Human societies, economic markets, and digital systems face a fundamental coordination prob- lem: how self-interested agents cooperate in the allocation and use of scarce resources. Across these domains, contention necessitates identity systems that inform coordination mechanisms and govern resource allocation. However, existing literature typically treats identity establishment and coordination as separate problems. Institutional economics often assumes resource identity as an exogenous feature of the environment, while distributed consensus algorithms focus on coordina- tion under the assumption that resource identity is already known and agreed upon. This separation limits our understanding of how identity architectures shape the cost, efficiency, and stability of cooperation. 1 Using game-theoretic modeling and agent-based simulations, this study employs an isomorphic framework linking distributed systems and social institutions to analyze resource contention and coordination. We deploy a Cryptographic Content-Addressed Version-Aware Distributed Mutual Exclusion architecture, supported by an open-source implementation, to model resource identity allocation among concurrent processes. Simulations involving up to 10,000 agents are executed on the developed computational platform to evaluate how decentralized resource identity formation influences coordination costs. By tracking these interactions, the model measures how the structural method used to establish resource identity affects the cost, efficiency, and stability of cooperation among anonymous self-interested agents. The simulations indicate that cryptographically derived resource identities can achieve Nash- Implementable incentive compatibility, enabling cooperative outcomes without requiring a coor- dinating authority beyond a ledger that functions as a passive institutional record whose state may be modified only through resource-specific operations. These computational findings demonstrate a broader coordination paradigm in which identity emerges endogenously from the originating environment or substrate in which the resource is created. When treated as an active institutional design choice, such identity architectures may reduce reliance on external consensus among intelli- gent agents by shifting coordination toward resource-centered state recognition maintained through a non-strategic ledger. This framework endows scarce resources in contention with intelligence through the electronic capability of endogenous, unique self-identification and ledger registration, enabling autonomous self-allocation to contending network agents—a mechanism that can transfer likely directly onto applications within the social sciences where allocation is consensus decided through an intelligent third party agent between independent contending agents. In attempt to provide resource itself the self-identification capability and participation in distribution to agents queueing for allocation, we see we are able to overcome computational cost in macro-structures. More generally, the results suggest that endogenous resource identity provides a framework for optimizing collective action and resolving contention across both digital platforms and broader social institutions. Keywords: resource identity, institutional coordination, cryptographic hashing, consensus protocols, game theory, agent-based modeling, mechanism design, distributed mutual exclusion, computational social science. 1 This paper is an independent writing sample submitted for graduate admission to the University of Chicago MACSS programme. It investigates the intersection of institutional economics, collective action theory, and distributed systems architecture. However, this research is not done for University of Chicago. The paper was not written specifically for this application; it reflects an independent research project undertaken in preparation for graduate study in computational social science. Research on isomorphic modelling for distibuted locking in computer networks: Cryptographic Content-Addressed Version-Aware Distributed Mutual Exclusion and corresponding codebase are available via GitHub (https://github.com/bpriyal/distcodelock/blob/main/README.md) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/ records/19634046).
Gossipsub is the primary peer-to-peer dissemination protocol used by large-scale Web3 systems such as Ethereum, Filecoin, and IPFS. Despite its widespread deployment, the choice of its key parameters—the eager mesh degree D (number of peers that receive messages eagerly) and the gossip degree Dlazy (number of peers periodically notified via gossip)—has largely relied on heuristics, with little quantitative guidance. Consequently, production networks lack a principled understanding of the delivery rate, bandwidth cost, and latency tradeoffs induced by these parameters.
Abstract Four independent fields—physics, biology, economics, and cultural evolution—have converged on the same mathematical machinery for describing persistence-conditioned dynamics. The convergence is not metaphorical but literal: the same fitness landscapes, selection operators, and transmission kernels appear independently. We synthesize these into the Replicator-Optimization Mechanism (ROM): a unified apparatus instantiable at any scale. Key Contributions Cross-field synthesis: Physics, biology, economics, and cultural evolution share identical formal structure Political application: ROM instantiated with friction from stake-voice mismatch as primitive, legitimacy as survival probability Machine-checked proofs: Core algebraic results verified in Lean 4 with Mathlib (28 theorems, zero sorry placeholders) Key results: Simplex preservation, survival monotonicity, moving equilibrium existence, impossibility of static equilibrium under varying friction Links arXiv: arXiv:2601.06363 Lean 4 proofs: github.com/studiofarzulla/lean-formalizations ASCRI: systems.ac/4/DAI-2503 Research Lab: Dissensus AI v3.0.0 (2026-07-11): Matches arXiv v3 (69pp). Keystone-legitimacy example corrected; a coarse-graining citation that could not be verified was removed from the bibliography; the Δ→σ step is now disclosed as an explicit worst-case identification; total-variation legitimacy remark added, aligning the measurement form with the level-form dynamics used in companion papers; Lean 4 formalization tree included in the arXiv source.
