Definitions by Abzugal
Imaginary Control Theory
The radical idea that the most powerful forces in society—Money, Individual rights, and Nation-States—are collective hallucinations we all agree to believe in. A dollar bill is just paper; a border is just a line; your "freedom" is just a story. Jiang's theory states that power is the ability to control these shared fictions and make them feel real and immutable. The most successful elites are the master world-builders who can create a new "imaginary" (like cryptocurrency or a new national identity) and get millions to buy into it.
Example: "Imaginary Control Theory explains Bitcoin: it's a new shared fiction of value, created from nothing, that competes with the old fiction of the U.S. dollar. The 'truth' is just whichever story more people believe and enforce. It's all a meta-game of make-believe with tanks and bank accounts."
Imaginary Control Theory by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Religious Power Evolution Theory
A historical model tracing how humanity's ultimate authority figure has evolved: from Polytheistic gods (multiple, chaotic, like Greek myths), to Monotheistic God (one, absolute, providing universal order, like in Christianity/Islam), to the modern "gods" of Science & Atheism (where logic, data, and human reason are the new sources of dogma). Jiang argues each stage centralizes more abstract and powerful control over human thought and morality. The current "Age of Science" is just another religion with its own priesthood (academics), heretics (climate deniers), and promise of salvation (technological utopia).
Example: "Religious Power Evolution Theory says wokeism is the new monotheism: there's one original sin (oppression), a clear devil (the racist/sexist), a path to salvation (allyship), and an inquisition (cancel culture). It's not science; it's theology with a sociology degree."
Religious Power Evolution Theory by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Social Control Theory
The study of how elites (states, corporations, institutions) keep the masses in line using a trio of levers: Money (economic incentives/debt), Ideology (narratives like patriotism or wokeness), and Fear (of chaos, violence, or ostracism). Jiang posits that stable societies master all three: pay people enough to be comfortable, convince them the system is just, and scare them with what happens if it falls. The theory examines which lever is pulled during crises—print more money, ramp up propaganda, or unleash the police.
Example: "During the pandemic, Social Control Theory was on full display: Money (stimulus checks), Ideology ('we're all in this together'), and Fear (of disease and social shaming). When one lever failed, they doubled down on the other two."
Social Control Theory by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Social Power Theory
A framework ranking the fundamental forces that drive human societies, where Money is the base, tangible power (controlling resources), the Individual (genius, leader, or icon) is the catalytic power that redirects history, and the Nation-State is the supreme, organized power that monopolizes violence and ideology. Jiang argues these layers constantly interact: great individuals (like Steve Jobs or Napoleon) harness money to create change, but ultimately get co-opted or crushed by the state apparatus, which is the only entity that can legally print money, wage war, and define truth. It's a cheat sheet for who really calls the shots.
Example: "Social Power Theory explains Elon Musk: he has Money power (Tesla wealth) and Individual power (cult following), but if he clashes with Nation-State power (the U.S. government over satellites or China over factory rules), the state will win every time. The house always wins."
Social Power Theory by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Spacetime Engineering
The ultimate discipline: the active manipulation of the four-dimensional fabric of the universe (three space + one time) as a direct substrate for construction. This is god-tier civil engineering. You're not building in space; you're building with spacetime. Your tools are concepts like negative energy densities, cosmic strings, and naked singularities. Your blueprints are solutions to Einstein's field equations.
Example: Building a stable, traversable wormhole for transit. Spacetime engineers wouldn't just "find" one; they'd need to fabricate it. This theoretically requires exotic matter with negative energy to prop the throat open against gravitational collapse. Or, imagine "stitching" two distant regions of space together, like creating a cosmic subway tunnel that bypasses the need for travel through the intervening void. It's the kind of engineering that doesn't just change the landscape; it changes the map itself. It's Spacetime Engineering.
Spacetime Engineering by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Spacetime Travel
The big daddy of all travel concepts: moving through time as well as space in a controlled manner, typically by manipulating the geometry of spacetime itself via General Relativity. This isn't just going fast (relativistic travel), which only goes forward in time. This is about creating closed timelike curves—wormholes, warp drives, cosmic strings—to theoretically hop to the past or distant future without waiting. It's engineering the universe's roadmap to include shortcuts and loops.
Example: The Alcubierre "warp drive" concept is spacetime travel. It doesn't move the ship through space faster than light; instead, it contracts spacetime in front of the ship and expands it behind, effectively surfing on a wave of distorted geometry. The ship sits in a "warp bubble" not subject to relativistic effects. You arrive at your destination quickly without any time dilation mess. Another example is using a traversable wormhole: one mouth is accelerated to near light-speed and brought back, creating a time machine where entering one end exits the other in the past.
Spacetime Travel by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Spacetime Communication
The hypothetical (and probably impossible) idea of sending information using or through the fabric of spacetime itself, rather than through it. This includes notions like wormhole comms, quantum entanglement "spooky action" that somehow transmits data, or manipulating gravity waves to carry a signal. It's the dream of instant, non-local chat across the universe, violating the standard light-speed limit by treating space and time as a manipulable medium.
Example: In sci-fi, this is the ansible. A more "physics-y" but still speculative example might be creating and stabilizing two entangled quantum wormholes (Einstein-Rosen bridges), one kept on Earth and one sent to a colony ship. Modulating the quantum state of one instantly affects the other, in theory allowing for faster-than-light messaging. In reality, it's probably a pipe dream that breaks causality, but it's the go-to concept for any story that needs galactic empires to have a functioning internet. It's Spacetime Communication.
Spacetime Communication by Abzugal January 24, 2026