Jed McCaleb

founder of Stellar Development Foundation

[Doris Tsao @doristsao]

How does matter become bright inside? I am deeply excited to share our vision @AsteraNeuro for understanding and engineering consciousness.

We believe that perception and thought are constructed from fundamental building blocks, and that by understanding these blocks and how the brain combines them, we can explain the whole mystery of consciousness.

Writing this vision statement helped me think more clearly about questions that have long bothered me: Why did consciousness evolve? What are we actually conscious of? What is the self? How do different parts of the brain work together? How can we tell whether an AI is conscious? What scientific path can lead to real answers?

Part 1 presents a new theory. I propose that conscious experience arises from a coherent internal model of the world and the self built from 'persistent symbols.' I describe the neural representations and dynamics through which the brain could implement such symbols.

Part 2 lays out a roadmap to systematically discover the basic building blocks of perception, cognition, and the self-model, and to build the neural read/write technologies and org culture we need to get there.

Part 3 presents a dream: What will become possible once we acquire the ability to read and write experience--to truly engineer consciousness?

If you are a systems neuroscientist who feels something fundamental is missing from our field, I share this feeling. Understanding the phenomenon that compelled many of us to become neuroscientists in the first place should be a central organizing goal of our field. This vision statement lays out a research program to reach this goal.

If you read the vision statement and recognize that this is the mission you have been longing for, please get in touch, wherever in life you are right now.

I made this stone soup for you.

https://t.co/z8CRrEESce

[Jed McCaleb @JedMcCaleb]

@octopuscaveman I mean, the real issue is they sell all kinds of other stuff besides cakes.

[SMQKE @SMQKEDQG]

‼️JUST IN: STELLAR JUST TESTED 7 MILLION PAYMENTS PER SECOND‼️

Stellar has announced Project Thruput.📈

Project Thruput is a new system built to help the Stellar network scale.⏭️

It is also built for the AI agents that will use the network in the future.🤖

In its most recent test, it processed over 7 million payments per second.🤯

Project Thruput is live on FutureNet, Stellar's test network.

FutureNet is where the Stellar Development Foundation tests new technology before it reaches the public network.🧩

Project Thruput is intended to be used on Stellar’s main network in the future.⏳

This is part of Stellar's plan to build a network that can serve 10 billion people and the billions of AI agents that will transact on their behalf.🌐

Documented.📝👇

[Jed McCaleb @JedMcCaleb]

@sharduncan5050 @dmazieres Current plan is no fees

[David Mazières @dmazieres]

I'm super proud to unveil and open-source Project Thruput. Our mission is to eliminate all practical blockchain scaling limits to make smart contract execution free. https://t.co/DTZEb2y6OS #Blockchain #smartcontracts #Stellar

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🔥 JUST IN: Janus Henderson launches JQQQ, the first licensed tokenized Nasdaq-100 fund, on Stellar using Centrifuge.

[Doris Tsao @doristsao]

1/ We discovered something totally unexpected about the neural structure of consciousness that overturns decades of thinking on its biological basis and brings us significantly closer to the recipe for generating conscious awareness.
New preprint: https://t.co/K8BwiHXvXg (led by @HesseJanis, with @FrankLanfranchi, @_conor_mcgrory, @Yuelin_Shi, and @EngelTatiana)

[European Space Agency @esa]

We’re strengthening our cooperation with @vast to help shape Europe’s future in low Earth orbit and opening new opportunities for European astronauts, research and technology. #IAC2026

🔗https://t.co/Kgh6LWNPCS

[Kanjun 🐙 @kanjun]

What should the future of personal computing look like?

We built it 😈

Introducing Imbue Studio:

[Vast @vast]

We have established a Lunar Programs division.

By leveraging our commercial space station and satellite development capabilities, we are creating a scalable path toward lunar infrastructure to advance NASA’s vision for a permanent Moon Base. https://t.co/3D1iwfsXoE

[AstroForge @AstroForge]

Next year, we're going to launch a spacecraft that will be given zero commands from Earth after it separates from the launch vehicle.

The spacecraft will attempt to complete all of its mission objectives with no human operator in the loop.

Today we’re introducing Autonomy-1, powered by our spacecraft intelligence model, Solo. 🧵

[Erika Alden DeBenedictis @erika_alden_d]

Today, Pioneer Labs is announcing our first step towards terraforming Mars. 🚀🌼

With equipment that fits in just a single rocket launch, we can convert Martian dirt, water, and air into enough building materials to construct a small city on Mars.

To do it, we made the first microbe for Mars. We found the best microbe on Earth and used evolution to teach it how to source all of its nutrients directly from Martian materials.

The first astronauts will be greeted with safe shelter already filled with water, oxygen, and rocket fuel for the return journey.

This is the first step toward using biology to make Mars a friendly place for life. It lets us live off the land and helps us build the next great frontier.

It's the first of five organisms we need to green Mars ⬇️

[ALLINCRYPTO @RealAllinCrypto]

🚨Stellar is LEADING the entire crypto industry in tokenised fund growth in 2026!

@StellarOrg has added $2.5 BILLION this year, putting it level with $BNB Chain and ahead of Solana, Avalanche, $XRP Ledger, Base and others.

These are real investment funds being brought onchain with $XLM is sitting at the very front of it!

credit: @RWAFoundation_ + @tokenterminal

[Vast @vast]

Vast and @esa, on behalf of Greece, have signed an agreement for Vast’s private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in partnership with @NASA. @astrovenator is slated to serve as a mission specialist, becoming the first Greek astronaut. https://t.co/JbEi0smOXS

[Jed McCaleb @JedMcCaleb]

@arram I used to think they should just make the goal twice as big but then someone pointed out it is the most popular sport in the world. People like the randomness so the best team doesn't always win.

[Ashlee Vance @ashleevance]

There's a race to get the first commercial space station up in orbit. Boosted by an original $1 billion investment from @JedMcCaleb, @vast has been sprinting to get to space first.

We went to Long Beach to check out Vast's Haven-1 space station that could fly next year and to see what a more modern space station looks like.

Enjoy!!

[Astera Institute @AsteraInstitute]

We recently launched an essay competition for which scientists described structural problems they run into. With nearly 200 submissions, we decided to give out 8 awards, instead of 3. A quick summary here 👇 1 / 5

[Ashlee Vance @ashleevance]

The ISS is old AF. But, thankfully, we have replacements on the way in the form of commercial space stations.

We recently went to @vast to see the progress they are making on the Haven-1, which should fly next year. It will have room for four people and science labs and is a much more modern twist on space life.

We saw their manufacturing operations, food R&D program, and I learned how to pass gas in orbit.

[Governor Gavin Newsom @CAgovernor]

The greatest chapter in space exploration since the original Apollo lunar missions is underway — and California is writing it.

With Golden State aerospace companies like @Vast bringing about cutting-edge commercial space technology, the future looks bright.

[Raja Chakravorti @rajachak75]

Big news, and I'm on 🧵 for the second time in as many weeks,

Last week, @StellarOrg and @The_DTCC announced a partnership to bring tokenized securities settlement to Wall Street.

Today, @MoneyGram launched MGUSD - their own dollar-backed stablecoin - built on Stellar. MGUSD is issued by @stripe 's Bridge, with smart contracts from @m0 and wallet infrastructure from @FireblocksHQ. It is live in the US today, rolling out globally to 60 million customers across 200 countries and 500,000 retail locations.

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