---
title: "Four futures: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/four-futures
description: "Four futures: The four outcomes the machine can still have, a strategic engine, a rationed utility, commodity infrastructure and a distressed asset."
---

# Four futures

What does “Four futures” mean?

Four futuresThe four outcomes the machine can still have, a strategic engine, a rationed utility, commodity infrastructure and a distressed asset. The Scorecard’s plurality says which is arriving. *Chapter 14.*

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

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

Defined in [Chapter 14 — The Convergence](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-14).

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 14 — The Convergence](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-14)One campus, Meta’s Hyperion, run through four possible futures to show how science, power, money and permission meet in the price of an accelerator-hour.

## Also discussed in

- Page [The Compute Economy](https://dryburgh.com/)

## Related terms

- [Commodity infrastructure](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/commodity-infrastructure)
- [Distressed asset](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/distressed-asset)
- [Rationed utility](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/rationed-utility)
- [Strategic engine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/strategic-engine)
- [Break-point](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/break-point)
- [Bridge power](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/bridge-power)
- [Dryburgh Compute Race Scorecard, the](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/dryburgh-compute-race-scorecard-the)
- [Hyperion](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/hyperion)
- [Refresh life](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/refresh-life)
- [Accelerator-hour](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/accelerator-hour)
- [B200](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/b200)
- [Break fee](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/break-fee)

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)