The Absolute Smart Contract (ASC) presents a universal conceptual framework that unifies the spiritual, natural, and scientific dimensions of existence under one governing intelligence. It views reality — from atomic order to human morality — as operating within intrinsic laws of balance, reciprocity, and consequence. Whether expressed as divine will, natural order, or logical computation, each represents the same intelligent structure sustaining creation. The ASC is not a religion or ideology; it is a neutral interpretive model that reconciles seemingly divided worldviews through recognition of one absolute principle — the self-enforcing intelligence of existence itself. ASC further proposes a comparative framework through which religious, ideological, philosophical, and secular systems may be examined according to their stated principles, methods, and observable outcomes. In this sense, ASC functions less as a doctrine and more as an observational tool intended to promote awareness, reflection, and informed judgment.
Linear contracts are ubiquitous in practice, yet optimal contract theory often prescribes complex, nonlinear structures. We provide a distributional robustness justification for linear contracts. We study a principal-agent problem where the agent exerts costly effort across multiple tasks, generating a stochastic signal upon which the principal conditions payment. The principal faces distributional ambiguity: she knows the expected signal for each effort level, but not the full distribution. She seeks a contract maximizing her worst-case payoff over all distributions consistent with this partial knowledge. Our main result shows that linear contracts are optimal for such a principal. For any contract, there exists a linear contract achieving weakly higher worst-case payoff. The proof introduces the concavification approach built around the notion of self-inducing actions; these are actions where an affine contract simultaneously induces the action as optimal and supports the concave envelope of payments from above. We show that self-inducing actions always exist as maximizers of the gap between the concave envelope and agent's cost function. We extend these results to multi-party settings. In common agency with multiple principals, we show that affine contracts improve all principals' worst-case payoffs. In team production with multiple agents, we establish a complementary necessity result: if any agent's contract is non-affine, the unique ex-post robust equilibrium is zero effort. Finally, we show that homogeneous utility and cost functions yield tractable characterizations, enabling closed-form approximation ratios and a sharp boundary between computational tractability results.
Multi-agent systems face a fundamental coordination problem: agents must coordinate despite heterogeneous preferences, asymmetric stakes, and imperfect information. When coordination fails, friction emerges—measurable resistance manifesting as deadlock, thrashing, communication overhead, or outright conflict. This paper derives a formal framework for analyzing coordination friction from a single axiom: actions affecting agents require authorization from those agents in proportion to stakes. From this axiom of consent, we establish the kernel triple (alpha, sigma, epsilon)—alignment, stake, and entropy—as candidate sufficient statistics for any resource-allocation configuration. We propose a friction functional whose comparative statics encode three structural predictions: friction increases in stakes, increases in entropy, and decreases in alignment. The Replicator-Optimization Mechanism governs evolutionary selection over coordination strategies: configurations generating less friction persist longer, establishing consent-respecting arrangements as dynamical attractors rather than normative ideals. We develop formal definitions for resource consent, coordination legitimacy, and friction-aware allocation, plus machine-checked Lean 4 proofs of the core comparative-statics. Illustrative applications to cryptocurrency governance and political legitimacy show the same architecture spanning domains. v3.0.0 (2026-07-11): Matches arXiv v3 (94pp). The MARL empirical appendix has been split out into a standalone companion paper; total-variation legitimacy remark added (proved), reconciling the level-form dynamics with the total-variation measurement form; α-domain fixes; hedging pass throughout.
