Squad Wealth

I'm starting to see something like this happen with devs that pursue many contract work (non community projects) and pool effort/work and split the spoils (its a group of two, one usually does db stufff, one usually does application stuff, but both can write/ship code. I might work with them in the future, working with one them now).

But overall, I'd agree, something like this is a non starter if each individual in a "squad" cant some how contribute meaningfully in part to its wealth.

Analogy might be to a specops squad to killing: might have a sniper, a couple of riflemen, a grenadier/demo, someone who can handle heavy weapons, and maybe a tactical communications/CAS person; all them can kill you in their own way and in a variety of environments, missing one reduces their ability in said environments.

> mid-90s techno-utopianism

Reading the article, i could almost believe i was reading an interview with someone from the Media Lab in an issue of Wired back in the day.

It's serious, though I agree it's a bit muddled in all the memes and references.

The core point as I understood it: the internet is quickly blurring the line between a company and a group of friends working together. Two of the limiting factors are our communication tools and financial/corporate structures.

My take: as this model become more prevalent, more alternatives to traditional employment and education routes open up allowing creators, researchers, and engineers to work on interesting problems without having to find one another through educational institutions and corporations.

It seemed like they were making a somewhat good point and then it just degraded into inside-memes at the end. Someone heard "squad goals" and ran with it.

Same here. I think maybe they're using "squad" where I might use "tribe"?

The subject is interesting but I too am having more difficulty comprehending than I expected.

I can't tell either, but I feel like I constantly see this type of message. Which is basically anti-capitalist, while using the economic freedom capitalism provides to create a "new" economic system.

At least in this case, they still provide for a voluntary collective of shared capital. If only our current system had a way to do that, hmmm...

> When I think about groups that survive they seem to either have strong top-down power hierarchies (as in the cult or the corporation), or otherwise de-emphasize money and sex (as in the monastery).

There's also the 'clan', essentially an extended family with strong financial and social ties, often treating wealth quasi-collectively. Varies by culture and era, but my clan (in the Mediterranean region) has been around in current form for about 100 years and is fairly resilient. Varying incomes and romantic relationships (among other things) cause problems here too, but the social structure has developed ways to manage them. There's a fairly elaborate culturally rooted system of gifts, obligations, unofficial hierarchies, etc. that keeps some of it working.

Does it have 1+ gigabit service? Plumbing? Roads? How far is it to the nearest major airport?

What are you going to do with this much land? A single person doesn't need more than a few acres of land even if they are growing all their own food and have other stuff on the side. How many friends do you have?

What does something like that go for?

The article seems to agree with you:

> the ideal squad count is no more than 12.

A word I've often heard for the "dis-intermediated or broken down" sentiment is "unbundled", by the way.

Seconded. I notice a lot of comments scoffing at this and talking about group disintegration - have now been part of the same “group chat” / squad for 6-7 years and it was inchoate but there even before then. We do everything described in the essay. Reading it was eerie.

It appeals way beyond that. Marginalized groups have known that concept since... well, forever. It's "chosen family" or "framily" (friend family) in the circles I'm familiar with.

The more technical term is "intentional communities". If you search for it, you'll find an extremely wide range of them. This particular "squad" thing has more of a tech bent, but it still falls within that concept.

The page also highlights one of the problems that squads face - it's a highly cohesive group with very closely aligned interests. That often makes their communication less interesting/understandable/relatable to outsiders.

(Which poses an interesting problem - the more uniform the group becomes, the more efficient in-group communication is. To the point where you cannot attract new members to the group, and it slowly withers away)