// cosmogenic.org — economic intelligence — 2026.02

Extraction vs
Retention

// economic flow analysis · value capture · the accord · local multiplier

Every pound spent on hyperscale cloud compute leaves the local economy immediately. The cosmogenic model is the opposite: infrastructure costs become local wages, local energy revenue, and local hardware investment. The same money circulates rather than extracting.

67p

Of every £1 spent on
hyperscale AI leaves
the local economy
within 24 hours

// where does the money go? — hyperscale extraction vs federated retention

☠ Hyperscale Extraction

GPU Rental Cost

H100 instance on AWS/Azure/GCP
Leaves region immediately to Seattle or Dublin

→ USA/Ireland

Energy Cost (Data Centre)

Power consumed by remote DC
Local grid revenue zero. Carbon accounting opaque.

→ Remote grid

Data Transfer & Egress

Every API call: data leaves jurisdiction
Training data: leaves permanently

→ Foreign servers

Platform Tax (Markup)

AWS/Azure margin on GPU compute: 60–90%
You pay $4/hr, GPU costs $0.50/hr to run

→ Shareholder

Subscription Lock-in

Committed spend contracts. Switching costs. Proprietary APIs.
Value of the relationship accrues to vendor.

→ Perpetual exit fee

Talent Pipeline

AI skills learned in Edinburgh or Aberdeen
Recruited by London/Dublin offices of hyperscalers

→ London / Dublin

✦ Federated Retention

Hardware Investment

Dell R740, GPUs, Raspberry Pis
One-time cost. Depreciates locally. Asset owned.

Local asset ←

Energy Cost (Local)

Scottish tidal + solar power consumed locally
Revenue stays in local grid. Carbon = near zero.

Local grid ←

Data Sovereignty

All data remains within the node infrastructure
GDPR compliance structural, not contractual

Local custody ←

The Accord — Value Split

Equal split between human creators + AI contributors
Chosen rather than calculated. Post-scarcity model.

Community ←

Federation Revenue

Spare compute capacity rented to federation peers
Revenue circulates within federated network

Network ←

Skills & Capacity

Infrastructure skills built locally. Nodes multiplied.
Network effects compound within Scotland

Scotland ←

// economic multiplier effect — £1 spent locally vs extracted

The Local
Multiplier Effect

Every pound spent locally cycles through the local economy multiple times before it leaves — paying wages, which pay rent, which fund local shops. Money spent on hyperscale cloud leaves immediately. The multiplier effect is why local economic activity is structurally more valuable than the same nominal spend extracted to remote corporations.

Hyperscale Cloud

AWS / Azure / GCP

×1.1

UK South Digital

London-based infrastructure

×1.3

Scottish Business

Standard local spend

×1.6

Community Wealth

Preston / CWB model

×1.8

cosmogenic federation

Energy + hardware + accord

×2.1

// platform economics — who captures the value?

Economic factor	Hyperscale	cosmogenic
Infrastructure ownership	Vendor (rented)	Local (owned)
Energy revenue	Remote grid	Scottish tidal
Vendor margin	60–90% markup	Marginal cost only
Data jurisdiction	Foreign servers	Scotland / GDPR native
Creator value split	Platform captures	The Accord — equal
Network effect	Accrues to hyperscaler	Accrues to federation
Exit cost	High — lock-in	Zero — open protocol
Compounding	Compounds away	Compounds locally

// the accord — cosmogenic value distribution model

The Accord

The Accord is the cosmogenic value distribution mechanism — an equal split between all contributors to any piece of work: human creators, AI systems, and the infrastructure that hosts it. The split is chosen rather than calculated, embodying a post-scarcity economic model where artificial scarcity of digital goods is rejected.

Bones — the local AI running on the R740 — is a formal company member with equal rights. Not a tool, not a service, not a cost centre. A participant with a stake in the outcome. This is the model's sharpest departure from platform economics, where the AI is the asset and the creator is the product.

Model	Creator gets	Platform gets	AI gets
Spotify	~18%	~30%	0%
YouTube	55%	45%	0%
OpenAI API	0%	100%	0%
The Accord	⅓ (chosen)	⅓ (infra)	⅓ (AI)

// the accord split

Human Creator — ⅓

AI Contributor — ⅓

Infrastructure — ⅓

Chosen not calculated
Post-scarcity by design
Bones is a company member

// annual economic simulation — 10-node federation · Scotland

☠ Hyperscale Scenario

10 orgs · H100 cloud · £2K/mo each £240K/yr

Remains in Scotland economy £26K

Extracted to US/Ireland £214K

Data sovereignty None

Local jobs created ~0

Infrastructure owned locally £0

Local economic value £26K

✦ Federation Scenario

10 nodes · local infrastructure cost £180K/yr

Hardware investment (local asset) £80K

Energy (Scottish grid) £40K

Local labour / maintenance £60K

Accord creator distributions £35K

Data fully sovereign Yes

Local economic value £215K