I’ve previously written off the idea of regarding the entrepreneur as akin to the Nietzschean Ubermensch, the superman who will lead man forward to new heights of heroism and creation. In order for the Ubermensch to develop, he must have a will to power that ignores worldly moralities and compassions and instead focuses on the individual’s inner contradictions and capabilities. Out of such comprehensive self-direction develops a radical aristocracy of leaders and innovators who move the world forward, above the herd mentality of the masses. I fundamentally believe in such a concept as a way of developing a society of meritocratic hierarchies and radical traditionalism, shaped by paganistic, European and gnostic values and morals, constructed with private and natural law.

However I’ve never been convinced that the basic entrepreneur could be such a “superman”. The realm of economics was dismissed by Nietzsche as concerned with the intricacies of money and prices, fallible and petty in its priorities. I’ve always seen the Ubermensch as more amenable to a political or community leader who shapes their morality and ideals onto their own political creations. Out of this an anarchy of powerful individuals, that is not permanent in its hold nor unaccountable in its power, is developed. It is hierarchical, but unlike the more rigid feudal aristocracies, is open to individuals in their creative talents and individual political and social wills. By going against the tide, they lead to a reborn society that breaks the herd mentalities of statism and blind faith in capitalism.

Entrepreneurs don’t seem to fit this model as their tied to the realm of the economistic. They are effectively focused on the demands of consumers rather than creating true innovation in the sense of ideas or political movements. In that sense they are almost altruistic in their creations, focused as they are on mass appeal rather than a societal rebirth. Despite this, entrepreneurs the likes of Peter Thiel seem to be more Nietzschean in their activities. Focusing on Thiel, he has helped fund a huge range of projects, from start-up capital for young entrepreneurs to the Seasteading Institute, helping develop radical concepts that further a stateless or near-stateless society. In creating PayPal and investing in Facebook, he wanted to see societal transformation through the use of transnational, stateless currencies and spaces of freedom via social media. Cody Wilson has founded Defense Distributed, which has spread gun rights to wider networks than before. Many of the Bitcoin entrepreneurs have also mixed concepts of society with their economic ends. The creation of basic income platforms and governance platforms on the Blockchain shows a new way of governing free of government and its coercive measures. Finally, Ross Ulbricht shows the way for illegal entrepreneurism as a means to societal change that is outside the parameters of the state. By transacting freely, we create imagined communities of networked governance and liberty.

They are all examples of the Ubermensch. Yet they all exist in the paradigm of extremely unfree markets, thus negating the meritocratic element of radical aristocratism and the will to power. Thus what is needed is a radical freeing of markets from the shackles of state interference. This allows for more “supermans” who are both societal innovators and entrepreneurs. A marketplace of more innovation and technological development, where everyone has the capacity to be an entrepreneur and thus shape their life and existence as they see fit. This does not mean an equal society, but rather an unequal one of radical aristocracies and communities that contain classes and orders. These orders are fluid and meritocratic in their dynamics and conceptions, and free from the levelling effects of representative democracy and state parasitism. A private law society of natural hierarchies is conceived by those who push the boundaries of political reality, creating new paradigms. While I’m sceptical of the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs being seen as Nietzschean entrepreneurs (as their reliance on state-regulated marketing and distribution suggests a need for the herd mentality), the ideas coming forth from real innovators and entrepreneurs such as Thiel and Ulbricht are examples of a modern-day Ubermensch, as they move the world in radical, new directions which fight against the prevailing neoconservative-neoliberal consensus and the welfare-warfare state.

A radically freed market that spreads the means of entrepreneurism to everybody means that those with the vision, will and power can shape new societies and governance structures the way they see them. It does not need the prior approval of voters or the public, but is instead done through the will of the individual and their ability to create new moral and political communities which free others from the herd mentality of state capitalism, creating in its wake a pluralistic society of leaders and new orders.