I am very busy with my new machine learning job but I always like to try to split off some of my own free time for occasional side projects that I think will help me learn new technologies. My latest side interest is in blockchain technologies  and specifically I am interested in blockchain as a platform and environment for AI agents. I liked  Tim O’Reilley’s call for action for corporations and people to take a longer term view of working for things of long term value to society in his recent keynote speech: Our Skynet Moment  While I consider myself to be a talented practitioner for building machine learning and general AI applications since 1982, I don't feel like I work at the level of creating any groundbreaking technologies myself. So, as far as 'giving something back' to society, it seems like my best bet is in putting some energy into distributed systems that push back against centralized control by corporations and governments, things that enpower people. A...