Wired for Anarchy

Eventually, Angell says, he realized that businesspeople -- and entrepreneurs in particular -- knew of better ways to exploit information technology. The more time he spent as a speaker inside companies, the more fascinated he became with those companies' potential to detach themselves from their surroundings and to continue to flourish. And so, at the center of the new-barbarian society is the virtual enterprise, the primary organization in Angell's dystopia.

"The information system is the firm; nothing else is permanent," argues Angell. If the system gets cracked, either by criminals or by governments, "the organization is finished." The threat of attack will be constant, Angell believes, as disgruntled losers strike at the heart of the new-barbarian society, and as computer hacking takes on all of the dimensions of class warfare.

A few years ago, Angell's special scorn for taxing authorities led him to propose a banking system that was out of this world. Satellites acting as depositories for digital cash would allow companies and individuals to move money anywhere, using computers or even handheld devices linked to satellite transceivers. With a secure system in place, commerce would move beyond the reach of any government's ability to tax it. Tax payment would then take the form of a negotiation between new barbarians and the countries that are vying for their citizenship. How much would you pay for security? For trees? For health care? "Companies and countries will be scouring the globe, competing with each other to attract this top-quality 'people product,' dragging them off the planes if necessary," Angell believes.

Even without bank accounts in space, Angell says, new barbarians are flexing their muscles in plenty of ways. He points to the U.S. government's HI-B visa program for top-notch technologists from around the world as one example. "The new rootlessness of economic mercenaries who are looking out for welcoming institutions that are in tune with their own aspirations, has the power to destabilize the wealth of any unsupportive community," he argues.

Bad science fiction? It would be, if there weren't a serious core to Angell's arguments: Who can really argue with the proposition that elite knowledge workers can dictate their demands to governments, as opposed to the other way around? At the end of his book, Angell offers a few pointers on how to become a new barbarian: Get an elitist education; keep your assets liquid, and spread them around the globe; familiarize yourself with economic hot spots that will be the most receptive to people like you. And finally, "Be ready to flee at a moment's notice."

Spoken like a new barbarian.

Paul C. Judge (pjudge@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior editor. Contact Ian Angell by email (i.angell@lse.ac.uk).