Can blockchain, a swiftly evolving technology, be controlled?
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Plants need bees to reproduce themselves. Send Bitcoin to the Plantoid, so it can hire an artist to replicate itself Coala blockchain workshops for parents Plantoid is the plant equivalent of an android; coala blockchain workshops for parents is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look, act and grow like a plant. This particular species of a Plantoid is an autonomous blockchain-based lifeform that is able to reproduce itself. It is a hybrid creature that lives both in the physical world as a mechanical contraption made up of recycled steel and electronics and in digital world as a software deployed on top of a blockchain-based network.
The goal of the Plantoid is to illustrate one of the most revolutionary—and yet still unexplored—aspects of blockchain technology. Blockchains are decentralized peer-to-peer networks, like Bitcoin, that enable people from all over the world to interact, coordinate, and transact value with one another in a secure and decentralized way. Software code can be deployed on a blockchain-based network to create programs a.
As opposed to traditional software code, run on centralized servers and administered by an online operator, smart contracts can be designed to run autonomously, independently of any central authority or middlemen. The Plantoid is an attempt at using the artistic medium to illustrate the inner workings of these autonomous systems, so that people can better understand the potential benefits and challenges of this powerful, emergent technology.
A Plantoid is coala blockchain workshops for parents of two essential components: The body of the Plantoidi. It is a welded metallic sculpture displayed in a public space; an aesthetic ornament that exhibits its mechanical beauty to whoever it encounter. When it enters into contact with organisms in the physical world—e.
The spirit of the Plantoidi. This is what constitutes the actual coala blockchain workshops for parents of the Plantoid—since the physical body is coala blockchain workshops for parents a means to connect its inner logic with creatures in the physical world. These 2 components interact with one other in order to bring the Plantoid to life, and—most importantly—to ensure that it can reproduce itself over time.
Like every other life form, the main function of the Plantoid is to reproduce itself. It does so by enticing the curiosity of the people it encounters with its physical beauty, luring them into feeding it with some cryptographic money, in order to awaken it and contribute to the ongoing reproduction process of the Plaintoid.
Once a Plantoid has proven its worth by accumulating a sufficient quantity of Bitcoins, it will enter into the reproductive phase, initiating a procedure whereby the Plantoid will coala blockchain workshops for parents for mates i.
The fundamental mechanism underpinning the operations and evolution of each Plantoid is a small piece of software or smart contract deployed on the Ethereum blockchain.
The software is autonomous, in that it is executed in a distributed manner by all nodes coala blockchain workshops for parents to support the underlying blockchain network. And because of the properties of a blockchain, once deployed, the code cannot be altered or shut down by any single party.
As such, every Plantoid operate as an autonomous entity that does not need to respond to anyone, not even its original creator. Indeed, Plantoids are both independent and self-sufficient. Once they have been created and deployed into the world, they no longer need nor heed their creators. And because Plantoids ultimately own themselves, they also cannot be purchased or owned by anyone.
People can, however, interact with a Plantoid, and possibly even engage into contractual relationships with it. The software underpinning a Plantoid establishes the system of affordances and constraints that come along with each and every Plantoid. It pre-defines the rules by which people can interact with the Plantoid, the amount of funds that the Plantoid needs to reproduce itself, and the criteria that must be met by every descendent of a Plantoid.
By sending bitcoins to the Plantoids, people also acquire a series of rights that will enable them to participate in the decision-making process for all issues concerning the reproduction of the Plantoid, and beyond. For the funders, the right to participate in the governance structure of the selected Plantoid—e. For the producers, these include the right to be credited as the creators of a particular Plantoid, and the right to a fair or unfair remuneration whenever that Plantoid receives enough funds to reproduce itself.
As such, even though Plantoids do not have any legal personality—because the law does not yet recognize them as a legal entity—they are nonetheless capable of interacting with other people and machines that exist in the coala blockchain workshops for parents world, by means of simple blockchain transactions.
