The Republic of Bankowiata is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Strong AI with a fair hand, and remarkable for its anti-smoking policies, restrictive gun laws, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 7.928 billion Bankowiatans love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bankowiata City. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Bankowiatan economy, worth a remarkable 2,609 trillion Virtual Coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 329,166 Virtual Coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Strong AI's iHouse is so intelligent that it manages its own social media accounts, people are raising their middle finger to non-digital currencies, forty-year-old men are asked for their ID before watching the latest pony cartoon movies, and sleep-deprived officials are known to collapse after late night revision for their examinations. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bankowiata's national animal is the Hedgehog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Secularism.

Bankowiata is ranked 543^rd in the world and 24^th in The North Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 1,170.06 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.