Gadgetopia

Check any current map, count all the countries there and you’ll come up one short every time; Cyber Yugoslavia doesn’t exist in the real world, yet, but according to its founders, is a real country nonetheless.

This is Cyber Yugoslavia. Home of Cyber Yugoslavs. We lost our country in 1991 and became citizens of Atlantis. Since September 9, 1999 this is our home. We don’t have a physical land, but we do have nationality, and we are giving CY citizenships and CY passports. Because this is Atlantis, we are allowing double and triple citizenships. If you feel Yugoslav, you are welcome to apply for CY citizenship, regardless of your current nationality and citizenship, and you will be accepted. Please read our Constitution for the details. If you are just curious, you are welcome to visit us as tourists.

This land will grow as our citizens wish. Neither faster, nor slower. Neither more, nor less. So, this site will always be under construction. For a solid country to grow, even a virtual one, it takes some time.

When we have five million citizens, we plan to apply to the UN for member status. When this happens, we will ask 20 square meters of land anywhere on Earth to be our country. On this land, we’ll keep our server.

Many who spend a lot of time online feel more connected to other people online than to their own family or neighbors, so there might be good reasons for someone to become a “citizen” of a cyber community. In today’s Breakpoint Commentary. Chuck Colson says that virtual communities are severely lacking because…

…social networks based on shared interests, like the Internet, do not require us to think about more than ourselves. On the contrary, in cyberspace, it’s easy to forget that anyone else —any real people — really exists.

In the online world, there is no need to be neighborly, hospitable, or generous — not just because you can’t be held accountable, but because it is not possible. The “community” is not physically held together, and the mode of interaction precludes acts of meaningful self-denial. The practice of virtues like self-denial shapes character and builds friendships — friendships that, in turn, hold us morally accountable. It just can’t happen in cyberspace.

Interesting food for thought.