Vitalik Buterin once again supports the social experiment of the future: the Zuitzerland project

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently took concrete action to support his promising future social experiments. He transferred 274 ETH worth about $500,000 directly to the developers of the Zuitzerland project. This move continues his usual low-key style: when he sees a cause worth supporting, he goes straight to help.

Zuitzerland is an experimental project dedicated to exploring the possibilities of future societies. It combines cutting-edge technology, decentralized governance, and the advantages of real-world systems, aiming to create a "network state sandbox" that provides a real social experimentation space for builders, researchers, and creators worldwide.

Switzerland was chosen as the location for the project, mainly because of Switzerland's more than 700-year-old tradition of local self-government and direct democracy. Switzerland is known for its robust institutions and high levels of social trust, and is a rare example of "sustainable governance" in the real world. Zuitzerland hopes to use this fertile soil of institutions and Web3 technology to practice a new social structure that can be replicated and verified.

Zuitzerland can be seen as a continuation and evolution of Zuzalu, a pop-up city experiment initiated by Vitalik in 2023. Within two months, Zuzalu attracted the participation of global pioneers in Web3, AI, biotechnology and other fields, and its impact exceeded expectations, and spawned extended projects such as Edge City. Zuitzerland, on the other hand, goes one step further and is committed to building a long-term resident node that translates the spirit of Zuzalu into a real-world governance system.

The program provides participants with a platform for co-creation and testing through residencies, urban pop-up events, hackathons, etc., focusing on cutting-edge areas such as Web3, AI, biotechnology, privacy-preserving computing, and brain-computer interfaces. It seeks to answer a key question: Can a technology-driven, distributed, yet resilient society actually function in the real world?

The practical path of Switzerland mainly includes the following aspects:

1. Translating "governance" from concept to reality: Provide a small-scale, controllable real-world environment in which new social structures and governance mechanisms can be tested in practice.

2. Provide a landing platform for innovators from different backgrounds: aimed at core groups such as builders, doers, experts, researchers, and creators, offering them a space for experimentation and communication.

3. Promote "Technology Acceleration for Security": Promote the concept of "Defensive Accelerationism (d/acc)" to drive technological innovation while focusing on security, borders, and long-term resilience.

4. Provide limited but real support and opportunities: Open applications, priority will be given to applicants who are willing to participate but have limited financial conditions, and some of the fees can be supported by scholarships.

The event schedule in Switzerland starts on May 1 and lasts throughout May. Discussions and practices will revolve around core themes such as community co-construction, Swiss governance, network nations, cutting-edge technology, and future lifestyles through a series of themed weeks, workshops, summits, and hackathons. The participation fee is approximately 650-2500 Swiss francs per week.

Participants will discuss social prototypes, technology applications, and institutional innovations, and will develop projects and present their results in the final week. The whole process progresses from concept exploration to actual combat prototype layer by layer, forming a complete experimental closed loop.

The launch of this project once again demonstrates Vitalik Buterin's continued interest in and support for future social experimentation, and provides an important platform for exploring new social structures driven by technology.