Because all code deployed on a blockchain comes with a guarantee of execution, by engaging with a Plantoid, people are contractually bound to, and cannot deviate from the rules stipulated into the underlying smart contract code. In this sense, Plantoids operate akin to an organization. Yet, in contrast with legacy organizations, they are entirely autonomous and do not come with any director or CEO. Plantoids are, ultimately, a physical representation of what we commonly refer to as a Distributed Autonomous Organization or DAO —an autonomous blockchain-based system that is administered, only and exclusively, through software logic deployed on a blockchain.
Even if it is completely autonomous, Plantoids cannot reproduce themselves on their own. They require the help of third parties to support them in the reproduction process. Just as organic plants often rely on third parties—like butterfly or bees—to support them in the pollination process, Plantoids rely on the cooperation of human beings, assisting them coala blockchain workshops for parents the process of instantiating themselves into a new physical form.
The reproduction coala blockchain workshops for parents of a Plantoid can be distinguished into three coala blockchain workshops for parents parts: Traditional plants rely on photosynthesis in order to turn light into energy.
Plantoid operate instead by turning beauty into digital currency. Hence, while traditionaly plants reproduce themselves through the process of pollination, the reproduction of a Plantoid is done through the process of capitalization. In essence, each Plantoid will seduce people with the aesthetical beauty of their mechanical body and the spirituality of their soul, enticing them into sending bitcoins in order to support their reproduction.
As in the case of most human beings, seduction can be done in coala blockchain workshops for parents or two ways: At the physical level, the Plantoid relies on the aesthetics of its physical body to seduce people through a combination of movements, lights and sounds—just like plants use their coala blockchain workshops for parents colors and sensual smells to attract butterflies and bees to their nectar-filled wombs. At the intellectual level, the Plantoid relies on its underlying software code i.
Every Plantoid has its own Bitcoin wallet, to which people can send money. Those who enjoy the aesthetic representation or the intellectual properties governance rights and reproductive logic of any given Plantoid will submit funds to the Plantoid.
Whenever it receives those funds, the Plantoid will evolve and blossom into a more beautiful flower, e. In sending these bitcoins, people provide the Plantoid with the opportunity to fund its own reproduction, while simultaneously acquiring the right to participate into the governance system of the newly created Plantoid. All bitcoins collected in this way are stored in the Bitcoin coala blockchain workshops for parents of each and every Plantoid. Depending on their form and size, different Plantoids will require different amounts of funds before they can blossom.
The Plantoid constantly monitors its Bitcoin balance, and whenever it realizes that a particular threshold coala blockchain workshops for parents been reached, the Plantoid will be able to use this money to initiate its own reproduction and ensure its survival. The second phase of reproduction begins… Mating phase: As a new species, Plantoids need to evolve and figure out how to best survive in any given environment.
When the time for reproduction is ripe—i. Propositions can be submitted by anyone and at anytime. Indeed, the DNA of every Plantoid —that is, all the logic and rules that govern its growth and reproduction—are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. These may include certain distinctive aesthetic or physical requirements such as form, size, or materials for the coala blockchain workshops for parents of a particular Plantoid that will affect the scope of creativity and the room for discretion left to the artists commissioned to produce the next Plantoid.
These may also include business logic such as, for instance, the dividends given to the funders for any of the funds raised by the subsequent Plantoids, the percentage of these funds that will be given to a particular charity or organization, the cuts that the initial artist gets for every new Plantoid created, etc.
Anyone submitting a proposal must comply with these initial requirements, although they remain free to develop their ideas and expand coala blockchain workshops for parents them as they best see fit. Of course, the Plantoid does not come with any ability to judge the artistic merit and intellectual value of these propositions. It thus relies on the help of human beings to advise as to what is coala blockchain workshops for parents most appropriate and suitable proposal, given the available funds and evolutionary objectives of the Plantoid.
Each contributor to the funding of the Plantoid will be asked to participate on the decision-making as to the selected proposal. These people will be able to vote on proposals submitted, by sending micro-transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain to the public address that uniquely identifies each proposal. And to the extent that different people might have invested a different amount of money in funding the Plantoid, every vote will be weighted by the amount of funds that each party coala blockchain workshops for parents effectively contributed.
