Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities
ASX-22-017 · Part II · Interstellar Architecture · Chapter 2: The Planetary Stage

Technologies Across Life Forms
Cooperation, exchange and incompatibility among technical systems shaped by different environments, cognitive architectures and institutions.
Read the full painting meaning →This discussion examines habitat design. Built environments can embed unequal access, physical dependence, or conflicting requirements for different occupants. Its surrounding discussion also concerns privacy and expression: verification and monitoring can create tensions between identifying manipulation and protecting legitimate speech.
The analytical issue is how these conditions affect the proposed mechanism, technical dependencies, control interfaces, and failure conditions. The node treats the potential dysfunction as an open problem: its identification does not demonstrate that the anticipated outcome will occur or that an assumed technology is feasible.
Main problem
Built environments can embed unequal access, physical dependence, or conflicting requirements for different occupants.
Central question
How should habitats reconcile technical performance with varied biological and social requirements?
Analytical connections
Technology
For this habitat design problem, technology examines the proposed mechanism, technical dependencies, control interfaces, and failure conditions.
Environmental Systems
For this habitat design problem, environmental systems examines environmental dependencies, unintended ecological effects, and conditions required for habitation.
Reliability / Systemic Resilience
For this habitat design problem, reliability / systemic resilience examines cascading failure, redundant capacity, recovery procedures, and continuity of essential functions.
Communication
For this habitat design problem, communication examines message access, authenticity, interpretation, delay, and the integrity of exchanged information.
Contact Disposition
For this habitat design problem, contact disposition examines relations between groups, conflict escalation, cooperation, and responses to unfamiliar agents.
Original source prose and question wording remain in the book. The summary and central question are analytical restatements; the author’s complete wording remains in the cited source.
ASX positions and scientific context
- P1 scope
- P2 scope
- C3 thematic relevance
- C position: not established
- Not assessed as validated
Physical scope and coordination themes describe fields of inquiry. They do not establish a measured capability or scientific validation.
Cross-domain dependencies
Conditional analytical comparisons; question-level access follows the parent discussion.
Communication failure and continuity / Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Ecological intervention and habitation / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-72-002: Planetary Hierarchies and Cosmic Sovereignty. The Earth’s Claim to Dominion in Contrast to Emerging Free Stellar Personalities, pp. 687–690.
Open ASX-72-002Communication failure and continuity / Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Ecological intervention and habitation / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-72-001: Emergent Divergent Stellar Identities, pp. 682–686.
Open ASX-72-001Ecological intervention and habitation / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-72-005: The Role of Tier 2 Consciousness in Governance and Diplomacy. Cosmocentrism Tracks the Challenges of Cosmogeopolism, pp. 695–697.
Open ASX-72-005Ecological intervention and habitation / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-52-006: Surveillance and Control in the Solar System. The Dark Potential of Space-Based Dystopian Governance, pp. 450–452.
Open ASX-52-006Communication failure and continuity / Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-72-004: Interstellar Inequality is Growing. Chasms of Wealth, Technological Privilege, and the Struggle for Life Among Colonies, pp. 692–695.
Open ASX-72-004Communication failure and continuity / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-72-003: The Dangers Here Include Risks of AI-Driven Information Bubbles, Concentration in Quantum Communication, and an Erosion of Liberty, pp. 690–692.
Open ASX-72-003Communication failure and continuity / Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Ecological intervention and habitation / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-32-011: Malfunctions, Glitches and Errors, pp. 229–230.
Open ASX-32-011Communication failure and continuity / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-015: An Algorithmically Atomized Digital World. The Rise of Deepfakes, AI Manipulation, and Fragmented Society, pp. 302–303.
Open ASX-42-015Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Resource access and concentration of power / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-019: Light Transhumanism and Light AI. Maybe a Beacon in the Saga of Dark Transhumanism and Rogue AI on the Planetary Stage, pp. 307–308.
Open ASX-42-019Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-010: Human Security and Cybersecurity, pp. 300–300.
Open ASX-42-010Communication failure and continuity / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict / System failure and recovery
Loss or corruption of a shared communication service can interrupt coordination, maintenance and transmission of cultural or spiritual knowledge. The dependency applies when the systems actually share that service; similar titles alone do not establish a historical causal event.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-52-005: Interstellar Freedom of Speech. The Issues of Regulating Communication, Decentralization, and Ethical Frameworks within Off-Planet Settlements, pp. 448–450.
Open ASX-52-005Ecological intervention and habitation / Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-52-001: Unaware of Levels of Awareness. Implications for the Planetary Level of Space Exploration, pp. 439–443.
Open ASX-52-001Ecological intervention and habitation / System failure and recovery
Habitats and life-support systems depend on environmental conditions; engineering and resource extraction can change those conditions. Institutional priorities determine acceptable interventions, whose consequences can then alter settlement viability and social choices.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-32-003: Simulations for Scientific Enquiry, pp. 220–222.
Open ASX-32-003Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-016: How Biomechanical AI Emerged: AI Played with Protein Networks and Integrated into the Human Brain, pp. 303–304.
Open ASX-42-016Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / System failure and recovery
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
A technical failure can propagate into dependent services and institutions when redundancy and recovery are insufficient. The comparison preserves the distinction between ordinary reliability problems and the speculative mechanisms in individual source scenarios.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-007: Autonomous Transport and Logistics, pp. 299–299.
Open ASX-42-007Robotics and infrastructure maintenance / Technical and cognitive interoperability
Infrastructure can depend on autonomous construction and maintenance, while robotics depends on power, materials, communication and accessible repair facilities. This is a conditional operational dependency, not evidence that a proposed megastructure can be constructed.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-42-005: Healthcare, and Assistive Robotics, pp. 299–299.
Open ASX-42-005Resource access and concentration of power / Technical and cognitive interoperability / Infrastructure and strategic conflict
Unequal access to energy, technology, transport or information can create dependence and unequal bargaining power. Institutions and dominant operators may reinforce or reduce the same inequalities through allocation and access rules.
Interoperation depends on compatible interfaces and sufficiently shared interpretations. Standards, translation and access arrangements affect cooperation, while biological and cognitive differences can change what a usable interface requires.
Infrastructure can become both a strategic asset and a target. Conflict may disrupt energy, transport or communications, while dependence on those services can be exploited to constrain decisions.
ASX-22-017: Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities, pp. 91–91; ASX-52-003: No Human Flag. The Fragmented Approach to Human Presence in Space, pp. 445–447.
Open ASX-52-003Associated paintings
- Astral Space Exploration: Renovatio
- Astral Space Exploration: The Cosmic Engineering. Part I
- Astral Space Exploration: The Cosmic Engineering. Part II
- Astral Space Exploration: The Cosmic Engineering. Part III
- Astral Space Exploration: The Cosmic Engineering. Part IV
- Technologies Across Life Forms
Source organization
- chapter context: CTX-22
Citation
Kaikhan Salakhov (2024). Astral Space Exploration: The Cosmic Renaissance: The Fundamental Principles of Cosmocybernetics. Part II, “Astral Space Exploration Grid: Interstellar Architecture Through Stages of Development”; Chapter 2, “The Planetary Stage”; discussion: “Technocentric Dominance. The Rise and Risks of Sci-Fi Smart Cities”, p. 91. Page references follow the supplied 852-page edition; pagination in other editions may differ. Library reference: ASX-22-017. https://www.asxgrid.app/library/records/ASX-22-017.html
Page references follow the supplied 852-page edition; pagination in other editions may differ..
Book publication: . Map created: . Map revised: .