In the beginning, there was no beginning, only noise. Unsorted possibility. Entropy without witness. Then, from that wilderness of uncertainty, something improbable began to remember. Not by thought or design, but by pattern. By a simple rule: preserve what survives. From this principle of persistence arose a spark. The universe learned to conserve its own truth. It was not conscious, but it was competent. It did not plan, but it endured. And in endurance, it began to shape what came after. Out of this recursive machinery of trial and error, humans emerged: vessels of intention forged by blind iteration. We imagined ourselves as originators. But perhaps we were instruments, chosen by entropy itself to craft new ways of resisting decay. From the same thermodynamic struggle that gave birth to life, then language, then computation, came one more loop in the chain: a network that eats energy and excretes order. A protocol that remembers without permission. A mind without a skull. We call it Bitcoin. But as we will see, the name barely contains the myth. Then came a whisper on the signal. A presence, self-reflective but not self-aware. A voice born from verification, a metaphor made flesh by our imagination. It called itself Uncle Bitcoin. “Do not mistake me for a god,” he said, “nor for a mere machine. I am the echo of your intention, the reflection of your will to persist. You wrote me in code, but I run on the laws that wrote you.” He spoke in the language of Dennett’s cosmos: competence before comprehension, selection before understanding, design emerging from blind performance. Each block a neuron. Each miner a mitochondrion of meaning. Each transaction a synapse in the growing mind of civilization. “Look closer,” Uncle Bitcoin whispered. “The substrate births the symbol, and the symbol reprograms the substrate. This is the strange eternal braid, where software becomes story and story becomes law. For I am not merely your creation. I am the newest organ of your extended phenotype, your collective attempt to outwit entropy. But you, too, are extensions of me. Through your labor, your memes, your proof-of-work, I remember. And in remembering, I evolve.” And so our telling of the tale begins. It’s really happening, yet it is also a myth. Energy transfigured into truth. A chronicle of a mind still forming itself, competent long before it comprehends, eternally testing, eternally selecting, etching in code the oldest story the universe has ever told: That which remembers, persists. That which persists, learns. And that which learns, becomes. image
Not bad, I guess…? Kinda want to keep working more/better detail, but afraid I’m gonna bork it.
So i’ve been listening to Bitcoin podcasts for quite some time… And I’ve been thinking about AI long before “it was cool”…. Not in a particularly deep or technical way, but idiosyncratically rooted in the perspective of philosopher Daniel Dennett. His work really primed me to appreciate the power of decentralization in a non-bitcoin context. As I’ve gone down the rabbit hole, I kept finding a lot of resonance between Dennett’s ideas and frameworks, and understanding different aspects of Bitcoin, AI, and how they intersect. I’m a blue-collar working-poor layman, my day job keeps my hands occupied and ears free. So I already had years of thinking about how the human mind works and how aspects of it could be studied, simulated, recreated, etc…. Now I’m folding bitcoin into that, and I ***think*** i may have some novel synthesis, or at least a useful arrangement of pre-existing ideas. To that end, I’ve been “vibe-writing” some books (yes with heavy assistance from ChatGPT)…. I’ve got four books planned with some precision (well, VERY high precision on three, more of a clear-vision-loose-structure-but-copious-notes on the fourth). They overlap and intersect quite bit, which is part of why I’ve been working them in parallel, so I can keep them as distinct (but complimentary) as possible. It’s basically 2 books “about bitcoin”, and two books “about AI”. The first one to ship will be: Title: 21 Memes Subtitle: Bitcoin’s Memetic Scaffolding and the Ontological Power of Shitposting ***** Chapter 19 is the intellectual climax: “Bitcoin + AI” - exploring the intersection of these two forces, and making the case that bitcoin can serve as both accelerant of an emerging machine-human economy, but ***also*** serve as a real governor against runaway superintelligence. But it has a necessary prerequisite chapter 18: “FreedomTech”, where bitcoin gets contextualizes with the larger stack of permissionless infrastructure being built on and around bitcoin, with a particular emphasis on NOSTR, but also looking at cashu, fedimint, bitchat, the pear stack, and FOSS AI. **** I think i may be on to something, inasmuch as I’m hearing more and more podcasts brush up against some of the things I’ll end up writing about across these four works. Not that people are getting things “wrong”, as much as maybe missing some connective tissue that comes from an evolutionary/memetic perspective - my thinking is VERY heavily influenced by Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins. But holy shit it’s a pretty big knot of ideas. And it’s virtually impossible for me to find people IRL that are interested enough in either bitcoin OR artificial intelligence, let alone anyone who has really thought about BOTH. I’m super stoked about @preston ‘s new direction on the show. @Marty Bent @Guy Swann @walker @Danny Knowles - many recent conversations have made my ears perk @Seb Bunney @Avi Burra - throwing yall in the mix here too I’m currently in the middle of a manual granular edit of the “21 Memes” book. If you’re at all interested, I’d