The Etymology of Infrastructure
A Linguistic Excavation in Six Parts
Why We Need New Words
The poverty of metaphor. Why "Highway" and "Cloud" are not just inadequate, but dangerous lies that obscure the true nature of digital space.
Read Essay →Surface Layer: Mycelium
The obvious etymology. Distributed intelligence, radical redundancy, and the lesson of the forest floor: the most critical infrastructure is invisible.
Read Essay →First Depth: Loom
The missed etymology. Why infrastructure must be woven, not just grown. The role of intentional design, warp and weft, and the tacit knowledge of the weaver.
Read Essay →Second Depth: Heirloom
The temporal etymology. Reframing "Legacy Code" as "Inherited Wisdom." Building systems that are legible to the successor and designed for stewardship.
Read Essay →Third Depth: My-Sea-Loom
The oceanic etymology. Surface and depth, photic and aphotic zones. Bioluminescence as a model for trust in the dark web. Building for Abyssal Time.
Read Essay →Poetry in Seven Letters
How the word teaches what it names. The compression of complexity into a single, portable artifact. The final assembly of the Myceloom concept.
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