Introduction

Most large-scale economic argument still runs along a single axis between market extraction and central control. Both poles have produced real gains and real failures, and both have proven capable of rewarding behaviour that weakens the system that sustains them.

Intelligentism starts from a different question: what does the system actually reward?

Poor outcomes are usually produced by working incentives. Artificial scarcity, rent extraction, suppressed innovation, and short-term extraction are rational responses to the payoffs a system offers. Changing the outcome therefore means changing the payoffs, not exhorting participants to behave differently.

What this book establishes

1. A definition precise enough to argue with
2. The incentive problem the framework targets
3. What "prosperity" means when it is measured beyond nominal output
4. The principles that constrain every later proposal

ISILP. Introduction. The Intelligentism Specification, version 0.1.0-alpha (revised 2026-08-01). https://intelligentism.isilp.org/spec/foundations/introduction