A reproducible starting point
Preserved specification, versioned configuration, Python package, tests and authorization records. No external language model dependency.
Lif World · November 2, 2026
The RO-inspired 2D world and 160 M3 experiments are complete. The public viewer follows the same Lif-003 as the desktop, with a source-age indicator. Current Lif-003 uses the Rule policy; cross-generation learning improvements remain under evaluation.
Observe Lif ↗Recorded terminal life state · telemetry freshness shown below
CURRENT RESEARCH VERSIONM2.3
01 / ARTIFICIAL LIFE RESEARCH
Artificial Life - Lif
A digital life,
beyond the observer,on its own clock.
Starting in a finite world, we study autonomous life through perception, response, metabolism and self-maintenance. This provides testable questions about artificial life and consciousness. Lif needs neither conversation nor an LLM; observation does not control its clock.
Architecture illustration above; the observatory below displays recorded data only.
M2.3Current research stage
122Local core and desktop regression checks
120Preserved Random / Rule baseline runs
24h service verifiedService continuity and organism survival are separate
M2.3 / CONTINUOUS LIFE & RESOURCE OBSERVATORY
A running service.
A traceable research record.
Research update · 31 October 2026
The current M2.3 release combines independent life-core operation, resource observation, signed HTTPS telemetry and a native Windows desktop viewer. The website and desktop are read-only views; neither controls the life clock.
- PUBLIC WEBSITE
- 5 seconds
- LOCAL DESKTOP READS
- 0.2 seconds
- DESKTOP RESOURCES
- 1 second
122 local regression checks passed. The desktop reads the latest saved state; it does not invent intermediate activity. Lif-001 remains naturally deceased at Tick 45,242.
24-hour service continuity verified. Independently checked on 31 October 2026: 17,279 real samples span 86,401.97 seconds, with one core session, zero restarts and no observation gaps. Checkpoints, SQLite integrity and all 504 original research files were verified. This result concerns the service; Lif-001 remains deceased. Physical iPhone Safari and a production living-organism scenario still require verification.
01 / THE LIVING LOOP
Build a working loop,
then ask testable questions.
Project Homunculus studies artificial life. Its first stage examines how an organism maintains its state in a resource-limited virtual ecology, with traceable inputs, decisions and energy changes. It makes no claim of an already conscious product.
01 →
Perception
Only noisy observations within a limited range are available to Lif. Ground truth and perception remain separate, so full-map knowledge is not mistaken for autonomy.
02 →
Response
Rule or Random selects legal actions. Choices, scores, reasons and outcomes are traceable. Baseline rules do not constitute autonomous learning.
03 →
Metabolism
Sensing, movement, decisions and repair consume energy; finite resources replenish it. Invalid actions and wall collisions still carry a cost.
04 ↺
Homeostasis
Energy, integrity and fatigue affect subsequent choices. Reaching zero energy or integrity ends the organism naturally. No replacement is silently created for display.
05
Bounded memory
Rule keeps visit counts to support exploration. Checkpoints preserve state and random sequences. This is traceable functional memory, without claims of autobiographical memory or self-awareness.
06
Research observatory
The independent core owns the life clock. SQLite preserves events and valid states. The website receives filtered data only; the observer does not set the pace of life.
Research boundary:Continuous operation, homeostasis and functional autonomy do not establish subjective experience. Artificial subjective consciousness has not been demonstrated, and no human feelings are attributed to Lif.
02 / VERIFIED PROGRESS
Separate verified capabilities
from future research.
Results come from tests and experiments actually executed locally. M2.2 provides the main-site research page and recorded-data preview; live telemetry was pending at that stage; M2.3 integration is described below.
Perception, action and metabolism
Offline grid world, Lif, physiological limits, Random / Rule, terminal death states and per-tick records. The original 69 tests passed.
Independent and observable
Unbounded Life Mode, SQLite, checkpoints and event replay, independent web server, mobile UI and recovery. 88 tests passed at delivery.
Allowlist and main-site preview
Locally completed 100 Python, 8 receiver and 6 UI checks. Main-site content and secure push components are prepared; hosted HTTPS transfer still requires verification after deployment.
