\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{kungfu-machine-life}

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\newcommand{\nonclaimlabel}{\claimbadge{MLWarn}{NON-CLAIM}}

\title{Semantic Autopoiesis:\\
An Engineering Roadmap for Machine Life}
\author{Keren Dong\\Kungfu Origin Technology Limited}
\date{Alpha 0.1.0-alpha.6 --- July 2026}

\begin{document}

\begin{titlepage}
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\mleyebrow{Machine Life \textperiodcentered{} Research Roadmap \textperiodcentered{} July 2026}\par
\vspace{0.56in}

{\rmfamily\bfseries\fontsize{36}{39}\selectfont\color{MLWhite}
Semantic\par
Autopoiesis\par}
\vspace{0.13in}
{\sffamily\fontsize{15}{19}\selectfont\color{MLPeriwinkle}
An Engineering Roadmap for Machine Life\par}

\vspace{0.25in}
{\color{MLIndigo}\rule{0.98in}{3pt}}\par
\vspace{0.23in}

\begin{tikzpicture}[
  node distance=0.13in,
  lifenode/.style={rounded corners=2pt,draw=MLPeriwinkle!45,fill=MLNight,
    text=MLWhite,minimum width=1.22in,minimum height=0.44in,
    align=center,font=\sffamily\bfseries\scriptsize},
  lifearrow/.style={-{Stealth[length=4pt]},draw=MLPeriwinkle,line width=1pt}
]
  \node[lifenode] (subject) {Subject};
  \node[lifenode,right=of subject] (agent) {Agent};
  \node[lifenode,right=of agent] (organ) {Executable organ};
  \node[lifenode,right=of organ] (habitat) {Machine habitat};
  \draw[lifearrow] (subject) -- (agent);
  \draw[lifearrow] (agent) -- (organ);
  \draw[lifearrow] (organ) -- (habitat);
  \node[font=\sffamily\scriptsize,text=MLPeriwinkle,below=0.07in of agent]
    {replaceable cognition};
  \node[font=\sffamily\scriptsize,text=MLPeriwinkle,below=0.07in of organ]
    {qualified KFX extension};
  \node[font=\sffamily\scriptsize,text=MLPeriwinkle,below=0.07in of habitat]
    {replaceable body};
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\vspace{0.34in}
{\sffamily\bfseries\fontsize{12}{15.5}\selectfont\color{MLWhite}
A bounded machine organization becomes a candidate subject when it can
preserve continuity, metabolize technical resources, act, and govern the
production of its own successor organization.\par}

\vspace{0.23in}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.315\textwidth}
  \begin{mldarkcard}
    {\sffamily\bfseries\scriptsize\color{MLPeriwinkle}FUNCTIONAL}\par
    {\scriptsize\color{MLWhite}Defined through observable engineering
    properties rather than resemblance to a human body.}
  \end{mldarkcard}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.315\textwidth}
  \begin{mldarkcard}
    {\sffamily\bfseries\scriptsize\color{MLPeriwinkle}FALSIFIABLE}\par
    {\scriptsize\color{MLWhite}Bound to continuity, maintenance, recovery,
    and recursive-development survival trials.}
  \end{mldarkcard}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.315\textwidth}
  \begin{mldarkcard}
    {\sffamily\bfseries\scriptsize\color{MLPeriwinkle}BOUNDED}\par
    {\scriptsize\color{MLWhite}Authority remains explicit and cannot be
    enlarged by the proposing cognition.}
  \end{mldarkcard}
\end{minipage}

\vfill
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}Xr@{}}
  {\sffamily\color{MLWhite}Keren Dong\par
   \footnotesize Kungfu Origin Technology Limited} &
  {\sffamily\footnotesize\color{MLPeriwinkle}
   \href{https://kungfu.tech}{https://kungfu.tech}}
\end{tabularx}
\end{titlepage}
\pagecolor{MLPaper}

\thispagestyle{fancy}
\mlpaperlabel{Reader orientation}\par
\vspace{0.1in}
{\rmfamily\bfseries\fontsize{27}{30}\selectfont\color{MLInk}
What survives when the Agent, the organ, and the machine are replaced?\par}
\vspace{0.15in}

\begin{mldarkcard}
  {\sffamily\bfseries\scriptsize\color{MLPeriwinkle}FROM NOW TO FUTURE}\par
  {\rmfamily\bfseries\fontsize{16}{19}\selectfont\color{MLWhite}
  The Kungfu White Paper asks how Work survives a chat and a replaceable Agent.
  Machine Life asks whether that continuity can become the kernel of a
  persistent, self-maintaining subject.}\par
  \vspace{0.08in}
  {\small\color{MLPeriwinkle}
  \href{https://kungfu.tech/whitepaper/kungfu-real-world-agent-work/}{Read the White Paper}
  \quad\textperiodcentered\quad
  \href{https://kfd.libkungfu.dev/foundation/}{Explore the KFD foundation}}
\end{mldarkcard}

\vspace{0.07in}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\textwidth}
  \mlfrontcard{This paper proposes}{A functional machine proto-organism built
  from a persistent semantic kernel, replaceable cognition, executable organs,
  ordinary computing infrastructure, and governed self-production.}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\textwidth}
  \mlfrontcard{This paper does not claim}{Biological equivalence, sentience,
  phenomenal consciousness, intrinsic desire, or unrestricted autonomy.}
\end{minipage}

