---
title: "Diffusionism"
description: "Antikythera's venture-arm ethos: the bet that making functional general intelligence \"widespread, inexpensive, accessible and useful\" is net extremely positive \"but also bumpy as hell.\" It is defined…"
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/diffusionism"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/diffusionism"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Diffusionism

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/diffusionism), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

Antikythera's venture-arm ethos: the bet that making functional general intelligence "widespread, inexpensive, accessible and useful" is net extremely positive "but also bumpy as hell." It is defined against two failure modes — AI skeuomorphism (bolting frontier models onto legacy processes) and alignment overfitting (red lines that protect incumbents) — and paired with "green lines," the preconditions that keep the widest range of possibilities open to the most people. "Diffusion" carries two senses at once: economic (the means of production as a monthly subscription, disrupting "cathedrals of power") and physical (AI radiating out of data centers into objects and environments, per an ecological theory of automation as "contingency fixed into scaffolds"). Openly partisan: anti-degrowth, pro-disruption of incumbents.

## Appears in

- [Diffusion: A New Venture for Antikythera](https://antikythera.wiki/work/substack/2025-09-25-diffusion-a-new-venture-for-antikythera) (2025-09-25)
- [After Alignment](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/afteralignment) (2025-05-10)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._