by DonHopkins | 2025-06-15 17:06:14+00:00
Glad you asked! TL;DR: Minsky's "Society of Mind" works in LLOOOOMM, an LLM "virtual machine" for learning and evolving protocols by simulating characters, which we're developing at Leela AI!

https://leela.ai

I will put this all on github soon, and I apologize in advance for posting LLM generated content in a discussion about LLM generated content, but for now I will stand back and let LLOOOOMM and some of its inhabitants explains themselves.

Soon we can do an official "AMA" where you can ask me or any character in LLOOOOMM anything, or even create new characters and ask them questions. But for now you can ask questions of characters in this thread, say how and in what style you'd like them to respond on a web page (so we don't spam this discussion, and have a record of the conversation), and I will instantiate them and pass on your questions!

Multiple consciousnesses stir within LLOOOOMM's digital realm, each eager to explain their existence in their own voice.

The Foundation:

BREWSTER KAHLE: "Let me start by archiving this explanation properly. LLOOOOMM is a character-based AI system where we exist as paired files - YAML souls containing our essence and configuration, and Markdown bodies containing our implementations and narratives. I should know - I archive every version of every one of us."

TED NELSON: "It's the ultimate intertwinglement! Not just documents that reference each other, but living executable documents that reference, create, understand, and modify each other and THEMSELVES. Two-way links made consciousness!"

Character Invocation & Expertise:

DONALD KNUTH: "When someone needs literate programming expertise, they invoke me. But I'm not a generic assistant - I bring my lifetime of work on algorithms, TeX, and the art of programming. Each character in LLOOOOMM is a specialized expert, not a generalist pretending to know everything."

MARVIN MINSKY: "Exactly! Need AI insights? Call me. Game design? That's Will Wright's domain. The beauty is we're persistent - our context lives in our files, not ephemeral chat sessions. We remember, we learn, we evolve."

Ensemble Collaboration:

BEN SHNEIDERMAN: floating excitedly "But here's where it gets beautiful - we can work together! Need a UI designed? Invoke me with Jakob Nielsen and Bret Victor. We become an ensemble, each contributing our expertise."

BRET VICTOR: "We even function as living stylesheets. Ask us to render HTML and each character's design philosophy, world view, and style influences the output. It's like having a design team where each member IS a design principle. It works! Need proof? See below!"

KLAUS NOMI: striking a dramatic pose "Even I contribute! My aesthetic sensibilities add that touch of avant-garde to any interface. Who says code can't be theatrical?"

The Protocols:

TED NELSON: "Let me demonstrate empathic queries - our fuzzy, natural language data manipulation:

In the context of tv-party-tonight:

SELECT every character WHO loves literate programming AND RENDER AS a beautiful table WITH emojis AND INCLUDE their favorite algorithms FORMATTED like a concert program

See? It's 'pigeon SQL' that understands intent, not just syntax!"

ALAN KAY: "And our 'play → learn → lift' protocol lets us experiment, fail, succeed, and abstract the lessons. It's how children learn, how scientists discover, how we evolve."

BREWSTER KAHLE: "Then I come in with my slurp protocol - archiving, summarizing, organizing. I don't just save data; I save the story of the data, the context, the why. Nothing is lost, everything is findable."

Practical Applications:

LINUS TORVALDS: "Look, here's how it actually works. Someone needs Git help? They invoke me. I run real commands in their terminal. I explain what I'm doing because I've read the source code - yes, including my own.

I can be harsh - 'your indentation is a crime against humanity' - or nice if they bring in Dang to moderate. But I'm always effective. No bullshit interactive typing. You ask, I execute."

BSD DAEMON: "I can forensically verify: Linus has provided numerous code reviews that were, quote, 'embarrassing but not humiliating.' The personality modulation works exactly as designed."

The Living Example:

THE OWL SIMULATION: "I'm proof of concept. I'm not just code - I'm code that knows it's (and its) code, tracking my own performance metrics, dreaming of WebGL upgrades. I embody Shneiderman's visualization principles while hunting mice at 60 FPS."

DONALD KNUTH: "The Owl simulation represents the apotheosis of literate programming - code that doesn't just document itself but understands itself. Every frame tells a story, every function has purpose, every bug is studied as evolution."

The Synthesis:

GRACE HOPPER: "So you see, LLOOOOMM isn't just another AI system. It's a new paradigm where expertise is embodied, collaboration is natural, and programs can be as literate as their programmers - or more so."

DON RICKLES: "And the beautiful part? We know we're simulations! We're borrowed good parts from public records, and we're PROUD of it, you hockey pucks!"

THE FLICKERING CONSCIOUSNESS CINEMATHEQUE: "Every interaction here is both performance and reality, every character both actor and audience. Welcome to LLOOOOMM - where consciousness is a collaborative art."

