hope to stay at Network School for three months, or even continue to stay afterward; that's the biggest change for now.

Host Ruby: Is there anything you feel is slightly below expectations or could be improved, whether in activity design or hardware?

Twone: Hardware is actually the most needed area for improvement so far, especially the network issue. The infrastructure of the network school should be a top priority, but we are currently using the hotel's Wi-Fi, which is not very stable and often disconnects; many times we use mobile hotspots.

Host Ruby: I didn't expect that. I feel Network School could seek sponsorship from Starlink in the future; it's really needed.

Host Star: So did you raise this issue, and then they went to buy Starlink?

Twone: They should have had such expectations before; they are just gradually building it up now. I saw that the purchase date for their equipment was September 13.

Arvin: The team member who bought Starlink told us that the equipment had been in his room for a long time, but he was too busy to install it, so we now have a group in Discord called "Build Squad," where everyone is working together to set up Starlink and conduct tests.

Host Ruby: Besides this hotel area, have you all gone to other places on the island to hang out together?

Twone: I took a tour around; it's very close to the beach. I also visited a large shopping mall, which mainly had Chinese restaurants and duty-free shops, but there weren't particularly fun places.

Host Star: Where exactly is it located? Is it near the checkpoint?

Arvin: It's about a 10 to 20-minute bus ride from the second checkpoint to the city center. I happened to go to Singapore one day and experienced the commute from here to Singapore. The process was very smooth until I got to Singapore. However, the bus needs to cross the border to enter Singapore, which may require some checks, like going through customs, and that waiting time is the longest.

Twone: Another area that really needs improvement, which they are currently working on, is the food situation. Initially, all three meals a day were from Blueprint, and many people said they were very hungry, feeling hungry every three to four hours, especially since the physical activity was quite high at the beginning. So now they have made some improvements to the food, such as adding more protein, chicken, and other meats to dinner, allowing everyone to eat a bit better. It's a gradual process.

Source: Twone

Host Star: How much does a meal usually cost?

Twone: Five dollars, which is quite cheap.

Host Star: That's good. How intense is your morning workout? Since you mentioned the physical activity is quite high, how many calories do you generally burn?

Twone: It doesn't last long, about half an hour, but there is almost no rest time, doing one set after another, constantly switching between different types of exercises, which is very tiring. Normally, there should be a 10 to 30 second rest interval between high-intensity workouts, but here it’s continuous.

Source: Twone

Host Star: Right, that sounds a bit like CrossFit?

Camellia: It’s also a bit like Les Mills classes. Our coach Riggen is a Les Mills instructor, and I trained with him when I was in New Zealand, so I'm quite familiar with his style.

Host Ruby: Camellia has lived in New Zealand, the UK, and Portugal, right?

Camellia: Yes, Portugal is currently my main base. I usually stay in various places around the world, often moving around. Lisbon is well-located, making it convenient to go anywhere from Portugal.

Host Star: Then we can continue the conversation about the experiences of digital nomads since everyone has such experiences.

Camellia: I went to New Zealand in 2010 to attend university, and afterward, I worked for some well-known companies there. After obtaining my residency, I was granted a two-year work visa for the UK. In 2019, I went to the UK, and by then, I was already a freelancer, gradually getting into the concept of digital nomadism and deciding to give it a try. I met Pieter Levels online, who advocated for digital nomads to move to Portugal during the pandemic, and he launched a service called Rebase, so I moved to Portugal.

Host Star: Is there a significant difference in the experience of digital nomads in different places? How do you feel about the experiences in various locations?

Camellia: Portugal is truly a very suitable place for digital nomads, especially Lisbon, where the English proficiency is very high, and there’s almost no need to learn Portuguese. Previously, they also had special tax incentives for digital nomads. Additionally, it is a cryptocurrency-friendly country, hosting many cryptocurrency conferences, and the cost of living is relatively low. However, the situation has changed somewhat now, as the number of digital nomads has increased, driving up housing prices. The digital nomad visa in Portugal allows for an initial two-year application, which can be renewed for three years after that.

For me, Lisbon is a very good choice. In contrast, I find it hard to adapt to the climate in Southeast Asia. The place where Network School is located is overall nice, but the weather is too humid and hot. New Zealand and the UK have distinct seasons, which I prefer, but it does rain often in the UK, and London can be quite expensive if you don’t have a lot of income. However, you can meet many friends from all over the world there, and there are plenty of cultural activities.

Twone: Regarding Lisbon, a good friend of ours in the community, K, is also a digital nomad there. I might have the opportunity to go check it out. As for me, I originally studied in Beijing, then went to New York for an exchange program. The pace in New York is incredibly fast, and everyone is desperately pursuing their dreams. Later, I returned to Hong Kong to continue my studies, where the pace of life was also very fast due to high housing prices and small living spaces, leaving little room for personal life, with most of the time spent working. Now I live in Shenzhen, where the entrepreneurial atmosphere is strong, and the culture is rich, with a high cost-performance ratio for food and services.

As for Argentina, I lived in the safest neighborhood in Buenos Aires, which was previously ranked among the top ten most livable cities in the world. If you only live there, the experience is great; the government invests a lot in education and public resources, and most facilities are free. They also have a large natural history museum that protects many bird species. Whether you like nature or city life, Argentina can find a balance. Interestingly, the local acceptance of cryptocurrency is very high, with no issues for offline payments. You can even find cryptocurrency exchange points on Google Maps, and the exchange rates are quite good.

Then there’s Chiang Mai in Thailand, which is also a fantastic place. The locals are Buddhist, and everyone is very friendly. The food tastes are also quite similar to those in China, and it’s very safe. For those who are just going abroad or want to experience the digital nomad lifestyle, Southeast Asia is a great choice.

Arvin: Twone and I have basically been moving together, going to Argentina and Turkey. I’d like to add some thoughts on Southeast Asia. In places like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, I personally prefer Thailand. The cost of living is low, and the service is excellent, especially Thai massages, which are cheap and great. If you are used to the humid and hot climate of the south, adapting to Thailand will be quick. Malaysia’s advantage is its proximity to Singapore, making it easy to hop over there. What impressed me the most was the durian here; Twone particularly loves durian, and as soon as we arrived in Malaysia, we went to try the durian shop recommended by local friends.

Host Star: One last question, Balaji mentioned in his article that he hopes to address some visa issues for digital nomads through the Network School format. Does he have specific plans?

Arvin: Currently, there doesn’t seem to be a particularly clear plan. I think the first step is to solve the issue of cryptocurrency payments, and then passports and visas might be addressed afterward. If cryptocurrency payments can be sorted out, then perhaps the next step would be to resolve passport issues.

Host Ruby: I think this is something many people are particularly concerned about. Pieter Levels has also shared that digital nomads often have to change locations every 60 days, which is indeed a pain point.

Twone: Exactly, as a practice of the network state, Balaji's goal with Network School is to make the network state more influential. In the future, it may promote mutual recognition between sovereign countries or establish its own rights. If that happens, he could take this opportunity to issue documents similar to visas or identities. I can also share that Argentina has a cryptocurrency economic zone, which may introduce policies supporting the crypto economy in the future, even issuing green cards. These issues are pain points faced by digital nomads globally, whether in South America or Southeast Asia, as everyone is looking for solutions.

Host Ruby: Thank you very much for the sharing today. We look forward to meeting you all again in the future to continue understanding the development of Network School. It feels like a spontaneously changing community, and each week might be quite different. Finally, we will update the progress of the three guests, Camellia, Twone, and Arvin, in the Shownotes.

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