aivolohko

Aivolohko is a fictional concept in Finnish speculative fiction describing a distributed, brain‑inspired computing and governance architecture intended to make cities more autonomous and responsive. The name blends aivo, meaning brain, with lohko, meaning block, to evoke a city organized as a single cognitive system built from interconnected modules. It has appeared in several near‑future novels and games since the early 2000s, where authors use it to explore the implications of advanced urban AI.

In the depicted model, the city is a cognitive organism composed of local processing nodes embedded in districts and institutions. Each node analyzes data locally, runs predictive models, and connects with neighboring nodes via high‑bandwidth links that resemble neural synapses. A central core provides coordination and learning, while citizen interfaces supply oversight and consent mechanisms. The design emphasizes resilience through decentralization and self‑healing software.

Applications in fiction include traffic management, environmental monitoring, emergency response, and participatory budgeting. The discussion often centers on privacy, data ownership, algorithmic bias, and the balance between centralized efficiency and distributed autonomy.

Aivolohko functions as a narrative device to probe how highly interconnected systems might shape governance, social equity, and personal autonomy. While widely discussed in speculative communities, it remains a fictional construct rather than a realized technology.