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Energy-Substrate Scaling: A Unified Theory of Technological Progress & Descent
Paperback
Series: Energy-Substrate Scaling: A Unified Theory of Complexity, Book 1
General World HistoryHistory & Philosophy of Science
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Dec 23 2025
Pages: 310
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.65 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Energy-Substrate Scaling proposes a unified theory of technological progress, arguing that breakthroughs, from steam engines to AI, remain inert until paired with an energy substrate capable of sustaining them. History's decisive transitions (agrarian → industrial, fossil → post-carbon) were not driven by invention alone, but by energy surpluses meeting critical EROI thresholds.
The book examines:
- Novelty, Synergy, Transformation - Why some technologies scale (steam + coal) while others fail (Hero's aeolipile)
- Collapse as Energy Descent - How Rome and Ming China unraveled when their energy substrates degraded
- Future Dilemmas - Why AI, quantum computing, and fusion face thermodynamic limits in a declining-EROI world
By integrating anthropology, complexity theory, and energy economics, this framework offers a lens for predicting which technologies will thrive-and which are doomed by energy realities.
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