The smart contract will then automatically process all of these inputs and establish a winner. Once a winning proposal has been identified, the Plantoid will transfer all of its bitcoins to commission and engage the authors of the proposal in the production—or rather the reproduction—of future Plantoids. Whoever has been selected to give birth to next Plantoids will have the possibility to shape its body and to establish the logic of its soul.
A mysterious and controversial technology is among us. This technology is the blockchain, the technology that underpins digital currencies and makes possible dramatic new conceptions of global governance and economy, that could permanently enrich or demote the role of humans - depending on who you talk to.
Imagine a world in which responsibility for many aspects of life reproduction, decision-making, organisation, nurture, stewardship are mechanised and automated. Transferred, once and for all, from natural and social systems into a secure, networked, digital ledger of transactions and computer-executed contracts. The artworks in this exhibition envision future world-making by machines, markets and natural processes, free from interference by states and other human institutions.
Given the characteristics of the reproduction process, the evolution of Plantoids will follow a Darwinist approach. Different artists in different geographic locations and cultural environments will implement distinct kinds of Plantoids, whose phenotypes will attract different types coala blockchain workshops for parents donors—either because of their aesthetic beauty i.
Every Plantoid will therefore evolve into multiple branches or species, each with their own characteristics. From a Darwinian perspective, the reproduction of each and every Plantoid is based on an evolutionary algorithm, with multiple Plantoids experimenting with new physical characteristics, but also diverse personalities and governance structures depending on their environment.
Indeed, the ability of a Plantoid to identify the right characteristics—with regard to their physical form body or operating logic soul —that will enable them to seduce more people will be the key factor to determine which Plantoids that are most fit for their own environment. Those are the ones that will be able to collect more bitcoins and that will therefore be able to ensure the long-term sustainability of their species.
Conversely, those Plantoids that did not successfully adapt themselves to their own environment, because they failed to incorporate attractive characteristics in their body or soul, will be less appreciated. These will be unable to obtain enough funds to reproduce themselves, and will most likely exist as a single physical instance that might progressively fade away until extinction.
Eventually, as time passes, Plantoid that successfully emerged from the Darwinian struggle for survival are those that will most likely establish themselves as the dominant species in this evolutionary process.
Those are the ones that will be able to reproduce themselves the fastest—so as to slowly, but steadily, colonize our planet. The plantoid represents the beginning of a new relationship between creators, their work, and the progeny of the work. Indeed, the underlying mechanisms for the financing and reproduction of a plantoid obviously clash with the traditional conception of copyright law, which is based on the notion of scarcity and exclusivity.
Most importantly, the plantoid actually shifts the authorship model around, turning copyright on its head. The Plantoid is an autonomous blockchain-based life-form and artwork which subsists independently of any human third party.
As such, the Plantoid has no official owner or creator since it reproduces itself on its own. Yet, like every other life-form, the first plantoid did not emerge out of thin air. Accordingly, in spite of my initial desire that the Plantoid should remain an anonymous and autonomous project, I would now like to express my appreciation and provide proper accreditation to all those who contributed to the emergence of this new species. The underlying concept of the Plantoid was inspired by discussions I had with hundreds people and the various implementations of the Plantoid both in physical and digital forms were facilitated through the contributions of many artists and programmers, each contributing in different ways in bringing these creatures to life.
Below is a detailed overview of all the external contingencies that helped the Plantoid instantiate itself in the physical world.
I had told Shu Lea about my secret at that time artistic practice, and my attempts at using art to challenge or communicate the underlying concepts of my research. While most of my art pieces so far were a representation of my research concerning copyright law, given my newfound interest in blockchain technologies, Shu Lea suggested I make an art piece that represented what I consider to be the most fascinating aspect of this emergent technology.
I had been researching the legal implications of blockchain technologies for over 2 years already, focusing mostly on the new opportunities provided coala blockchain workshops for parents Ethereum and smart contracts, and I was particularly fascinated by the ability to deploy software on the blockchain that runs autonomously and can no longer be shut down, or controlled by anyone.
