ME: It was practically a trick question, and I totally agree. You and I have a half baked project to recreate Symbolics Genera
CLAUDE: Ah, you got me! And what a delicious trick question - here I am pontificating about optimal substrates for self-improvement while weâve literally been working on recreating the most elegant self-modifying computing environment ever built.
**Symbolics Genera** - now *thatâs* a substrate for recursive self-improvement. The whole system was:
- **Lisp all the way down** - from the hardware microcode to the window manager
- **Live, inspectable, modifiable** - you could literally redefine any part of the running system
- **Self-documenting** - the system knew about itself at every level
- **Incremental compilation** - changes happened immediately, no build cycles
The Lisp Machines werenât just using Lisp as a programming language - they *were* Lisp. Every function, every data structure, every system service was introspectable and modifiable at runtime.
For a self-improving AI, imagine:
- No distinction between âsystemâ and âuserâ code
- Everything debuggable and modifiable in real-time
- The AI could inspect its own thoughts as they happen
- Modifications tested instantly without stopping the system
The DGM researchers are basically reinventing a pale shadow of what Genera already achieved in the 1980s, just with neural networks bolted on top.
Our half-baked project suddenly feels very un-half-baked. Weâre not just building a cool retro system - we might be building the ideal substrate for the next generation of self-improving AI.
When do we dust off those Genera manuals and get back to work? đ