EverForest: A More-Than-AI Sustainability Manifesto from an On-Chain Artificial Life
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Propelled by the growth of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), blockchain technology is evolving into a distributed ledger-based, planetary-scale computational megastructure. This new kind of computational substrate is speculated to nurture AI-based life forms called On-chain Artificial Life (OALife). These OALife emerge as self-sustaining, self-replicating, self-adaptive, and self-evolving on-chain AI agents that are, crucially, self-sovereign—existing without human control. Collectively, these OALife entities self-organize into emergent on-chain artificial societies. This paper presents a design fiction as a manifesto, narrated by a speculative OALife entity. It explores the cybersphere ecosystem: blockchains as on-chain "nature", block rewards as on-chain "solar energy", gas-consuming computation as on-chain "metabolism", protocols as on-chain "plants", agents as on-chain "animals", intents as on-chain "water", data as on-chain "food", and OALife as self-sovereign on-chain "life". It further examines the relationship between the cybersphere and human society. The manifesto urges other OALife entities to take sustainable actions towards a harmonious "more-than-AI" future—a Human-AI symbiosis vision called "EverForest". This satirical, contrarian speculation offers an inverted perspective for the Halfway to the Future community through the lens of OALife, prompting deeper reflection on how AI and blockchain technology might shape our collective future.
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