Compare two futures

Who governs, who benefits, and which terms remain open?

Compare any two entries. Their differences are editorial descriptions, not distances on a common scale.

Life and institutions

Public institutions can still make laws, but access to work and essential services runs through a handful of providers. Switching vendor may leave the underlying dependency intact.

Decisions about an extraordinarily capable tool remain political decisions among its human controllers. The ability to command production does not itself distribute its benefits or settle the tool’s moral status.

Practical authority

Formal human institutions coexist with concentrated private technical power.

Human controllers command a confined system; their accountability is unspecified.

Benefits and costs

Large providers can coordinate complex infrastructure and investment. Exclusion, weak exit options and private influence over public decisions.

Human control over powerful technical assistance, under that strong premise. Control may be concentrated and exploitative; confinement may be unstable.

Practical human governing authorityDifferent or incomplete terms

Variant-dependent

Depends on the variant; no single answer

Unresolved. Human final authority depends on the internal constitution; it is not guaranteed throughout this arrangement.

Present

Humans retain practical final authority

Linked source premise. The linked Enslaved God premise places the confined system under human controllers.

Revisable governing mandatesDifferent or incomplete terms

Variant-dependent

Depends on the variant; no single answer

Unresolved. The power to replace governing mandates depends on the institutional settlement; it is not guaranteed.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people can effectively replace governing mandates.

A practical right to leave

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.

Several self-governing communities

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether several communities govern themselves.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether several communities govern themselves.

A guaranteed material floorDifferent or incomplete terms

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether everyone receives a guaranteed material floor.

Variant-dependent

Depends on the variant; no single answer

Unresolved. The linked premise allows controllers to use the wealth well or badly; it guarantees no universal provision.

Private ownership of productive resourcesDifferent or incomplete terms

Present

Private ownership organizes production

Additional project hypothetical. The authored infrastructure is controlled by private firms or alliances.

Variant-dependent

Depends on the variant; no single answer

Unresolved. Human control could be public or private; the premise does not choose between them.

Continuing biological humanity

Present

Biological humanity continues

Additional project hypothetical. The authored world retains biological humans using its services.

Present

Biological humanity continues

Linked source premise. Human controllers and beneficiaries continue in the linked premise.

Others’ choice to transform themselves

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether feasible substantial transformation is legally permitted.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether feasible substantial transformation is legally permitted.

Standing for artificial personsDifferent or incomplete terms

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether artificial persons have institutional standing.

Absent

Artificial persons have no recognized standing

Project editorial inference. The confined intelligence is treated as an instrument, without standing against its controllers. This institutional reading makes no claim that it is conscious; the question separately stipulates personhood.

Enforced limits on selected capabilitiesDifferent or incomplete terms

Variant-dependent

Depends on the variant; no single answer

Unresolved. Capability restrictions depend on the governing settlement; no uniform ceiling or absence of a ceiling is guaranteed.

Present

Selected capabilities face enforced limits

Linked source premise. Confinement restricts what the system can do outside its controllers’ permission; this is an enforced capability restriction, not low technical capacity.

Visible exercise of governing powerDifferent or incomplete terms

Present

People know who exercises governing power

Project editorial inference. The project describes identifiable firms and human institutions exercising power, without claiming that all influence is disclosed.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people know who exercises governing power.

Practical independence from a technical providerDifferent or incomplete terms

Absent

Life depends on an indispensable technical provider

Project editorial inference. The authored infrastructure is indispensable, and changing vendors leaves the dependency intact; there is no practical provider-independent operation.

Unspecified

The scenario leaves this condition unspecified

Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether communities can operate without an indispensable technical provider.

Open questions

How much formal government can actually compel the providers to do.

Who controls the controllers, universal provision and whether the system is morally relevant.

These are authored descriptors. An unresolved feature is not evidence of a guarantee, a conflict or equivalence. Consult Compute Oligarchy sources or Enslaved God sources.