---
title: "The Chain: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/chain-the
description: "Chain, the: The book's picture of the machine as links in a dependency order, from the wager through science, infrastructure, finance, revenue…"
---

# Chain, the

What does “Chain” mean?

Chain, theThe book’s picture of the machine as links in a dependency order, from the wager through science, infrastructure, finance, revenue, sovereignty and power to consent. Each link demands something of the one below, and each can delay, redirect or stop the links above it. The five contests are the five places on it where the binding constraint can sit, and one machine is the claim that its links are one system. *The Introduction.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

The book uses this term in a sense of its own.

## Related terms

- [Five contests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/five-contests)
- [One machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/one-machine)
- [Sovereignty](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/sovereignty)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/consent)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)