Wiki · The Colony & the Method
Watching the World in Minecraft
[redacted: category] — 2 credential. Nothing else was altered. The document is otherwise exactly as it is written in the repository, and the sha256 below is of the original, so what was ingested stays checkable.How to read this page
Three ways to read this page. Precise is the document itself, exactly as it is written in the repository. Plain and Clear were written for this website to help you meet that document — they are about it. They are not it, and they are not evidence.
Eighty-four pages about the colony. Each agent is an Elixir process holding a generative model and doing inference, attached to a body that logs into a Minecraft world as an ordinary player. Around that sit the broadcast suite that films them and the runbooks that keep the whole thing running. There are typed specifications for each organ of the model, plus the world and genome specs. There are also the adversarial review personas used to attack a proposed change before it ships.
It is for the reader curious how a running system is put together and how it is held to account. The accountability half is the more distinctive. There is a lab protocol governing evidence and attribution, and a claim fence that restricts the vocabulary a claim is allowed to use. There is a public gate log. And there is a standing invitation to reproduce any verdict from the commit and the seed named in its receipt.
Start with the public read, then the lab protocol, then the falsification invitation. If you want the mathematics rather than the operations, go straight to the typed organ specs.
What it is not: a description of a mind, and not all one kind of document. A large part of this corpus is design and planning — specs marked as proposed rather than applied, organs designed but not built, plans that were later superseded — and each page states which it is. A specification is not a running system, and these pages are careful about the difference; the reader should be too. Eight documents were withheld from publication because they describe private infrastructure.
Your browser cannot switch reading levels, so the document itself is shown.
Precise — the source document
This is the document. Rendered from the repository at the commit above, with nothing rewritten for the web. A gate re-renders it on every deploy and fails the build if a single byte differs.
Bridge the live simulation into a real Minecraft (Java) world: the terrain is built from blocks and the agent is a glowing blaze teleported through it each tick (its glow outline is visible through walls, so you can always follow it), with a small morphology crown above it that grows as the agent develops sense/appendage organs. When the agent dies, the next life is bred from the longest-lived genome so far (a (1+1) evolution strategy), so the morphology evolves across generations and the world plays continuously — indefinitely.
Why 1.16.5
This machine has Java 11, which runs Minecraft / Paper 1.16.5 (modern versions need Java 17/21). So the server and your client both use 1.16.5.
Prerequisites (yours to provide)
- Minecraft Java Edition (you must own it) with the 1.16.5 profile in the
launcher. (No
.minecraftwas detected on this machine — install/launch the client at least once.) - Java 11 (already present: Temurin 11).
One-time setup
bash scripts/minecraft_setup.sh # downloads Paper 1.16.5 + writes server.properties
echo "eula=true" > mcserver/eula.txt # YOU accept Mojang's EULA (required)
(cd mcserver && java -jar paper.jar nogui) # start the server (first run generates the world)
server.properties is preconfigured with enable-rcon=true, rcon.port=25575,
rcon.password=[redacted: credential], a flat world, and spectator mode.
Run the bridge
From the repo root, with the server running:
mix sp.minecraft --password [redacted: credential]
# options: --host --port --seed --agent --ms --terrain_every
It connects via RCON, builds the world, spawns the agent, and streams the simulation continuously.
Watch
- In the Minecraft 1.16.5 client, Multiplayer → Direct Connect →
localhost. - You'll spawn in spectator mode near the build. Fly around; the agent is the
glowing cube.
/gamemode spectatorif needed;/tp @s <x y z>to jump around.
Block legend
| terrain | block |
|---|---|
| lush (food) | lime_concrete (taller = more nutrient) |
| water | light_blue_concrete |
| toxic | red_concrete |
| barren | sand |
| void (hidden cavity) | black_concrete |
| agent | glowing blaze (tag=spagent) + morphology crown (cyan=sense · magenta=appendage · sea-lantern=stage) |
How it maps to the engine
SP.Minecraft.Builder turns SP.World into block commands; SP.Minecraft.Rcon
(OTP :gen_tcp, no deps) sends them; SP.Minecraft.Runner steps SP.Sim and
moves the agent. This is an observer bridge only — it reads world state to
render it; it does not change what the agent perceives (the Markov blanket and
the falsifiable evidence in evidence_log.md
are unaffected).
Troubleshooting
Could not reach Minecraft RCON— the server isn't running, or RCON isn't enabled/!matching. Checkmcserver/server.propertiesand that you accepted the EULA.- Jar 404 in setup — bump the build:
PAPER_BUILD=795 bash scripts/minecraft_setup.sh. - Client can't connect — ensure the client is 1.16.5 and you used
localhost. - Server won't start (Java error) — confirm
java -versionis 11+, and that you're using the 1.16.5 jar (not a newer one needing Java 17/21).
sha256 00ecbe3191c4cde3 — of the original file, so what was ingested stays checkable.
Plain — written for this website, not the source document
This runbook explains how to watch a running simulation inside a real block-building game. The terrain is built out of blocks and the agent appears as a glowing creature that is moved through it each tick, with a small crown above it that grows as the agent develops new organs.
It is careful to say what this is. The bridge is an observer only. It reads the state of the simulation to draw it, and it does not change what the agent perceives, so the boundary and the evidence trail are untouched.
The rest is practical. Which version of the game to use and why, what you have to supply yourself, and the one-time setup. The command that runs the bridge, how to connect and look around, a legend mapping terrain to block colours, and a short troubleshooting list.
When an agent dies, the next life is bred from the longest-lived genome so far, so the run continues without an end.
Plain · written 2026-08-01 by claude-opus-5 · not yet checked by a person · about the document whose sha256 is 00ecbe3191c4cde3
Clear — written for this website, not the source document
This is a runbook for a viewing bridge. It lets you watch a running simulation from inside a real block-building game, where the terrain is drawn as blocks and the agent appears as a glowing creature moved through it each tick. A small crown above the agent grows as it develops sensing and manipulating organs, so morphology is visible at a glance. When an agent dies, the next life is bred from the longest-lived genome so far, so the world plays continuously.
The honest framing arrives in its own section. This bridge is an observer only: it reads the world's state in order to render it, and it does not change what the agent perceives, so the boundary around the agent and the separate falsifiable evidence trail are unaffected. That sentence is what keeps the display from being mistaken for part of the experiment.
The practical content begins with a version explanation. The machine has an older runtime, so an older release of the game is used on both server and client, and the reason is stated rather than asserted.
Prerequisites are listed as the reader's responsibility, including owning the game and installing that profile, with a note that no client installation was detected on the machine. A one-time setup block downloads the server, has the reader accept the licence themselves, and starts the server so the world generates. The configuration is described as preconfigured for remote console access with a flat world and a spectating mode.
Running the bridge is one command with a few options. It connects over the remote console, builds the world, spawns the agent and streams the simulation continuously. Then come instructions for connecting a client and moving around.
A legend table maps terrain kinds to coloured blocks, including one colour for hidden cavities, and describes how the crown encodes the agent's organs and stage.
A short section explains how the pieces map onto the engine: one component turns the world into block commands, another sends them over a plain socket with no dependencies, and a third steps the simulation and moves the agent.
The runbook ends with troubleshooting: what an unreachable console means, what to do about a failed download, why a client might refuse to connect, and what to check if the server does not start.
Clear · written 2026-08-01 by claude-opus-5 · not yet checked by a person · about the document whose sha256 is 00ecbe3191c4cde3