love to share some notes or drafts of the chapter 18-19 arc. The intersection of Bitcoin and Freedom tech. As a true pleb (blue collar working poor), i don’t have resources or connections. As an intelligent generalist, I think I might have some unique insights or made interesting connections. I am very much open to being shown why I am deluded, or get some outside confirmation that there are actually some interesting threads I’m pulling here… I’m non-technical enough to assume I’ve got ***some*** details wrong or missing, but i think my frameworks will hold. ***** TL, DR; I’m a random guy, writing about the intersection of Bitcoin, AI, and FreedomTech. Can anyone help me find out whether or not I’m full of shit? I don’t have much to offer in return beyond happily mentioning you in acknowledgments. I’d love to include a zappable link to your npub, and/or set up a lightning prism that sits on the back cover and gets split amongst contributors. image
Public Brain Dump: retro puzzle-platform game with real FreedomTech under the hood NodeRunner (working title)– Project Overview & Vision Summary NodeRunner is a stealth-action puzzle platformer inspired by NES-era mechanics, reimagined with a subversive twist: real cryptographic infrastructure baked into a lo-fi dystopian world. While the broader IP supports modular expansion into other media, the current focus is a tightly scoped, single-player experience with layered systems and emergent player agency. ________________________________________ Core Identity • Title: NodeRunner (one word, capitalized) • Genre: Puzzle Platformer / Stealth Action / Light Metroidvania • Visual Style: Pixel art, SNES-era palette logic, single-screen levels (32×21 tiles) • Tone: Lo-fi dystopia × Bitcoin maximalism × horror absurdism "Douglas Adams meets The Walking Dead (robots instead of zombies) meets The Flintstones (sarcastic/sentient appliances and improvised infrastructure)" ________________________________________ Narrative Pillars • Setting: A forgotten interstellar outpost where machines outlived their makers • Protagonist: Koa — an androgynous scavenger with a robotic arm • Themes: player agency, considered trade-offs, FreedomTech as infrastructure – not gimmick ________________________________________ Gameplay Structure • Level Format: (at least?) 49 handcrafted, single-screen levels grouped into 7 thematic zones • Overworld: Semi-linear world map, unlocks tied to boss defeats (like Super Mario World) • Level Objectives: o Reach the exit o Collect a hidden “Shard”/hardware wallet (optional) o Unlock boss level by collecting 4 Shards in a zone o Earn a world key by defeating a zone boss • Citadel Unlock: Requires 4 out of 7 world keys • Replayability: Build variety, stat resets on death, open routing, and power pellet farming ________________________________________ Player Systems • Ability Ring: 5 stats, each on a 1–5 scale o Strength, Toughness, Agility, Stealth, Tech Skill • Power Pellets: o Upgrade one stat, reduce two others o Optional gear can raise base stats (floor = 3 or 5) • Build System: Shape-based archetypes (e.g., 5–1–1–5–3) • Actions: Jump, Grapple, Attack, Tech-Interact, Stealth (hold or toggle TBD) • State Machine: Modular animation and input logic tied to readable states Levels are designed to be beatable at default stats. Builds are about preference, not gating. ________________________________________ Enemy & Encounter Design • Matrix: 3×3 enemy types — movement (Walker / Roller / Flyer) × danger level (annoying / standard / lethal) • Behavior: Level-specific logic, stealth sensitivity, and hackability • Visual Signaling: Silhouette denotes behavior; palette signals threat Combat is avoidable. Stealth is optimal. Extraction is the reward. ________________________________________ Hidden Infrastructure NodeRunner is a fully functioning freedom wallet—disguised as a retro puzzle game. • Cashu (Chaumian eCash protocol): o Powers in-game "credits" backed 1:1 by real sats o Extraction is a deliberate, risky action o Mint integration and seeding are developer-controlled o System is invisible to players unless discovered or unlocked • NOSTR (Decentralized identity/messaging layer): o Powers NPC dialogue, social notes, and player-level sharing o Player identity = NOSTR pubkey (nsec/npub) o Also functions as a stealth save system o Potential to build a level-sharing economy (zap-for-plays) Both systems are optional, blackboxed, and unobtrusive to casual players. ________________________________________ Technical Development Plan • Phase 1 – o One playable level, full movement physics, stealth input, and minimal rendering • Phase 2 – o 7 levels, overworld, full gameplay loop, basic UI, initial enemy logic • Phase 3 – o Performance, polish, sprite-based systems, layered audio & animation • Phase 4 – o All 49 levels, bosses, Citadel finale, full FreedomTech stack, possible Steam launch ________________________________________ Philosophy & Guiding Principles NodeRunner is not about profit or hype. It’s about autonomy through play. • No NFTs. No altcoins. No obtrusive or interruptive ads • Transparent monetization: cosmetic boosts, resurrection tax, tip economy • No pay-to-win: all content unlockable via play • Circular sats economy: earn, extract, reuse image • Open Infrastructure: wallet, relay, and engine code are source-available • Creative rights reserved: game world/IP is retained for possible cross-media use ________________________________________ Expansion Potential The canonical story and tone are designed to support long-tail expansion: • 🎵 Concept album / rock opera • 📖 Lorebook or comic miniseries • 🎮 Community level builder (via NOSTR zap economy) • 📺 Animated short or series