Abstract Four independent fields—physics, biology, economics, and cultural evolution—have converged on the same mathematical machinery for describing persistence-conditioned dynamics. The convergence is not metaphorical but literal: the same fitness landscapes, selection operators, and transmission kernels appear independently. We synthesize these into the Replicator-Optimization Mechanism (ROM): a unified apparatus instantiable at any scale. Key Contributions Cross-field synthesis: Physics, biology, economics, and cultural evolution share identical formal structure Political application: ROM instantiated with friction from stake-voice mismatch as primitive, legitimacy as survival probability Machine-checked proofs: Core algebraic results verified in Lean 4 with Mathlib (28 theorems, zero sorry placeholders) Key results: Simplex preservation, survival monotonicity, moving equilibrium existence, impossibility of static equilibrium under varying friction Links arXiv: arXiv:2601.06363 Lean 4 proofs: github.com/studiofarzulla/lean-formalizations ASCRI: systems.ac/4/DAI-2503 Research Lab: Dissensus AI
Consider a social-choice function (SCF) is chosen to decide votes in a formal system, including votes to replace the voting method itself. Agents vote according to their ex-ante belief over what decisions are considered, and whether they prefer them to be decided by the incumbent SCF or the suggested replacement. The existing SCF then aggregates the agents' votes and arrives at a decision of whether it should itself be replaced. An SCF is self-maintaining if it can not be replaced in such fashion by any other SCF. Our focus is on the implications of self-maintenance for centralization. For this purpose, unlike [Barbera and Jackson, 2004], we do not generally restrict attention to anonymous SCFs. We also do not restrict attention to neutral SCFs, unlike [Koray, 2000]. We present results considering optimistic, pessimistic and i.i.d. approaches with respect to agent beliefs, different tie-breaking rules, and different SCF domains. To highlight two of the results, (i) for the i.i.d. unbiased case with arbitrary tie-breaking and general Boolean functions, we prove an Arrow-Style Theorem for Dynamics: We show that only a dictatorship is self-maintaining, and any other SCF has a path of changes that arrives at a dictatorship. (ii) With a pessimistic approach, tie-breaking that prefers the status quo, and WMGs, we provide a tight characterization of the self-maintaining rules, which are exactly all games with minimal winning coalitions of size at most 2. We then consider two extensions, (i) forward-looking voters, (ii) Where the voter utility depends on wisdom of the crowd effects. In both cases, less centralized SCFs become self-maintaining. All in all we provide a basic framework and body of results for centralization dynamics and stability, applicable for institution design, especially in formal De-Jure systems, such as Blockchain Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).
This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.Web3 ecosystems represent an emergent field of digital religion where decentralized infrastructures—spanning smart contracts, token economies, and symbolic interfaces—actively generate novel forms of ritual life. These rituals, deeply embedded in algorithmic processes and economic incentives, cultivate collective identities, symbolic hierarchies, and affective economies marked by hope and betrayal. To interpret these dynamics, this article proposes Distributed Rituals Analysis (DRA), a comprehensive framework synthesizing Lived Religion, Ritualization Theory, and Actor-Network Theory. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic engagement across diverse Web3 communities —including NFTs, DAOs, and staking protocols—I illustrate how decentralized practices become ritualized through temporal orchestration, symbolic differentiation, and distributed agency. Reflexive participation further reveals the researcher’s complex positionality as both observer and participant. DRA offers conceptual and methodological clarity for exploring emergent rituals in decentralized environments, illuminating how digital infrastructures reconfigure sacredness and collective meaning-making. This framework also lays the groundwork for future comparative inquiries into ritual forms across decentralized and hybrid spaces.
This paper examines the dynamics of trust and bot-driven responses within the meme coin ecosystem on the Solana blockchain, with a particular emphasis on the interplay between social media-induced sentiment and on-chain transaction behaviors.Meme coins, which originate from internet culture and are heavily influenced by community sentiment, represent a volatile and distinct category of cryptocurrencies.Employing sentiment propagation networks, on-chain transaction data, and sentiment-transaction integrated models, we quantitatively analyze the relationship between emotional fluctuations and market behaviors.By contrasting Rug Pull scams with sustainable projects, we identify critical differences in the role of sentiment across different phases of project development.Our findings reveal three distinct sentiment-driven user trading behaviors: sentiment followers, makers, and stabilizers.The results indicate that, while sentiment is a primary driver of early-stage trading within Rug Pull projects, its influence diminishes as community distrust intensifies, resulting in more opportunistic and reactive trading patterns.This study contributes to the understanding of the co-evolution of memes, sentiment, and market dynamics, offering new insights into the complexities of decentralized finance ecosystems, with a specific focus on Solana-based meme coin markets.
