The Macro-Ontology of Power in Complex Systems: Part I. From the α-Substrate to the η-Modulation of Agents

Abstract This study conceptualizes the macro-ontology of power in complex systems by developing the Method of Ontological Stratification of Power (MOSP) as an analytical instrument for demarcating regimes of power. The work addresses an epistemological problem in contemporary political philosophy: the analytical conflation of instrumental mechanics with a generative macro-ontological order. The proposed seven-level matrix (ranging from the α-substrate to the η-modulation of agents) structures the architectonics of control as an instrument of synchronic analysis. The article argues that extrapolating the classical dichotomy between constituent and constituted power to complex systems requires introducing the transhistorical categories of technogenic constituent power (the act of architectonic parameterization and configuration) and technogenic power (the objectified macro-environment). It demonstrates that systemic subordination arises from "architectonic closure" and—within dynamically regulated architectonics—the "topological collapse of time" (the simultaneity of the space of creation and the space of operation, which shifts the process of "cascading genesis" into a regime of continuous real-time reparameterization). An empirical simulation of the architectonics of contemporary digital and algorithmic systems conducted through this method demonstrates the necessity of implementing external architectonic safeguards—topological breaks. These include guaranteed architectural exitability, instruments for the structural-informational reconstructibility of decisions, continuous oversight, and autonomous legitimacy timers. This article constitutes the first part of the study, focusing on synchronic analysis. The problem of the macro-historical genesis of power is examined in Part II.