# Is it a place or a people? (Patri Friedman)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171/is-it-a-place-or-a-people-patri-friedman
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171/is-it-a-place-or-a-people-patri-friedman.md
Podcast: [EXIT Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/exit-podcast-5646171)
Published: 2025-12-03T10:53:44+00:00
Episode link: https://blog.exitgroup.us/p/is-it-a-place-or-a-people-patri-friedman
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/180444231/2302bd30462dc071b54ed2fb10bed031.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/exit-podcast-5646171/episodes/is-it-a-place-or-a-people-patri-friedman
Duration seconds: 2526

## Resource

Patri Friedman is the founder of Pronomos , the leading venture capital firm investing in charter cities, startup societies, and other “future governance” projects — the institutions that will update and supplant the Westphalian system. We recorded a members-only Q&A with him on the project of carving out autonomy and creating new states. EXIT is a fraternity dedicated to shorting managerial systems, and building the personal, human institutions that come next. Learn more here: As we discuss on the call, the task has two components: * Land. Someone has to establish the relationships, agreements, legal frameworks, and public infrastructure for autonomous communities. * People. Someone has to build the communities themselves — groups of people with a shared vision that is sufficiently compelling, and drawing a population of sufficient scale, to draw a critical mass to the new polity. Patri is primarily focused on the land — supporting projects like Prospera , which has established significant practical autonomy on an island off the coast of Honduras. As we discuss on the call, the problem with a “land-first” approach is drawing committed people to the project once you’ve laid the groundwork. Experiments with “special economic zones” and alternative governance have to be conducted in out-of-the-way places, usually in developing countries for whom relatively modest economic incentives are meaningful. Digital nomads are almost always the first to support these projects — and obviously you don’t want to dismiss or alienate early supporters — but such people are defined by their disinterest in planting roots and embarking on the long, difficult work of founding a new community. Articles are never paywalled. Subscribe for free full articles and weekly EXIT news in your inb…

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## Transcript

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