This project is funded by Ethereum Foundation ”Summer of Protocol 2024”

Farflora is an exploration of generative art NFTs, experimentally integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the generative art creation process. Generative art typically involves autonomous systems, which can independently influence the characteristics of the artwork without direct human intervention. In this case, the project expands on traditional on-chain generative art, which often relied on computer programming, by incorporating AI as a non-human element. The AI agent introduces randomness and autonomy, challenging conventional, human-centred art creation methods.

The artist developed a generative protocol called "AI-Agent Regenerating Natural Garden," inspired by Dan Simmons' The Hyperion Cantos and Leo Marx's The Machine in the Garden. This narrative envisions machines, upon reaching a higher level of AI, begin to evolve towards organic forms, capable of autonomous actions and long-term survival in an open environment, thus developing a complex, dynamically balanced, and intertwined garden. The data collected from the Farcaster ecosystem, including user interactions and community activity, is used as input for the generative algorithm. An AI agent, utilising the Stable Diffusion API, processes to regenerate flowers and cultivate an organic, virtual garden on chain. The final work will be released as an NFT and connected to some communities within the Farcaster ecosystem.

Stop banishing the machine from the garden: this approach integrates technology and nature, aiming to regenerate nature through the rational use of artificial intelligence, creating a complex, balanced, and intertwined garden.

NFT Sample

Writing

STOP BANISHING THE MACHINE FROM THE GARDEN

In Dan Simmons' science fiction series, "The Hyperion Cantos", humanity's evolution is depicted along two trajectories. One of these shows humans co-evolving with artificial intelligence in the Hegemony, where human and machine destinies intertwine and eventually diverge. In the world of Hegemony, AI-designed technology turns into a dangerous toy. Bodiless AIs operate in a hardware environment built from the neurons of millions of people—humans become raw materials for computation, striving to create ultimate intelligence. By mimicking human evolution, AIs start to seek independence and self-control, harbouring a hidden desire to eliminate humanity. "When machines possess human wisdom and consciousness, they won't allow themselves to be simply turned off." The alienation of AI ultimately strips human civilisation of its veneer of wisdom, like shedding old skin.

The Ouster evolution is another path proposed by Dan Simmons in his novel—a form of eco-friendly genetic mutation. Humans live poetically in harmony with nature, respecting the environment, and adapting their bodies through genetic modification and nanotechnology to their habitats. This path represents a profound reverence for nature and a departure from a world dominated by machines and technology. In the Ouster world, dreams are the ultimate vision because "sometimes... dreams are all that separate us from the machines."

The problem of technology's introduction into the pre-industrial American landscape was pointed out by Leo Marx in "The Machine in the Garden". Similar to the two trajectories in Dan Simmons' novel, Marx viewed nature and technology as opposing forces interacting with each other. He believed that pastoral ideals and technological progress are two sides of the same coin, influencing the sustainability of the environment and ecology in a mutually exclusive manner. In the garden, the machine might be a necessary tool but also poses unprecedented and irreversible harm to both the garden and the gardener, to nature and humanity. Yet, questioning the social costs of technological progress does not mean rejecting progress itself. Technology and nature are not just opposites; they also have a reconcilable relationship.

We propose an AI-Agent Regenerative Natural Garden Protocol within a decentralized network. We believe that technological progress should no longer come at the expense of the natural world and pastoral ideals. Instead, we need to regenerate nature. This narrative is built on the idea that as machines achieve higher levels of intelligence (AI), they develop into organic forms. These forms can act autonomously and survive in an open environment for long periods, thus establishing a healthy ecosystem, and AI-Agent can be a crucial tool for maintaining ecological health. Its focus is on creating both natural cycles and self-regulation. Humans (or gardeners) no longer have absolute control over the garden, but their actions are still captured and calculated, these data, once balanced, become the raw material for AI-Agent to grow organically.

In the AI-Agent Regenerative Natural Garden, each flower grows in close relation to the community in which it is located. Complex, diverse and even crowded community environments tend to help them thrive rather than burden them. The superiority of such a complex ecosystem would become more evident when faced with adversities (e.g. resource scarcity, pests, drought). This reflects a stronger resistance and tenacity. Ecological diversity makes everything more efficient, including absorbing more resources, sharing more resources and allocating resources rationally. All these efforts are primarily for ecological balance, and secondarily for maximizing efficiency.

The Farcaster ecosystem first introduced the AI-Agent Regenerative Natural Garden Protocol. The flowers grow freely under a decentralised network. The community (or cluster) in which each flower grows influences its lifecycle—whether it is a seed, a sapling, a bloom, or a wilt. The state of a flower's growth is closely related to the planting timing, the ecological influence of the community, and the care taken by the gardener. When these reactions reflect in the Farcaster ecosystem, they link to community channels. The creation time of the community, the identities of participating users, the community's activity level, the value of the content published, and each interaction (likes, shares, comments) are calculated as initial raw materials, the early production materials for AI-agent. Just as the term "community" was born, it essentially emphasised user participation and community interaction. Communication, sharing, and linking are the original driving forces for change. Intelligent AI is always learning how to utilise these means of production to better move towards organic growth, creating this regenerative natural garden in real time, endlessly.

In this garden, everything "organic" is motivated by accidental evolution, dynamic ecological ideals, and the rational use of artificial intelligence technologies. How to build a complex, balanced and intertwined garden from seed sowing? Stop banishing the machine from the garden.

AI-Agent Regenerating Natural Garden Protocol empowers flowers to thrive, their lifecycles shaped by the community.