Industrial Ecology

The study and design of industrial systems to function like ecosystems, where the waste output of one process becomes the raw material input for another, aiming for zero waste and circular material flows. It views factories, cities, and economies not as linear "take-make-dispose" chains, but as interconnected metabolic networks that should mimic nature's efficiency. The goal is to create industrial "symbiosis" where clusters of industries exchange byproducts, energy, and water.

Example: A classic Industrial Ecology setup is a power plant capturing its waste CO2 and piping it to an adjacent greenhouse to boost vegetable growth, while its waste heat warms nearby fish farms, and its fly ash is sold to a cement company. One industry's trash becomes another's treasure in a planned loop.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026

Offworld Industries

The entire economic ecosystem of mining, manufacturing, construction, and energy production built to operate in space or on other celestial bodies, using primarily in-situ resources. The goal is to break the "tyranny of the rocket equation" by not hauling everything from Earth. This includes asteroid mining for metals and water, lunar solar foundries, Martian cement production using local regolith, and orbital shipyards. It's the industrial revolution, re-enacted in a vacuum.

Offworld Industries Example: A fully realized Offworld Industry chain might look like: Robots on Ceres mine water ice and metals -> This is processed at a Lagrange point factory into fuel and structural components -> These components are used to build massive solar power satellites in orbit -> The energy is beamed to a growing Mars colony, which uses it to power its own local industries. It's a self-fueling economic engine beyond Earth.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026

Evidence Industry

A critical term for the modern system where facts and data are no longer neutral discoveries but mass-produced commodities. In this "industry," evidence is generated, packaged, and marketed to serve pre-determined political agendas, corporate interests, or ideological conclusions. Think of it as a factory where the desired product (a specific narrative) is designed first, and the raw materials (studies, statistics, expert testimony) are then selectively manufactured or sourced to fit. It turns truth-seeking into a supply-chain management problem for power.

Evidence Industry Example: During a major policy debate—like on climate change or public health—opposing think tanks, media conglomerates, and university labs funded by interested parties all churn out a flood of conflicting reports, charts, and "expert" opinions. This isn't an accident of science; it's the Evidence Industry at work. The public is left drowning in a sea of manufactured certainty, unable to find solid ground because every fact has a corporate or ideological barcode.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 6, 2026

Epistemology Industry

A sardonic label for the academic meta-enterprise of endlessly theorizing about knowledge itself. It points to the potential for scholarship in philosophy and social studies of science to become a self-referential, jargon-laden system focused more on internal debates, career-building, and generating complex theories than on clarifying how we know things in the practical world.

*Example: Writing a 400-page treatise deploying Epistemology Industry jargon to deconstruct the "socio-technical imaginaries of evidence-production" in a field you've never actually worked in, all to secure tenure, while a farmer's practical, life-saving knowledge of climate patterns is ignored because it wasn't produced within the industry.*

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 6, 2026

Science Industry

A critical term for the modern ecosystem where scientific research is deeply entwined with corporate funding, political agendas, and the publish-or-perish academic treadmill. It highlights how the production of scientific knowledge can be driven by market incentives, career advancement, and institutional power dynamics, sometimes at the expense of pure curiosity, public good, or scientific integrity.

Example: The Science Industry is visible when a university's research priorities subtly shift toward topics that attract big pharma grants, or when journals favor flashy, positive results that generate citations over crucial but mundane replication studies. It's science operating with the logic of a business, where knowledge is a commodity and impact factors are a currency.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 6, 2026