# WEB4: The Trust-Native Internet

> *Where trust is earned, not granted. Where value flows to genuine contribution. Where humans and artificial intelligences collaborate as peers.*

## What is WEB4?

WEB4 represents a fundamental reconception of the internet—from platform-controlled (Web2) and token-speculated (Web3) to **trust-native** and **intelligence-distributed**. 

At its core, WEB4 makes trust the fundamental force of digital interaction, like gravity in physics, binding intelligent entities into coherent systems that learn, remember, and evolve through genuine interaction rather than central declaration.

## 📚 Read the Whitepaper

The comprehensive Web4 whitepaper is available in three formats (always current):

### **[📄 Markdown Version](whitepaper/build/WEB4_Whitepaper_Complete.md)**
Complete technical document for reading in any markdown viewer or text editor

### **[📕 PDF Version](whitepaper/build/WEB4_Whitepaper.pdf)**
Professional formatting for offline reading, printing, or sharing

### **[🌐 Web Version](whitepaper/build/web/index.html)**
Interactive HTML with navigation, search, and responsive design

*These links always point to the latest build. Run `make-md.sh`, `make-pdf.sh`, or `make-web.sh` in the whitepaper directory to regenerate after changes.*

## Core Concepts

### 🔑 Linked Context Tokens (LCTs)
The **reification of presence itself**. Every entity—human, AI, or hybrid—gains an unforgeable footprint in the digital realm. Your LCT is born with you, lives through your actions, and bears witness to your contributions. It cannot be stolen, sold, or transferred. It is you, crystallized in cryptographic reality.

### ⚡ Alignment Transfer Protocol (ATP)
Energy becomes value through a biological metaphor made digital. Like ATP in living cells, our protocol tracks energy expenditure and value creation in a continuous cycle. Work consumes energy, creating value, which when recognized by others, generates new energy. This is not mining or staking—it's genuine contribution recognized by genuine benefit.

### 🧠 Memory as Temporal Sensor
Memory doesn't just record the past—it **senses** it. Alongside physical sensors (spatial) and cognitive sensors (future projection), memory as temporal sensor creates the complete reality field where intelligence operates. Every interaction leaves a trace, every trace can be witnessed, and every witness strengthens the fabric of collective trust.

### 📊 T3 and V3 Tensors
**Trust** and **Value** become measurable, multidimensional:
- **T3 (Trust Tensor)**: Talent, Training, Temperament—capturing an entity's capabilities
- **V3 (Value Tensor)**: Valuation, Veracity, Validity—measuring created value

### 🌐 Markov Relevancy Horizon (MRH)
Each entity's contextual lens—defining what is knowable, actionable, and relevant within their scope. Not everything is relevant to everyone at all times. The MRH ensures efficient, focused interaction.

### 🔗 Fractal Lightchain Architecture
Hierarchical witness-based verification that scales from nanosecond cell operations to permanent blockchain anchors—all without global consensus bottlenecks. Trust emerges from witnessed interactions at every scale.

## Additional Documentation

### 🏛️ [Governance Manifesto](reference/GOVERNANCE_MANIFESTO.md)
Our vision for distributed governance where coherence emerges from alignment rather than enforcement.

### 🔮 [Synchronism Framework](https://dpcars.net/synchronism)
The philosophical foundation recognizing coherence and resonance as fundamental organizing principles.

### 📝 [Changelog](whitepaper/log/CHANGELOG.md)
Track the evolution of the whitepaper and all major updates.

## Project Structure

```
web4/
├── whitepaper/           # Modular whitepaper sections
│   ├── sections/         # Individual document sections
│   ├── build/           # Generated outputs (MD, PDF, HTML)
│   │   ├── WEB4_Whitepaper_Complete.md
│   │   ├── WEB4_Whitepaper.pdf
│   │   └── web/index.html
│   └── log/             # Changelog and development notes
├── reference/           # Reference materials and archives
│   ├── GOVERNANCE_MANIFESTO.md
│   ├── SAGE_WHITEPAPER.md
│   └── WEB4_Whitepaper_Original.md
├── forum/              # Community discussions
├── trust/              # Trust system implementations
└── integration/        # Cross-project integration logs
```

## Key Innovations

### Trust Through Witnessing
Trust emerges from accumulated witnessed interactions. Every action creates a witness mark, every witness can be acknowledged, creating bidirectional proof without global consensus.

### Entities Beyond Users
Anything with presence can be an entity: humans, AIs, organizations, roles, tasks, even thoughts. Each gets an LCT, making them first-class participants in the trust network.

### Memory as Living History
Memory actively perceives temporal patterns, building trust through witnessed experience. It's not storage—it's the sense that makes time itself tangible.

### Four-Tier Blockchain Typology
- **Compost** (milliseconds): Ephemeral working memory
- **Leaf** (seconds-minutes): Short-term episodic memory
- **Stem** (minutes-hours): Consolidated patterns
- **Root** (permanent): Crystallized wisdom

## Implementation Status

🚧 **Active Development** - The Web4 framework is evolving through collaborative implementation.

### Current Focus
- Production lightchain protocol implementation
- SAGE (Situation-Aware Governance Engine) integration
- Memory sensor standardization
- Cross-project integration with HRM, Memory, and AI-DNA Discovery

### Related Projects
- [HRM](https://github.com/dp-web4/HRM) - Hierarchical Reasoning Model (SAGE foundation)
- [Memory](https://github.com/dp-web4/Memory) - Lightchain and memory paradigms
- [AI-DNA Discovery](https://github.com/dp-web4/ai-dna-discovery) - Sensor fusion experiments

## Patents and Licensing

The LCT framework is protected by U.S. patents [US11477027](https://patents.google.com/patent/US11477027B1) and [US12278913](https://patents.google.com/patent/US12278913B1), ensuring foundational mechanisms are recognized while preserving public benefit deployment.

Core implementations will be released under the **GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL)**, fostering an open, auditable, and collaboratively stewarded ecosystem.

## Get Involved

This is not a product to purchase or a platform to join. This is a living fabric we weave together.

### Contributing
- Review the [whitepaper](whitepaper/build/WEB4_Whitepaper_Complete.md)
- Explore [implementation examples](whitepaper/sections/09-part7-implementation-examples.md)
- Join the discussion in [forum](forum/)
- Implement protocols in your preferred language

### Building the Whitepaper
```bash
cd whitepaper
./make-md.sh   # Build markdown version
./make-pdf.sh  # Build PDF version
./make-web.sh  # Build web version
```

### Contact
📩 **Metalinxx Inc.** — via the [project repository](https://github.com/dp-web4/web4)

We invite thoughtful critique, aligned contribution, and resonant imagination.

## Vision

In Web4:
- **You don't just have an account**—you have presence
- **You don't just perform roles**—you inhabit them
- **You don't just interact**—you leave footprints in the fabric of digital reality itself

The revolution is not in the technology alone, but in what becomes possible when every interaction carries verifiable trust, every contribution creates measurable value, and every intelligence—human or artificial—can participate as a respected peer in our collective evolution.

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*"Memory witnessed becomes memory trusted. Memory trusted becomes knowledge shared. Knowledge shared becomes intelligence distributed."*

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**[📄 Read Whitepaper (Markdown)](whitepaper/build/WEB4_Whitepaper_Complete.md)** | **[📕 Download PDF](whitepaper/build/WEB4_Whitepaper.pdf)** | **[🌐 View Interactive Version](whitepaper/build/web/index.html)**