Raw Material Synthesis

The alchemical dream of creating basic industrial materials—metals, minerals, fibers, feedstocks—from common elements rather than mining or harvesting them. Raw material synthesis promises a world where nothing is scarce because everything can be made from abundant elements: iron from rust, aluminum from clay, timber from cellulose synthesized in factories. The science is advancing: we can synthesize diamonds, grow leather in labs, and turn carbon dioxide into fabric. But the economics still favor extraction for most materials—it's cheaper to dig up iron than to make it from scratch. Raw material synthesis is the ultimate hedge against resource depletion: when the mines run dry, the labs will keep running. Until then, it's a fascinating glimpse of a post-mining future.

Example: "The startup promised to synthesize rare metals from common elements, freeing the world from mining. Their process worked in the lab, producing perfect samples of titanium from sand. Scaling to industrial production proved harder—the energy costs were astronomical. They pivoted to making jewelry, where customers paid extra for 'synthetic' as a virtue. Raw material synthesis survived, just not as planned."

by Dumu The Void February 16, 2026

Materials Synthesis

The broad field of creating new materials—or old materials more efficiently—from basic building blocks. Materials synthesis encompasses everything from making better steel to growing diamonds in labs to designing metamaterials with properties not found in nature. It's the science of turning elements into things, of transforming the periodic table into the objects of daily life. Every plastic, every alloy, every semiconductor, every advanced composite is a product of materials synthesis. The field is driven by the endless human desire for materials that are stronger, lighter, cheaper, more conductive, more transparent, more everything. Materials synthesis is how we build civilization, one new substance at a time.

Example: "He worked in materials synthesis, developing a new composite that was stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum. It took ten years, cost millions, and produced a material that was too expensive for any practical application. But it existed—a new substance that had never been made before. Somewhere, an engineer was figuring out how to make it cheaper. That's how progress works."

by Dumu The Void February 16, 2026

Post-Material Cyber-Nihilism

A variant focused on transcending material scarcity and economic relations, arguing that the Wired can create a post-scarcity reality where material constraints no longer apply. Post-Material Cyber-Nihilism embraces automation, digital fabrication, and decentralized production as tools for dissolving the material basis of hierarchy. Its goal is a world where nothing is scarce because everything can be produced from information—where the only limit is computation, and computation can be distributed infinitely. It's cyber-nihilism as post-capitalist vision, using technology to eliminate the material conditions that make domination possible.

Example: "The network shared designs for open-source fabricators that could produce anything from local materials—food, medicine, tools, shelter. 'Post-material cyber-nihilism,' the manifesto read. 'When everything can be made anywhere, property becomes meaningless. When nothing is scarce, hierarchy has nothing to control. We're not destroying capitalism; we're making it irrelevant.' The fabricators spread; the economy shifted; the state noticed. But by then, the means of production were everywhere and nowhere."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 19, 2026