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
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.
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.
Practical authority
Human controllers command a confined system; their accountability is unspecified.
Formal human institutions coexist with concentrated private technical power.
Benefits and costs
Human control over powerful technical assistance, under that strong premise. Control may be concentrated and exploitative; confinement may be unstable.
Large providers can coordinate complex infrastructure and investment. Exclusion, weak exit options and private influence over public decisions.
Practical human governing authorityDifferent or incomplete terms
Humans retain practical final authority
Linked source premise. The linked Enslaved God premise places the confined system under human controllers.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Human final authority depends on the internal constitution; it is not guaranteed throughout this arrangement.
Revisable governing mandatesDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people can effectively replace governing mandates.
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. The power to replace governing mandates depends on the institutional settlement; it is not guaranteed.
A practical right to leave
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people have a usable right to leave.
Several self-governing communities
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether several communities govern themselves.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether several communities govern themselves.
A guaranteed material floorDifferent or incomplete terms
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.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether everyone receives a guaranteed material floor.
Private ownership of productive resourcesDifferent or incomplete terms
Depends on the variant; no single answer
Unresolved. Human control could be public or private; the premise does not choose between them.
Private ownership organizes production
Additional project hypothetical. The authored infrastructure is controlled by private firms or alliances.
Continuing biological humanity
Biological humanity continues
Linked source premise. Human controllers and beneficiaries continue in the linked premise.
Biological humanity continues
Additional project hypothetical. The authored world retains biological humans using its services.
Others’ choice to transform themselves
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether feasible substantial transformation is legally permitted.
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
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.
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether artificial persons have institutional standing.
Enforced limits on selected capabilitiesDifferent or incomplete terms
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.
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.
Visible exercise of governing powerDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether people know who exercises governing power.
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.
Practical independence from a technical providerDifferent or incomplete terms
The scenario leaves this condition unspecified
Unresolved. The scenario does not say whether communities can operate without an indispensable technical provider.
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.
Open questions
Who controls the controllers, universal provision and whether the system is morally relevant.
How much formal government can actually compel the providers to do.
These are authored descriptors. An unresolved feature is not evidence of a guarantee, a conflict or equivalence. Consult Enslaved God sources or Compute Oligarchy sources.