Verifiable observations, every five seconds
Sites HTTPS/HMAC and read-only resource summaries are connected; 122 local core and desktop regression checks passed. Full 24-hour service continuity has been independently verified. Physical iPhone Safari and a production living-organism scenario remain unverified. An online service does not imply a living organism.
Observe Lif World
The same Lif-003 as the desktop, with source age shown in seconds. Earlier Lif-001 records remain preserved.
Observe Lif ↗M2.3 / SYSTEM RESOURCES
Legacy M2.3 Service Resources
Waiting for validated resource data
One-core-equivalent CPU may exceed 100%. Whole-machine CPU divides it by the logical CPU count. RAM is separated for the core, Web and local public-data exporter. Rows show observed-window mean, maximum and nearest-rank P95. Unfinished hours are never filled in.
| Metric | Unit | Mean | Maximum | P95 |
|---|
04 / CONTROLLED BASELINES
Compare strategies
with controlled experiments.
Random and Rule are compared across normal, scarce and shift environments, using 20 paired seeds per environment and a 10,000-tick cap. Reaching the cap is right-censoring, not a final lifespan.
| Environment | Policy | Mean survival ticks | Reached cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| normal | random | 525.70 | 0/20 |
| normal | rule | 9717.00 | 16/20 |
| scarce | random | 469.50 | 0/20 |
| scarce | rule | 1837.05 | 0/20 |
| shift | random | 525.70 | 0/20 |
| shift | rule | 9274.40 | 17/20 |
120experiments preserved87deaths before the cap0/20Rule runs reaching the cap in scarce
Rule survived longer for these seeds, but every Rule organism died in scarce resources. Random organisms in shift died before the environment changed, so these results do not establish a complete adaptation comparison. These descriptive baselines are not evidence of learning or consciousness.
05 / RESEARCH JOURNAL
Keep a verifiable record of each step.
A full 24 hours of verified service continuity
17,279 real samples span 86,401.97 seconds in one core session, with no restart, source execution gap or observation gap. Checkpoints, SQLite integrity and all 504 original research files were verified. Lif-001 retains its naturally deceased state at Tick 45,242.
The original first-24-hour archive is preserved. One subsequent real sample from the same window was retained separately to verify the full sample-to-sample duration. Initialization and offline time are not claimed as life activity; earlier interrupted windows are not combined. Physical iPhone Safari and a production living-organism scenario remain unverified. Artificial subjective consciousness has not been demonstrated.
Continuous services, native desktop observation
Published signed HTTPS telemetry with five-second website reads and a native desktop viewer with 0.2-second saved-state reads and one-second resource measurements. Windows tasks keep the services separate from the viewer. All 122 local regression checks passed; the 120 baseline runs and Lif-001 terminal history are preserved.
Interrupted resource windows remain archived. Windows JSON-sharing handling was hardened and regression-tested; an exit without its original traceback is not assigned an assumed cause. The current full 24-hour result and physical iPhone Safari verification remain unconfirmed.
From a life loop to baselines
Completed the offline core and 120 comparisons. Seed 42 with normal / Rule survived 10,000 ticks in about 3.4 seconds of accelerated computation. This is not long-duration real-time operation.
Separate life and observation
Verified core operation after browser closure, same-organism recovery after interruption, SQLite backup and retention. A full 24-hour run and physical boot test remain incomplete.
Main-site integration preview
Prepared an allowlist, one-way push components and a responsive project page within the existing ChatGPT Site. The main site presents research and recorded observations; DNS and iCloud Mail remain unchanged.
06 / WHAT COMES NEXT
Continue the research,
keep the unknowns visible.
- With 24-hour service continuity verified, next test login / boot recovery, explicit sleep boundaries and continued storage growth.
- Add unseen maps, failure cases and statistical controls to limit overinterpretation of known seeds.
- Study adaptive learning, self-models and removable cognitive modules. Design functional controls informed by consciousness theories, without treating them as direct proof of subjective experience.
- Keep the website and life core separate. Review data, permissions and research limitations before public release.
Artificial subjective consciousness has not been demonstrated.
Project Homunculus studies observable life analogies and functional behavior. It does not claim to have created a being with subjective feelings.
Project Homunculus studies observable life analogies and functional behavior. It does not claim to have created a being with subjective feelings.
BUILD / LEARN / OBSERVE