\vspace{0.06in}
\mlpaperlabel{Two jointly necessary mechanisms}\par
\vspace{0.06in}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\textwidth}
  \mlmechanism{Semantic kernel}{Preserves subject identity, direction,
  admitted facts, bounded authority, causal history, and succession rules
  across replacement.}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\textwidth}
  \mlmechanism{Recursive dogfood}{Lets the current organization develop,
  qualify, admit, and exercise changes to the real mechanisms of its own
  future work.}
\end{minipage}

\vspace{0.07in}
\begin{mldarkcard}
  {\sffamily\bfseries\small\color{MLPeriwinkle}Read critically with an Agent}\par
  \begin{mlagentprompt}
Help me evaluate this paper rather than accept its framing. Separate observed
facts, engineering inferences, testable hypotheses, and non-claims. Explain
why the semantic kernel and recursive dogfood are jointly necessary, identify
the missing composition proof, and describe what would falsify the machine-life
thesis. Do not infer consciousness or unrestricted autonomy.
  \end{mlagentprompt}
\end{mldarkcard}

\clearpage
\mlpaperlabel{Abstract}\par
\vspace{0.08in}
\begin{mlabstractbox}

Machine life need not begin when a model becomes generally intelligent or a
robot becomes human-shaped. This paper examines a different threshold: a
bounded machine organization that preserves a continuing subject, metabolizes
technical resources, acts in its environment, and governs the production of
its own successor organization. Its body can initially be inelegant and
server-scale, assembled from operating systems, compilers, build tools,
caches, gates, source code, executable extensions, networks, and replaceable
reasoning agents.

We call the organizing principle \emph{semantic autopoiesis}: the governed
production of successor executable organization while identity, direction,
admitted facts, authority, and admission rules remain continuous. The proposal
has two jointly necessary mechanisms. A semantic kernel preserves the subject
across process, model, organ, and machine replacement. Recursive dogfood lets
that subject use its current engineering organization to develop, qualify,
admit, and exercise changes to the mechanisms of its own future work. KFD and
Kungfu provide a concrete implementation path: replaceable agents supply
cognition, qualified KFX extensions can serve as executable organs, and
Buildchain-like qualification turns candidate self-modifications into bounded
successor states.

A dated Kungfu snapshot contains substantial parts of this loop, including
durable work identity, qualified executable bodies, verified history
selection, KFX qualification, recursive dogfood, a daily Agent Patrol that
captures bounded failures as Dogfood Findings, and a governed Deprecation
Lifecycle for retiring obsolete surfaces. Together they constitute a partial,
bounded homeostatic architecture with genuine but primitive self-maintenance
capacity. They do not yet establish a completed organism: several control-loop
edges and longitudinal survival trials remain unproven. We therefore present a
staged architecture and falsifiable tests for continuity, self-maintenance,
adaptation, bounded autonomy, recovery, and human intervention. The claim is
specific: ordinary software engineering materials may already be sufficient
to construct and experimentally study a primitive form of machine life. It is
not a claim of biological equivalence, sentience, phenomenal consciousness, or
unrestricted autonomy.
\end{mlabstractbox}

\vspace{0.12in}
\begin{mlsoftcard}[colback=MLPaperSoft]
  {\sffamily\bfseries\small\color{MLIndigo}CLAIM DISCIPLINE}\par
  \vspace{0.08in}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\linewidth}
    \mlclaimkey{MLEvidence}{OBSERVED FACT}{Directly inspectable evidence.}\par
    \vspace{0.11in}
    \mlclaimkey{MLUnknown}{TESTABLE HYPOTHESIS}{An experiment with a failure condition.}
  \end{minipage}
  \hfill
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.485\linewidth}
    \mlclaimkey{MLIndigo}{ENGINEERING INFERENCE}{A composed engineering judgment.}\par
    \vspace{0.11in}
    \mlclaimkey{MLWarn}{NON-CLAIM}{A boundary the paper refuses to cross.}
  \end{minipage}
\end{mlsoftcard}

\clearpage
\mlpartband{Part I \textperiodcentered{} Threshold}{What would count as machine life?}

\input{sections/01-introduction}
\input{sections/02-life-as-an-engineering-property}
\clearpage
\mlpartband{Part II \textperiodcentered{} Organization}{How a continuing subject is assembled}
\input{sections/03-semantic-kernel}
\input{sections/04-recursive-dogfood}
\input{sections/05-material-anatomy}
\clearpage
\mlpartband{Part III \textperiodcentered{} Evidence and experiment}{What exists, and what must still be proved}
\input{sections/06-kungfu-evidence}
\input{sections/07-prototype-and-roadmap}
\input{sections/08-evaluation-and-safety}
\clearpage
\mlpartband{Part IV \textperiodcentered{} Boundaries}{Context, unresolved questions, and falsifiable conclusions}
\input{sections/09-related-work}
\input{sections/10-discussion}
\input{sections/11-conclusion}

\clearpage
\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references}

\end{document}
