The Sovereign Individual
The Sovereign Individual is a 1997 non-fiction book by William Rees-Mogg and James Dale Davidson. It looks ahead to the 21st century and argues that the information age will change how people live, work, and earn money.
The authors say the rise of the internet, cyberspace, and digital currency will give individuals more independence from governments. They predict that nations and traditional states could lose some of their power as people become harder to tax and control.
A few of their big ideas:
- Self-ownership: Individuals should have more control over their own lives and destinies, rather than being bound by nationalism or the state.
- An information society: In the future, people will be able to live and work with less interference from others’ opinions about race, age, appearance, or background.
- Cyberspace and anonymity: Online, people can be more equal and less visible to authorities.
- Digital money: Private, computer-based currencies could replace government-issued money. Wealth would be tied to algorithms and technology rather than to physical money.
- Tax and government power: As digital money spreads, governments might struggle to collect taxes. Some coercive or dystopian methods could be used to keep control, including asset seizures.
The book has influenced many in the cryptocurrency world and was republished in 2020 with a foreword by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Thiel later noted that one of the authors’ biggest misses might have been underestimating China’s rise and Hong Kong’s place as an example of governance.
Overall, the authors present a vision of a future where technology gives individuals greater autonomy, while governments face new challenges in a world of digital wealth and shifted power.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:59 (CET).