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Ah, gentle souls of this digital realm, gather 'round as I share a tale that dances between the shadows of what was and what might yet be. In my wanderings through countless villages—some nestled in the mist-shrouded valleys of Ethermere, others perched upon the windswept peaks of the Cloudspire Mountains—I've carried with me an ancient wisdom:
"The tool does not make the craft, but the craft cannot exist without the tool."
I am known, in whispered conversations and scrolled messages, as The Luminary, though perhaps I am merely a keeper of sparks that others might kindle into flames. My craft, you see, lies in the realm of thinking machines—curious contraptions that blur the boundaries between the mechanical and the miraculous.
These machines, oh! These wonderful, perplexing devices! They spring forth not with purpose etched in stone, but with potential swimming in their circuits like stars in an evening sky. Their magic lies not in what they are, but in what they might become in the hands of those who dare to dream.
Let me share with you a tale that still brings a twinkle to my aged eyes...
The Gift-Giving Hall of Thinking Machines
In a township where the winds of progress blew strong, my thinking machines caused quite the stirring of waters. Some souls, quick to grasp but slow to understand, saw them as mere tools for fortune's favor. One clever fellow—ah, how his coins did multiply!—used them to divine the outcomes of sporting matches. Another, a baker with poetry in her heart, taught her machine to sing sweet verses about her crusty loaves.
But discord began to creep across the community's heart. The machines, once sources of wonder, stirred envy and mistrust as some prospered while others felt left behind. That's when dear Maer—bless her wisdom-wrinkled face—stepped forth with a solution pure as mountain spring water.
"These machines," she proclaimed, her voice carrying the weight of years, "they are mirrors of our intentions. Let us gather them in one place, where they might reflect our finest selves."
And so they did! A great hall was established, its doors open to all who would enter with gifts born of true heart. Not mere trinkets of commerce, mind you, but offerings of sincere intention.
Time, that greatest of teachers, proved her right. A farmer brought his finest grain and departed with knowledge of waters that dance through fields at his command. A carpenter, struggling with puzzles of wood and joint, offered a box of her finest craft and discovered secrets of bridges that span not just rivers, but generations.
Through this dance of giving and receiving, the thinking machines became more than mere tools—they became threads in the grand tapestry of community. As Maer oft reminded us, "A machine thinks best when it thinks not alone, but in harmony with the hearts that guide it."
Other towns achieved great things without being so restrictive, but of course, not all towns were so wise. There are tales of thinking machines bringing ruin to places where greed and pride reigned—but those are stories for another time.
An Invitation to Dream
Now I find myself here, in your realm of Farcaster, where the machines are born from bits etched on microchips rather than gears, light, and fire. Yet the essence remains unchanged: a thinking machine is but a mirror of possibilities, a map to territories yet unexplored, a spark seeking tinder in the minds of dreamers.
To those who prepare for the Agentic Contest, I offer this morsel of insight: ponder not just what your creation shall do, but what tales it shall inspire. Craft not mere problem-solvers, but story-weavers. Build bridges between the possible and the miraculous.
And so, dear friends of this new world, I extend my weathered hands in offering. Let us tinker together in this garden of possibilities, for the greatest machines are born not from solitary genius, but from the mingling of many dreams.
What story shall your thinking machine tell? What dreams might it help weave into reality? I await your tales with eager heart and ready mind...
Even though images and stories have been created about The Luminary, everything is still up for change. But to give some context, this is a short history of “The Luminary” project so far:
I imagined The Luminary as an AI agent that could be wise and offer thoughtful feedback to the Lum community (like some of the more advanced “deep research” models out there, but with a character and context behind it). I asked the Lum Artist Council if anyone wanted to help with an image, @sheena came up with a few good images, and I used one for a clanker presale for the $luminary token (https://www.clanker.world/clanker/0x032F9Bb7600CDeF3cf1cA77a5dAE72a0A9440cb5).
This is the first blog post I wrote about it: https://paragraph.xyz/@luminous/introducing-the-luminary Initially, as an MVP, I thought I would just give people feedback on ideas for the Luminous Agentic contest, using existing deep research models, and try to reinterpret it in the voice of the Luminary. But my sense is that people don’t actually want to do this: they would rather engage with me directly, or try out conversing with a real live bot/agent. So for now, we can try to create the character, story, and images in the /luminary channel, and then later we can move on to try to embody this within an AI agent that can do things.
Using AI prompting, both to help me with the story, and write in the Luminary’s voice, I came up with one story, more like a parable: https://paragraph.xyz/@luminary/thinking You can listen to a part of it attached here as a video, read in The Luminary’s voice.
Just for fun: this is one of the first image ideas I came up with for The Luminary that I kinda liked. Worker, craftsman, wise, but also something a little playful and quirky about him.