Technological Path Dependency

Technological path dependency asks how a civilization’s first spectacular success narrows its future imagination.

The Airawa Empire is the main example. The Biological Memetic Engine was so effective that every institution bent around it. The empire became brilliant at memetic-biological domination and correspondingly bad at forms of cooperation that cannot be overwritten.

The Sa’auei’a provide a counterpoint. Their path dependency favors mobility, reciprocity, and reproductive commons. It makes them resilient against imperial capture but weaker at rapid central mobilization.

The best worldbuilding use is not “technology bad.” The better use is colder: every tool teaches a society what counts as a solution.