From Control Substitution to Structural Dominance: Morphological Convergence and Infrastructure Power in Autonomous Systems

<jats:p>The rapid expansion of autonomous systems has intensified competition over drones, robotic vehicles, unmanned maritime platforms, and other machine agents. Yet platform-centered competition may represent only a transitional phase. As engineering constraints, operational requirements, and mission profiles converge, autonomous platforms are likely to cluster around a limited number of stable morphologies. This paper argues that such convergence creates a morphology trap: actors may continue optimizing visible platform bodies after strategic advantage has shifted toward orchestration architectures and infrastructure control. It proposes a transition from control substitution, in which machines replace human operators, to structural dominance, in which power derives from coordinating, sustaining, and scaling autonomous ecosystems. The paper advances three propositions: platform morphology will increasingly converge; competitive advantage will migrate toward orchestration systems such as swarm coordination, distributed task allocation, and real-time integration; and long-term dominance will depend on control over compute, semiconductors, energy, manufacturing, logistics, and communication networks. The future of autonomous power will therefore be determined less by the sophistication of individual machines than by the infrastructures that allow autonomous systems to operate at scale.</jats:p>