What will a billion digital nomads—full-time or part-time travelers who can work from anywhere with an internet connection—mean for the future of work, innovation, and culture?
The idea of location independence is nothing new. As far back as the 1960s, sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke said people would be able to “work from Bali, just as well as from London” by the 2010s. Lauren Razavi was one of the early adopters who proved him right, building a life and career on the road. Today, she’s one of the digital nomad movement’s leading voices and activists. In her debut book, Razavi delves into the origins of digital nomads and the history of work from anywhere, introducing us to the people, values, and ideas shaping a borderless world.
Global Natives is a vivid, thoughtful exploration of how technology has changed the human relationship with place. The rise of remote work, travel incentive programs targeting digital workers, and nomad visas mark both an enormous market opportunity, and a new philosophy of how work should fit into our lives rather than life fitting around work. But the path forward is anything but clear. Remote work could signal an era of greater global mobility and equality of opportunity across borders—or continued border restrictions, increased scrutiny and deportations, and lost opportunities for nomads, communities, and countries.
This book is essential reading for remote workers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors seeking to understand the modern knowledge economy, and for anybody else who cares about building a future of freedom, mobility, and prosperity.
Kindle Exclusive: The new edition includes a foreword by Parag Khanna, bestselling author of Move, The Future Is Asian, and Connectography.
About the Author
Lauren Razavi was an early adopter of remote work and has lived as a digital nomad since 2013. Today, she is a globally-renowned expert on the future of work and global mobility, having spoken about the impact of borderless work at the United Nations and consulted for major companies such as Google, Amazon, Emirates, Randstad, and Royal Bank of Canada.
Lauren is currently Director of Special Projects at SafetyWing, a Y Combinator alumni and all-remote technology company, where she leads the Plumia mission to build a country on the internet. Her work has been featured in a wide range of media around the world including TIME Magazine, Tatler, Le Monde, El País, BBC News, and NPR.
Lauren has lived and worked in more than 50 countries as a digital nomad, and she was named one of the world’s most influential voices in remote work by Remote.com’s Influencer Report for two years in a row. Lauren was also a 2021 Tech Policy Fellow at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, where she advised governments on remote work, digital nomads, and the future of citizenship.
Kindle Exclusive: The new edition includes a foreword by Parag Khanna, bestselling author of Move, The Future Is Asian, and Connectography.