The Network State Podcast #24 - Cory Levy Interviews Balaji
Jan 13, 2026
Balaji Srinivasan, a visionary entrepreneur and technologist, discusses the urgent need to build alternatives to failing legacy institutions. He highlights the launch of Network School, emphasizing its goal to create new, physical networked communities. Balaji critiques the denial in Western institutions, pointing to recent collapses like SVB and FTX. He advises ambitious young talent to seek opportunities in global innovation hubs and underscores the importance of adapting to a code-based order with cryptographic solutions for trust.
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Parallel Institutions Beat Pure Reform
- Building parallel institutions can outcompete reform by offering better alternatives that users voluntarily join.
- Network School prints cloud communities into physical nodes to prototype scalable startup societies.
Network School's First Year
- Network School opened September 24th, 2024 and has welcomed people from over 100 countries in a year.
- Balaji says it reproduces the 'good parts of SF' by printing cloud communities into physical space.
Denial Masks A Multidimensional Decline
- Balaji argues the West is in denial about simultaneous economic, political, and military decline rather than gradual decay.
- He predicts a sudden mark-to-market recognition that will be dramatic and fast via social media.