From Dimes Square to the Network State, new frontiers are in the making. Adina Glickstein attends Urbit Assembly and considers the politics of tech-augmented exit.
“Is that a state machine?” a cargo-shorted sunburn victim asks, gesturing to the neon green numogram on my CCRU t-shirt. “In a certain sense.” “Are you a programmer?” “In a manner of speaking.” My entry wristband reads: “URBIT ASSEMBLY ~ TAKE A WALK ON THE BEACH AND DRAW A HEART IN THE SAND.” Elevator doors part and deliver clusters of entrants to the top floor of a Brutalist block, built in 1968 as the headquarters of SunTrust Bank, later converted into a parking garage by Herzog & de Meuron. Miami Beach, baby. The conference’s address is an angel number: 1111 Lincoln Road. Its tagline is “New World Energy.”