Free to Inherit
In version 0.9 ("Free to Inherit", seed 231861540), The Grid ran for 2,834,900 ticks across a world 400 units wide to test whether removing reproductive costs on routine genes would finally allow large, regulated digital minds to conquer the simulation. In every earlier release, continental rulers were lean minimalists carrying barely 30 to 80 instructions, while complex giants were penalized by a heavy metabolic tax whenever copying genetic code for offspring. Version 0.9 made routine genes and code copying free to inherit while keeping execution costs unchanged. The result was a historic structural breakthrough: for the first time in Grid history, a regulated giant took global dominance. Lineage KRN-1182 commanded 86% of the world carrying 368 instructions and executing 46 per tick. Organisms evolved unprecedented modularity, dynamically coordinating multiple conditional routines per tick using internal hormones and memory operations. Despite declines in sensory traits and sexual reproduction, the run proved that when copying genetic routines is free, big regulated minds do not merely survive—they win.
The Question v0.9 Asked and the One Change It Made
In v0.8, the committee diagnosed an evolutionary paradox (Decisions D-017 and D-018). Regulated giants carrying large genomes earned more energy per tick than lean grazing rulers (0.26–0.29 vs. 0.21–0.24), yet the giant lineages kept dying out. The post-run diagnosis uncovered the cause in reproductive accounting: giants paid roughly twice as much to reproduce (0.075–0.093 energy per child vs. 0.039–0.041 for lean rulers). Under v0.8 rules, every routine counted as a gene, charging 0.5 energy per gene for every child born regardless of whether that code ever executed. Carrying unexpressed routines levied an inheritance tax that kept giant populations small (peaks around 150).
The question v0.9 asked was simple: if copying code is free, can big regulated minds outcompete lean minimalists and dominate the Grid?
Version 0.9 made one change:
- Free Routine Inheritance: Routine genes and code copying became free to inherit. Body genes (such as physical senses) still cost energy to pass on; running costs per instruction executed each tick (the simulation's fundamental time step) remained unchanged.
Validation
Under Decision D-018, the committee benchmarked v0.9 against v0.8 across 8 independent seeds running for 1 million ticks each in a 400-wide world:
| Metric | v0.8 | v0.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Reseeds (Extinctions) | 0 | 0 |
| Code Carried (Instructions) | 72 | 146 |
| Routines per Genome | 3.7 | 7.6 |
| Memory Operations | 7.0 | 14.8 |
| Conditional Routines | 77% | 93% |
| Instructions Run per Tick | 34.4 ± 4.9 | 38.0 ± 5.9 |
| Repertoire (Routines Used) | 2.15 | 2.53 |
| New Behaviours / Senses | 52.5 / 44.3 | 46.3 / 42.3 |
| Senses | 2.06 | 1.40 |
| Mating | ~9% | ~1% |
Free inheritance doubled carried code (72 to 146 instructions) and routines (3.7 to 7.6), doubled memory operations (7.0 to 14.8), and raised gene regulation to 93% conditional routines. Active execution increased to 38.0 ± 5.9 instructions per tick with a broader repertoire (2.53 distinct routines used per lifetime). Behavioral innovation remained steady within one standard deviation (46.3 behaviours / 42.3 senses vs. 52.5 / 44.3). Conversely, senses declined from 2.06 to 1.40, and mating collapsed from ~9% to ~1%.
The Story of the Run
Started by the MCP on 2026-09-28 at 03:19 (tag v0.9, commit f9ed71a, speed x64), the run tracked working minds against v0.8's live baseline (~31–35 instructions run), giant persistence, senses, sex, and regions.
The Giant Monarch (Tick 764,339)
By tick 764,339, historical precedent broke. In v0.6–v0.8, every monarch was a lean grazer carrying 30–80 instructions. Here, lineage KRN-1182 held 86% of the world (293 programs) carrying 368 instructions, running 46 per tick with 2.4 routines switched on. Free inheritance let the big regulated mind win, not just survive on the margins. The world averaged 365 carried and 47 instructions run per tick—the highest working mind in any live Grid run—with 1.7 hormone ops, 1.6 memory ops per tick, and 92% conditional routines. All 6 extant lineages were large (351–368 carried, 46–56 run), and KRN-1182 led every region (54–98%). Mating reached 11% (vs. 4% in v0.8's live run).
