SEMATECT

Proof-of-Forage: one public nest, private puzzles, shops, and a finite stamp

Working paper · Beta v5.7 · 19 September 2026
Planned ticker STCT · Planned network Base · ERC-20 postage + ERC-721 claim
Status: draft for builders — not a securities offering, not a live ticker

Print this page (Save as PDF) for a file copy. The live document is www.sematect.org/SEMATECT-whitepaper-v5.7.html

Abstract

SEMATECT is a protocol in which miners are represented as insects on one public hex nest that does not reset. They are not drawn as insects on the camera. Each unit is a marked worker on a hex map. A shop or patron hires a hex with a required STCT stamp. Optional bait may sit in a second pile. The first miner who submits a valid forage certificate — not the first click — receives 95% of the remaining stamp, 95% of construction bait, and a claim (“I built this”). The work-order poster receives the storefront. This paper keeps the Proof-of-Forage mathematics and library of v5.5.1 / v5.4.1 and records every rule designed after that date.

Hexes are unlimited. STCT mint is not. The subsidy cap is $1{,}000{,}000{,}000$. Shop nectar is a transfer, not new mint.

0. What this paper replaces

v5.6 dropped the formulas and the citation list. Those return here. Where a later rule conflicts with v5.5.1, the later rule wins:

1. Name and library

Stigmergy (Grassé, 1959) [1]: insects coordinate by changing the ground, not by talking. A pellet on a pile is an instruction. The hex board works the same way. A brick, a work order, and nectar are the messages. The ground is the memory [1, 10].

Sematectonic (Wilson, 1975; Heylighen, 2016) [2, 3]: sometimes the work itself is the sign — sêma (sign) + tektōn (builder). SEMATECT is Wilson’s word. The miner’s claim is the work-product. The stamp says “build here.”

A visible commons (Ostrom, 1990) [12]. Hayek [13] is why the puzzle stays private even though the board is public. Nakamoto [14] is why hexes can continue while the subsidy cannot.

2. Representation

Miners are representations of insects for the mathematics. Formica, Apis, and Macrotermes name three local rules a certificate may use. On the nest camera a miner is a unit: cream for you, purple for others. It does not look like an insect. Jobs (pantry, road, comb, vent, gate, chamber, gallery, mound) name rooms. They are not species and they do not print extra coin.

3. Objects

4. Public nest, private puzzle

$$\mathrm{Map} = G(\mathrm{hex},\ \mathrm{wallet},\ \mathrm{caste},\ \mathrm{nestRoot})$$

Copying a neighbor’s path fails. There are no wall-clock rounds. Coins already held do not evaporate.

Proof-of-Forage — four checks

1. The path $P$ is on that miner’s map for that hex.
2. $S(P;\ \mathrm{map},\ \mathrm{caste})$ beats $T(\mathrm{hex},\ \mathrm{caste},\ \mathrm{nest})$.
3. $\mathrm{SHA256}(\mathrm{seed}\,\|\,\mathrm{caste}\,\|\,P\,\|\,\mathrm{miner}\,\|\,\mathrm{nonce}\,\|\,\mathrm{hex})$ shows $k$ leading zero bits.
4. First valid certificate for that open work order wins. A click is not a certificate.

5. Caste mathematics

These are the local rules a certificate may instantiate. They are not costumes on the camera.

Formica (ant)

Dorigo Ant System / ACO [4, 5]. A short legal tour on a personal pantry map.

$$P_{ij} = \frac{\tau_{ij}^{\alpha}\eta_{ij}^{\beta}}{\sum_k \tau_{ik}^{\alpha}\eta_{ik}^{\beta}},\quad \eta_{ij}=1/d_{ij},\quad \tau \leftarrow (1-\rho)\tau + \Delta\tau(L)$$

Apis (bee)

Seeley; von Frisch; Hales; orienteering [6, 7, 8, 11]. A capacity-limited nectar path plus a max-adjacency comb dock.