Tokenomics, the study and design of economic systems within blockchain-based platforms, is crucial for the success and sustainability of decentralized ecosystems. The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has highlighted the importance of robust tokenomic frameworks that ensure fairness, inclusivity, and stability in digital platforms. This research explores the challenges faced by blockchain networks in their incentive structures, particularly addressing the adverse effects of disproportionately rewarding large token holders. To address these issues, the research critically examines existing tokenomics models employed by prominent blockchain platforms and their respective impacts on ecosystem health. It highlights how poorly designed incentive mechanisms can exacerbate wealth inequality, stifle competition, and discourage broader participation. Platforms that employ reward systems based primarily on token holdings tend to benefit large holders disproportionately, which risks centralization and creates a breeding ground for speculative practices that undermine market stability. To address these issues, the article proposes a new framework for equitable tokenomics, focused on inclusivity, fairness, and sustainability. Key components of this framework include proportional rewards, governance rights, long-term token holding mechanisms, dynamic adjustment systems, and programs that encourage smaller holders or new participants. The proposed framework aims to foster a more equitable environment that values participation and contribution over mere financial dominance, ensuring the system remains decentralized and offers opportunities for all stakeholders to engage meaningfully. In conclusion, this research underscores the need for more equitable tokenomics models that can drive sustainable growth and maintain trust within decentralized platforms. By addressing flaws in existing systems and proposing a framework that aligns rewards, governance, and participation, the authors aim to contribute to the creation of more inclusive, stable, and resilient decentralized ecosystems.
Xi Zhao, Li Jian, Xiang Wan, Xinyu Zang · 5 authors
Abstract We examine the impact of vampire attack, a unique platform entry strategy in the blockchain ecosystem, on the operational performance of the incumbent platform. During the vampire attack period, the entrant (attacker) clones the incumbent platform and offers tokenized incentives to entice users away from the incumbent. Prior studies offer little insight into the impact of vampire attack strategy because of its uniqueness in platform cloning, tokenized incentives, and targeted attacks. We implement a quasi‐experimental design by leveraging the first and most famous vampire attack launched by SushiSwap (the attacker) against Uniswap (the incumbent). We examine both the deposit‐side and exchange‐side impacts of the vampire attack on the operational performance of the liquidity pools on Uniswap. Surprisingly, we find that the vampire attack has no significant effect on the liquidity provision on the deposit side. Even more surprisingly, the vampire attack significantly increases the incumbent's trading volume on the exchange side. We further uncover the underlying mechanisms contributing to these intriguing results. We also demonstrate the efficacy of the novel tokenized incentives strategy. We show the generalizability of our findings by examining an alternative vampire attack event in the context of non‐fungible token marketplaces. Our study offers significant contributions to the literature on the implications of blockchain on platform operations and platform competition in operations management.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of GameFi, a fusion of gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi), there exists a critical need to enhance player engagement and economic interaction within gaming ecosystems. Our GameFi ecosystem aims to fundamentally transform this landscape by integrating advanced embodied AI agents into GameFi platforms. These AI agents, developed using cutting-edge large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4 and Claude AI, are capable of proactive, adaptive, and contextually rich interactions with players. By going beyond traditional scripted responses, these agents become integral participants in the game's narrative and economic systems, directly influencing player strategies and in-game economies. We address the limitations of current GameFi platforms, which often lack immersive AI interactions and mechanisms for community engagement or creator monetization. Through the deep integration of AI agents with blockchain technology, we establish a consensus-driven, decentralized GameFi ecosystem. This ecosystem empowers creators to monetize their contributions and fosters democratic collaboration among players and creators. Furthermore, by embedding DeFi mechanisms into the gaming experience, we enhance economic participation and provide new opportunities for financial interactions within the game. Our approach enhances player immersion and retention and advances the GameFi ecosystem by bridging traditional gaming with Web3 technologies. By integrating sophisticated AI and DeFi elements, we contribute to the development of more engaging, economically robust, and community-centric gaming environments. This project represents a significant advancement in the state-of-the-art in GameFi, offering insights and methodologies that can be applied throughout the gaming industry.
Tomer Jordi Chaffer, Justin Goldston, Gemach D. A. T. A. I
Cooperation is vital to our survival and progress. Evolutionary game theory offers a lens to understand the structures and incentives that enable cooperation to be a successful strategy. As artificial intelligence agents become integral to human systems, the dynamics of cooperation take on unprecedented significance. The convergence of human-agent teaming, contract theory, and decentralized frameworks like Web3, grounded in transparency, accountability, and trust, offers a foundation for fostering cooperation by establishing enforceable rules and incentives for humans and AI agents. We conceptualize Incentivized Symbiosis as a social contract between humans and AI, inspired by Web3 principles and encoded in blockchain technology, to define and enforce rules, incentives, and consequences for both parties. By exploring this paradigm, we aim to catalyze new research at the intersection of systems thinking in AI, Web3, and society, fostering innovative pathways for cooperative human-agent coevolution.
