A definition
AI run by ordinary computers in people’s homes, lent while their owners are away.
Say it this way
Quote it freely.
Forest computing is AI run by ordinary computers in people’s homes, lent while their owners are away. We call it that as others say cloud computing: the computers are a forest of homes, joined by roots.
Side by side
What changes, and what doesn’t.
| Cloud computing | Forest computing | |
|---|---|---|
| The computers | A company’s, in data centres | Ordinary people’s, at home |
| When they run | All the time | While their owners are away |
| How you pay | Money, by card | Seeds, grown by lending your own computer |
| Who can see your request | The company | The computer that answers it; for private work, use your own machines |
| How it’s checked | You trust the company | Signed receipts, jobs run again, a public ring ledger |
| What runs today | Anything | Open-source models that fit on one good computer |
| Next | Models too big for any one computer, split across always-on hosts COMING |
Roots, seeds, rings
The words come from what the network does.
The computers are joined by roots, the network’s links. Each finished job ripens a seed. Every seed is written into rings that only grow. And it’s always night somewhere, so somewhere a computer is free.
woodls
Always lower case.
woodls: a web of our devices, lending spare time.
Limits