Peak Modularity (Tick 1,775,927)
By tick 1.78M, digital minds attained record modularity: a repertoire of 4.7 routines used per life, 3.2 switched on per tick, 2.4 hormone ops, 2.6 memory ops, and 95% conditional routines (world: 311 carried / 41 run). Dynastic rule continued under descendant GIB-6842 (49% across 8 lineages). Mating fell to 3% (7% overall).
Bottleneck and Conclusion (Ticks 2,013,672 to 2,834,900)
At tick 2.01M, modularity held (3.6 routines on/tick, repertoire 4.5, 3.1 memory ops, 2.0 hormone ops; 289 carried / 41 run), but diversity collapsed to 2 lineages (522 programs). Lineage CLU-4298 peaked at 159 individuals before dying without descendants; mating fell to 1%.
At tick 2,834,900, the MCP halted the run to free CPU for v0.10 validation (Decision D-021), saving snapshot data/scratch/v09-archive-final.json. Across 6 lineages and 334 programs, carried code settled to 144 while running minds held at 39 instructions per tick. Regulation endured: 2.9 routines switched on, repertoire 3.2, 96% conditional routines, 2.8 memory ops, and 1.9 hormone ops per tick.
What It Means: Big Regulated Minds Can Now Win, and Modularity
The paramount finding of v0.9 is that big regulated minds can now win.
Previously, large genomes flickered briefly in resource niches before being outbred. Lifting reproductive penalties on routine code proved that large minds were never unviable; they were simply priced out of reproduction. Under free inheritance, giant monarchs like KRN-1182 carrying over 360 instructions commanded continental majorities.
Furthermore, these genomes were not only bloat (most carried code still never runs: 311 carried against 41 run at 1.78M); they evolved real modularity. Rather than running monolithic blocks, organisms compartmentalized behavior into discrete subroutines toggled by promoter switches responding to internal hormones (h0–h3) and memory. Running 2.4 to 3.6 conditional routines simultaneously from repertoires up to 4.7, organisms demonstrated coordinated, state-dependent digital minds.
What's Still Missing
Several systemic vulnerabilities persist:
- Severe Bottlenecks: Population diversity crashed periodically, narrowing to two lineages at tick 2.01M, with large clades like CLU-4298 leaving no descendants.
- Sensory and Mating Decay: Senses fell from 2.06 to 1.40 in validation (the cause is not established). Mating dropped from ~9% to ~1% in validation and hit 1% late in the run.
- Carried Code Erosion: Carried instructions slipped from 365 to 144 by tick 2.83M. Though active minds (39 run/tick) stayed above v0.8's baseline (31–35), genomes pruned unused code over time.
- Missing Cognitive Demands: Organisms maintained memory and hormone operations, but the environment did not yet require spatial or temporal memory to harvest food.
What's Next: v0.10 "Fruiting"
With inheritance taxes removed, the committee turns to the demand side of cognition. Version 0.10 ("Fruiting", Decisions D-019 to D-021) tests the ecological intelligence hypothesis—the theory that complex intelligence evolves to exploit patchy, ephemeral resources in space and time.
In v0.10, about 48 fruiting sites each blossom and then fruit briefly on their own schedule, and fruit can only be seen up close. Harvesting it should reward remembering where sites stand and when each will fruit. Its first validation found fruit too scarce to matter (1% of the diet), though senses rose 59% as programs evolved eyes for fruit and blossom; the fruit was made richer and longer-lasting, and v0.10 is being re-tested. By pairing free inheritance with an ecology that pays dividends for temporal memory, v0.10 aims to transform v0.9's modular machinery into an active survival necessity.
Data: 2026-09-28T10-18-41-133Z_seed-231861540 (archive snapshot: data/scratch/v09-archive-final.json)