🚀 3.2.1. The Big (Empires) Shift ::: Atomic Scaling

I’ve lived on four continents—born in Europe, educated in Canada, expat in Latin America (including El Salvador pre-Bitcoin), and over two decades in Asia while bridging Silicon Valley and China. Fluent in Chinese, French, Spanish, and English, I sometimes go by “Ludovic from China.”

I’ve built companies in China and France, backed startups from San Francisco to Singapore, and joined Balaji Srinivasan’s Network State (cohort two). I’m a French elected representative in Asia and a bureau member of the French President’s party.

I don’t see the world through one lens but a dashboard—and the warning lights are flashing. The old order is breaking down. A new system is rising—one network, one ledger, one builder at a time. Let’s decode this third great shift: the Rise and Fall of Empires.

3 IDEAS FROM ME:

I. The Rise of BRICS: Not Reform — A New Blueprint

BRICS was once an idea. Now, it’s a global reality. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — with new members and aspirants — aren’t tweaking the Western system, they’re creating a parallel one. Trade, currency, finance, media — power is decentralizing toward the south and east. As a friend in Beijing said, “The only time rules changed was when the boss landed. Now? There’s no boss.” This is fragmentation, duplication, and seismic global leverage shifts — underway.

II. The Governments of Orangefield: Legacy Systems Failing

Nation-states once promised security, justice, and care for the commons. Today they’re overleveraged, slow, and bloated—France holds €3T in debt, the U.S. over $34T. History repeats: empires print fake money, debt explodes, the middle class is wiped out, and the rich get richer.

Governments now act “too big to fail” yet fail at their core duties: defense, enforcing contracts, and protecting citizens. The U.S.’s three branches were built for balance—Executive to enforce, Legislative to make, Judicial to interpret. But as Milton Friedman warned, when government tries to manage the economy, legislate morality, or favor special interests, it breeds inefficiency, bad incentives, and less freedom. Government should be a referee, not a player.

III. The Shift will be led by Builders, Not Politicians

I spent a month on Balaji’s “Network State” private island near Singapore—post-nation entrepreneurship in action. Worldwide, crypto-native and special-interest communities are going borderless, self-funding, and self-governing. You don’t patch the old system—you rebuild it.

2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS:

I.

“When you print too much money, you devalue not just currency, but trust.” — Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates, Author of Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order

II.

“If code is law, founders are now lawmakers.” — Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase, former GP at A16z & Author of Network State

1 ACTION FOR YOU:

Don’t fight the old world’s fall—build the new one. Fewer chiefs, more builders. Less protests, more protocols. Less waiting, more wiring.

Less Work, More Play!

Ludovic Bodin

3x Entrepreneur, 2x Unicorn Investor, 1x IPO. Founder of BOBIC Generational Wealth and Author of Atomic Scaling

P.S. Change is no longer linear — it’s exponential and disorienting. Feeling this shift too? You’re not alone. Join us and let’s build what’s next — together. Join us now!​

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

“In Atomic Scaling, Ludovic Bodin shares insightful lessons from the games industry and a practical playbook to inspire games companies and beyond to stay small and achieve outsize global impact." 

— Doug McCracken Partner & Head of Marketing, A16Z