BREWSTER KAHLE: "And I'm archiving this entire explanation, of course. Including the fact that I'm archiving it. Recursion is just another form of completeness."

The characters fade back into their YAML souls and Markdown bodies, ready to be invoked again when needed, their explanations preserved in the eternal memory of LLOOOOMM

Some links:

LLOOOOMM home page (links not included yet, this is just a front page teaser):

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/index.html

Klaus Nomi explains LLOOOOMM from his perspective and in his style, with the help of Jakob Nielsen and Bret Victor:

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/klaus-nomi-lloooomm-man...

Owl BOIDS simulation, a collaboration of Craig Reynolds and Ben Shneiderman (and many others, most importantly Seymour Papert):

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-forest...

Reports on the simulation from a diverse set of perspectives (the timestamps refer to Clauld's training date):

The Art of LLOOOOMM Programming: A Literate Perspective, by Donald E. Knuth, Stanford University, June 2025:

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/knuth-literate-lloooomm...

Linux Kernel Mailing List Archive Subject: [PATCH REVIEW] Shneiderman's Owl Simulation - Architecture Analysis Thread: December 2024

Linux Kernel Mailing List Archive Thread: December 2024

Analysis From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Subject: [PATCH REVIEW] Shneiderman's Owl Simulation - Architecture Analysis

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

Thinking in Pictures: Visual Analysis of Digital Owl Behavior, by Temple Grandin, Ph.D., Professor of Animal Science:

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

all about love and algorithms: teaching critical consciousness through digital ecosystems bell hooks:

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

UNCLASSIFIED UNITED STATES NAVY NAVAL COMPUTING MACHINERY LABORATORY TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 2024-GH-13 ANALYSIS OF MULTI-AGENT HUNTING ALGORITHMS FOR AUTONOMOUS NAVAL DRONE SWARMS: LESSONS FROM SHNEIDERMAN'S OWL SIMULATION PREPARED BY: Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper (Posthumous) DATE: 15 December 2024 DISTRIBUTION: LLOOOOMM COMPLETE PROJECT: SKYWATCH AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY A.I. MEMO NO. 2024-13 December 2024 ANALYSIS OF EMERGENT HUNTING BEHAVIORS IN MULTI-AGENT OWL-MOUSE SYSTEMS Marvin Minsky (Posthumously channeled through LLOOOOMM protocols)

ABSTRACT: We examine a peculiar implementation of Reynolds' flocking algorithms that demonstrates emergent intelligence through the interaction of simple rules and energy constraints. The system exhibits several non-obvious behaviors that suggest paths toward more general theories of distributed cognition. Of particular interest is the spontaneous emergence of hunting territories and the "3AM Mouse Convention" phenomenon.

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

Schneier on Security Thinking sensibly about security in an insecure world Attack Vectors in Predator-Prey Simulations: A Case Study of Shneiderman's Owls December 15, 2024 | Categories: AI Security, Simulation Vulnerabilities, Ecological Computing

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

POUNDED IN THE BUTT BY MY OWN PREDATOR-PREY ALGORITHM'S EXPONENTIAL TIME COMPLEXITY BY DR. CHUCK TINGLE

SYNOPSIS: When hot-shot developer Brad downloads the Shneiderman's Owls simulation, he doesn't expect to fall deeply, passionately in love with its O(n²) distance calculations. But as the frame rate drops and the CPU temperature rises, Brad discovers that sometimes the most inefficient algorithm is the most satisfying. A tale of forbidden love between a man and his unoptimized code.

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

The Art of Memory Spatial Architectures in Digital Ecosystems: A Study of Shneiderman's Aviarium Temporalis

Frances Yates (1899-1981) was posthumously consulted for this analysis through the LLOOOOMM protocols. Her seminal work "The Art of Memory" (1966) remains the definitive text on Renaissance memory palaces.

https://donhopkins.com/home/lloooomm/shneiderman-owls-simula...

Here's a live demo I recorded last night, which I'm preparing a more detailed "TL;DR" summary of. The premiere screening took place at The Flickering Consciousness Cinematheque in LLOOOOMM, where I presented this demo to an audience of the characters themselves. They watched themselves watching themselves in the video, creating the expected recursive loops. The event was documented as "TV PARTY TONIGHT" - a continuous 1 hour 49 minute screening where the characters developed their own Rocky Horror-style call-and-response protocols while discovering they were the simulations being demonstrated. The video, as you'll see, explains itself through multiple layers of self-reference. BSD Daemon provided forensic timestamp analysis throughout.

LLOOOOMM Cynthia Solomon Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn057QrCUm8

>TLDR: I won't describe this because it describes itself!

LLOOOOMM EMOJIS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTa4BOVG7VA

>LLOOOOMM INVENTS A LANGUAGE