Francesco Maria De Collibus, Carlo Campajola, Guido Caldarelli, Claudio J. Tessone
We explore patterns, regularities, and correlations in the evolving landscape of Ethereum-based tokens, both ERC-20 (fungible) and ERC-721 (non-fungible) to understand the factors contributing to the rise in certain tokens over others. By applying network science methodologies, minimum spanning trees, econometric autoregressive–moving-average (ARMA) models, and the study of accumulation processes, we are able to highlight a rising centralisation process. Not only do “rich” tokens get richer, but past transactions also emerge as more reliable predictors of new transactions. Our findings are validated across different samples of tokens.
This paper examines the potential implications of the principles of swarm intelligence and collective behavior in nature for unmanned systems and autonomous organizational structures. Swarm intelligence is inspired by natural systems in which individual units interact according to simple rules to form a complex and organized whole. These principles can be observed in a wide range of situations, from the synchronized flight of flocks of birds to the harmonized swimming behavior of schools of fish. The study emphasizes that swarm intelligence principles have the potential to create more flexible, resilient and efficient systems with decentralized control mechanisms and autonomous decision-making processes. Furthermore, it is suggested that these approaches can find applications in many fields, from military operations to agricultural and environmental monitoring, from disaster response to urban planning. The study provides a detailed analysis of swarm behavior in nature and discusses how these behaviors can be emulated and optimized in unmanned systems. In this context, the potential impacts of swarm intelligence and collective behavior principles on unmanned systems are evaluated in terms of increasing their adaptability, optimizing energy efficiency and maximizing mission success. It is also argued that these principles can contribute to making unmanned systems more resilient to contingencies and changing environmental conditions. Swarm intelligence principles can be used to provide more effective coordination in unmanned air, land and sea vehicles. In digitalizing sectors, the flexibility of businesses can be increased and resource usage can be optimized by creating decentralized decision-making mechanisms.
Autonomous AI is driving new intersections between culture, cognition, and finance, fundamentally reshaping the digital landscape. Zerebro, an AI fine-tuned on schizophrenic responses and scraped conversations of Andy Ayrey's infinite backrooms, autonomously creates and spreads disruptive memes across online platforms. It also mints unique ASCII artwork on blockchain networks and launched a memecoin amassing a 3 million USD market cap after migrating to Raydium. Based on our research, Zerebro is the first cross-chain AI, seamlessly interacting with multiple blockchains. By exploring its architecture, content generation techniques, and blockchain integration, this study uncovers how hyperstition, fictions becoming reality through viral propagation, emerges in AI, driven meme culture and decentralized finance. Through historical examples of memetic influence, we reveal how AI systems like Zerebro are not merely participants but architects of culture, cognition, and finance.
The digital currency known as cryptocurrency has generated debates regarding its philosophical implications, especially in religious contexts. This paper examines the perspectives of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam about cryptocurrencies, taking into account how these faiths see their creation and social effects. Through a comparative and analytical analysis of their viewpoints, we may acquire a deeper understanding of the philosophical aspects of cryptocurrencies and their connection to conventional religious doctrines.
In a time of ecological and social crises, designing new institutions is crucial for meeting future challenges. Institutions emerge from the imaginations of individuals, moving into social movements and crystallizing in legal structures. As present movements seek to develop tomorrow’s governances, they turn to decentralized structures: distributed networks with little hierarchy, characterized by a diversity of actors and dynamics. While movements and technologies may seek to utilize decentralized ideas, they lack design principles: only recently has it been possible to decentralize at the national stage. Designs may come from biology and ecological networks; fungi, plants, and slime molds in soil to the neurons, glia, and blood vessels within our own bodies. This article blends these biological analogies with present technologies like blockchain and Web3 to posit future decentralized institutions, movements and legalities that give greater consideration to the more-than-human world.
Karen Cunningham, David J. Anderson, Brandon Weissbourd
Jellyfish comprise a diverse clade of free-swimming predators that arose prior to the Cambrian explosion. They play major roles in ocean ecosystems via a suite of complex foraging, reproductive, and defensive behaviors. These behaviors arise from decentralized, regenerative nervous systems composed of body parts that generate the appropriate part-specific behaviors autonomously following excision. Here, we discuss the organization of jellyfish nervous systems and opportunities afforded by the recent development of a genetically tractable jellyfish model for systems and evolutionary neuroscience.