Theory of Constructed Technologies

The perspective that technologies are not neutral tools with inevitable effects. They are built by people with specific values, assumptions, and worldviews embedded in their design. A social media algorithm isn't just code; it's a constructed technology that embodies theories about human attention, social interaction, and value (e.g., engagement = profit). These embedded constructions then shape user behavior, often reinforcing the very worldviews used to build them.

Example: "The dating app's 'matching algorithm' wasn't magic; it was a Theory of Constructed Technology in action. It was built on a model of human attraction as a checklist of preferences, which then taught users to see themselves and others as checklists. The technology didn't just find love; it constructed a new way of looking for it." Theory of Constructed Technologies

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026

Metabolical Technologies

The tools and platforms that enable the observation, analysis, and manipulation of metabolism. This includes rapid genome editors (like CRISPR), microfluidic "lab-on-a-chip" devices that track metabolic fluxes in real time, and AI systems that predict the outcomes of metabolic tweaks. These technologies turn the abstract science of metabolical engineering into hands-on, high-throughput bio-fabrication.

Example: "The startup's key metabolical technology is a scanner that uses quantum-dot sensors to map the real-time metabolic state of an entire bioreactor. You can see the microbial workforce shift from growth phase to production phase like a city's power grid lighting up at night." Metabolical Technologies

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026

Thermodynamical Technologies

The hardware built to implement the principles of thermodynamical engineering. Think of phase-change materials for temperature regulation, magnetocaloric cooling systems that don't use harmful refrigerants, thermoelectric generators that turn waste heat directly into electricity, and ultra-efficient turbines. It's the toolbox for a civilization that's starting to take its energy budget seriously at a fundamental physics level.

Example: "My camping stove is a thermodynamical technology: a catalytic burner attached to a tiny thermoelectric plate. The heat from the flame generates electricity to power a small fan, making the flame hotter and more efficient. It's a self-reinforcing loop of thermodynamic thriftiness." Thermodynamical Technologies

by Dumu The Void January 30, 2026

Transcendental Technologies

Hypothetical technologies whose operation relies on or facilitates access to states, dimensions, or principles considered "transcendental." These aren't better gadgets; they are devices that purportedly interface with consciousness, reality itself, or other planes of existence. Think less "faster microchip" and more "machine that allows the mind to perceive higher dimensions" or "device that manifests thought into matter." Their theoretical basis lies in the conjectures of transcendental sciences.

Example: The "Orchid" from Fringe that allows viewing of alternate universes, the "Soma" from Brave New World that grants instant spiritual transcendence, or a hypothetical quantum-neural interface that allows direct experience of mathematical truths would be Transcendental Technologies. They are the applied, tangible (in fiction) results of understanding transcendental principles.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026

Theory of the Geographic Axis of Technologies

The hypothesis that the development and dominance of specific technology suites (e.g., maritime, steppe cavalry, industrial manufacturing, digital networks) are heavily predisposed, though not absolutely determined, by the physical geography of the originating civilization. Rivers favor hydraulic empires and shipbuilding; open plains favor wheeled vehicles and cavalry; isolated islands favor naval power; mountainous regions favor decentralized, defensible settlements. Geography offers a menu of viable technological paths.

Example: The Theory of the Geographic Axis of Technologies explains why Britain, an island with accessible coal and a maritime culture, spearheaded the steam and naval technologies of the Industrial Revolution, while the vast, interconnected steppes of Eurasia fostered horse-based nomadic empires whose "technology" was superior breeding, saddles, and composite bows for millennia.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026

Biosphere Technologies

The suite of engineering and ecological techniques used to create, maintain, and repair closed, self-sustaining life-support systems—essentially, building and managing miniature, functional planets in a bottle. This goes beyond life support to creating complex, resilient ecosystems that recycle air, water, and waste, and produce food, all in the deadly vacuum of space or on a barren world. It's the art of playing god with ecology on a small, precise scale for human survival.

*Example: The life support system of the Biosphere 2 experiment, the proposed sealed ecosystems for a generation starship, or the planned regenerative food-and-air cycles for a Mars base are all applications of Biosphere Technologies. It's about engineering not just machines, but entire, balanced, living worlds-in-miniature.*

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026

Subsingularity/Modosophont (S0) Technologies

The complete toolkit of a baseline, un-augmented human civilization, operating entirely within the limits of classical physics and pre-singularity understanding. This is everything we have now or can plausibly achieve without self-improving AI or intelligence amplification: fossil fuels, fission power, chemical rockets, classical computing, biotechnology as we know it, and materials science based on atomic-scale manipulation. It's the technology of a species that is still the master of its tools, not the other way around. Powerful, but bounded by human cognitive speed and biological lifespans.

Subsingularity/Modosophont (S0) Technologies *Example: Everything from a steam engine to the Large Hadron Collider, the Hubble Space Telescope, a CRISPR gene-editing kit, and the International Space Station are S0 Technologies. They are the pinnacle of what a civilization can build when its smartest minds are unaugmented humans working over decades, using tools that don't fundamentally redesign their own inventors.*

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026