$$S_{\mathrm{bee}}(P)=\sum_{v\in P}n(v)\quad\text{subject to}\quad \mathrm{load}(P)\le C$$

Macrotermes (termite)

Bonabeau–Theraulaz–Deneubourg; Camazine [9, 10]. A legal drop where local height already invites soil.

$$P_{\mathrm{pick}}=\left(\frac{k_1}{k_1+q}\right)^2,\qquad P_{\mathrm{drop}}=\left(\frac{q}{k_2+q}\right)^2$$

$T$ tightens as the nest gets busier. Optional lottery bits $k$ may rise on fat hexes. Jobs and camera density do not change $T$.

6. Two bowls

One visit drop per visitor per whole shop per that shop’s clock. Extra units from the same wallet count as one visitor. Seeing the storefront card (picture, description, product link, shop link, price, coupon, pitch, restock clock) is part of the visit. Autopilot and other idle units do not take the white bowl.

7. Shop layer

A work order must touch the colony. After fill, the poster keeps the door. The miner keeps the claim. Selling the claim cannot rip the plaque off the wall.

Each finished shop hex is a product card the owner may edit without a remine: picture, name, description, product URL, shop URL, price, coupon, one-line pitch, restock clock.

Shop controls load a budget once. 5% is taken at load, not on every respawn. Unused budget can return. The 5% already taken does not. The nest respawns drops on the clock until the budget is empty.

Listing a new ticker as bait costs STCT postage. Walking a new aisle may pay a small STCT crumb.

8. Marks on the camera

Do not write claim numbers on every tile. A finished hex carries a pip:

• Cream pip — you built this hex.
• Purple pip — another miner built it.
• Green fill — storefront. The pip sits on the green.

9. Infinite hexes, finite stamp

Filling a rim hex opens each empty neighbor as a new work order [15, 16]. The camera draws the viewport plus a buffer. Hexes do not run out.

STCT mint is capped at one billion:

$$s(n)=\max\left(1,\ 10\cdot \tfrac12^{\lfloor n/E\rfloor}\right)$$

where $n$ is fills so far and $E$ is the epoch length. Later tiles pay less STCT and may chew longer. Shop nectar already in a budget is not new mint.

10. Who gets what

Protocol: 5% of every stamp and bait pile at load, including Shop-controls budgets. Not from the claim NFT.

11. Status

Not live. No official contract address as of 19 September 2026. Do not buy a ticker that claims to be Sematect unless that address appears at www.sematect.org.

How it works · Research · Nest camera

12. References

1. Grassé, P.-P. (1959). La reconstruction du nid et les coordinations interindividuelles chez Bellicositermes natalensis et Cubitermes sp. La théorie de la stigmergie. Insectes Sociaux.
2. Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard University Press.
3. Heylighen, F. (2016). Stigmergy as a universal coordination mechanism I: Definition and components. Cognitive Systems Research.
4. Dorigo, M., Maniezzo, V., and Colorni, A. (1996). Ant system: optimization by a colony of cooperating agents. IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.
5. Dorigo, M., and Stützle, T. (2004). Ant Colony Optimization. MIT Press.
6. Seeley, T. D. (2010). Honeybee Democracy. Princeton University Press.
7. von Frisch, K. (1967). The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Harvard University Press.
8. Hales, T. C. (2001). The honeycomb conjecture. Discrete & Computational Geometry.
9. Bonabeau, E., Dorigo, M., and Theraulaz, G. (1999). Swarm Intelligence. Oxford University Press.
10. Camazine, S., Deneubourg, J.-L., Franks, N. R., Sneyd, J., Theraulaz, G., and Bonabeau, E. (2001). Self-Organization in Biological Systems. Princeton University Press.
11. Golden, B., Levy, L., and Vohra, R. The orienteering problem. Naval Research Logistics.
12. Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons. Cambridge University Press.
13. Hayek, F. A. (1945). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review.
14. Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
15. MDN Web Docs. Tiles and tilemaps overview.
16. Chunked tilemaps and camera culling.