(2 April 2017) ZeroState 2.0 finished removing all the members (More then 3000+ members) of the original Facebook group and effectively soft launched the new ZeroState 2.0 projects.  For those not familiar with ZeroState history this online group had ties to underground computer groups and even had a private ‘server’ in Iceland and numerous other projects.  The leadership of the group had started the transhumanist political movement in Europe in particular the UK.  Being always a bit on the fringe of mainstream in terms of academic transhumanism as a movement ZeroState was still focused on the idea of creating a virtual state that people would be citizens of and providing services and the like and had even looked at building a real world community.  The ZeroState 2.0 reboot really is about gamification of that process of building a virtual state.

Very little has leaked out about what our this this ARG or (Alternative Reality Game) will work but sources say that it will include alot of blended reality or game elements in real life.  One thing that is known is there will be a some live action event at the up coming Microsoft BUILD conference where people will get paid to be the first one to find some ‘game’ agent at the conference that will only be identified by a 8n^2 sticker on their name tag and the prize money will be on the stop and they will be given a cybernetic implant from DangeriousThings Inc as part of the first prize.

the new ‘http://ZeroState.net/‘ says:

“The Zero State (ZS) community is dedicated to the creation of a trans-national, distributed and virtual State committed to the Social Futurist Principles. In other words; a principled, voluntary, sovereign system of governance whose citizens are spread around the world. Zero State’s status as an entity (both practical and philosophical) can be approached from two directions, known as the “rabbit hole” and “looking glass” scenarios:

1. Rabbit Hole

In the “rabbit hole” scenario Blackstar Systems is real, and Zero State is a kind of game (ARG), fictional construct, myth, or figment of the collective imagination.

Blackstar – the real-world entity – has a Tetraktys-like structure (the key components of which are gamification, governance modelling, research & consulting, and outreach programs), which is reflected in that of Zero State (defined by its Axiom, Divisions, Sections, and Resources). In this scenario, “Zero State” is essentially an experiment in the gamification of alternative governance paradigms and the development of solutions to global problems, rather than a real thing on the terms of its own mythology. It is a fictional entity created as a research project.

2. Looking Glass

In the polar-opposite “looking glass” scenario Zero State is real, and it is Blackstar that is a kind of game (ARG) fictional construct, myth, or figment of the collective imagination. Of course, this is the scenario advocated by dedicated ZS participants (but for all anyone knows, they may be doing so “in character”).

Zero State – the real-world entity – has a Tetraktys-like structure (defined by its Axiom, Divisions, Sections, and Resources), which is reflected in that of Blackstar Systems (the key components of which are gamification, governance modelling, research & consulting, and outreach programs). In this scenario “Blackstar Systems” (Also known within ZS as “The Axiom”) is something like a dream-symbol, which represents a transcendent and intercessionary entity essentially identical to Philip K. Dick’s “VALIS” and Grant Morrison‘s “Barbelith”. Blackstar is a real enough thing within the ZS mythos, but that thing is altogether more mysterious than a simple research organization.

For more information, email contact@zerostate.net.”

it will be interesting to see how this develops…