🎨What is Recursion?

In simple terms, recursion involves one "Inscription" asking for the content of another "Inscription," essentially placing an Inscription within another Inscription. Inscription Inception if you will.

https://github.com/ordinals/ord/pull/2167#issuecomment-1586342841

Recursive inscriptions have truly unlocked a new realm of infinite possibilities on Bitcoin. Recursion represents a wholly on-chain procedure that employs scripts to amalgamate diverse on-chain data sources. These sources may encompass image layers, audio, code, or other data types. Individual code scripts intertwine these layers through the process of recursion.

Recursive inscriptions harness data previously inscribed elsewhere in fresh inscriptions, effectively reducing storage requirements.Recursion utilizes cloud computing technology if you will, to call or ask for the content of another inscription on bitcoin.

This small change unlocks, an infinite amount of possibilities. Instead of a project inscribing the normal 10k JPEG files for a standard PFP collection, which would be expensive of course, the traits and/or metadata would be inscribed. Than you could make 10k more inscriptions, with each of these inscriptions using a small amount of code to request or call traits and therefore rendering the image.

As an example, Fox illustrates the concept using PFP art. Instead of the laborious task of uploading thousands of unique images, which can be exorbitant, you can upload just 200 and employ scripts to merge them seamlessly via the fully on-chain recursion process. The potential unlocked by this approach is currently only scratching the surface.

This innovation holds immense power because it facilitates entirely new types of applications that were previously unattainable. Applications like on-chain AI, which were unfeasible on the foundational layer of Ethereum, are now within reach on Bitcoin. An enthusiast in this space, Punk 3700, has been experimenting with "Perceptrons," an early on-chain AI endeavor on the Bitcoin network.

There is a belief that with the implementation of recursive inscriptions, Ordinals could transition from being merely NFTs and "digital artifacts" to becoming the foundational infrastructure for a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem on the Bitcoin network.

Through the establishment of interconnections among data via a sequence of calls, such as a contract for a sell order, it becomes feasible to extract this data and execute more intricate processes firmly rooted in Bitcoin blocks.

Recursive inscriptions signify that even the most intricate data collections, such as video and audio files, could potentially find a home on the Bitcoin network. With a single inscription cost, data could be perpetually hosted on the world's most immutable and decentralized network.

Recursive inscriptions leverage pre-inscribed data in fresh inscriptions, thereby reducing storage demands. This approach optimizes resource utilization.

Now, let's expand our horizons even further. What if we were to inscribe packages of code that anyone could access? This is precisely what @OnChainMonkey has achieved. They've inscribed the entire p5.js and Three.js npm packages on-chain and harnessed recursion to invoke these packages from inscriptions in their upcoming Dimensions release.

This approach has empowered them to craft stunning 3D art with a footprint of under 1 KB. What makes this even more remarkable is that this capability is accessible to everyone. These inscribed packages have become a public resource, making it cost-effective for generative art creation.

Now, picture a scenario where numerous individuals contribute packages of code. This would give rise to an extensive repository of code packages for developers to build upon. It unlocks the potential for powerful use cases that were previously inconceivable within the confines of a 4 MB limit. After all, intricate software is essentially an amalgamation of various code components.

This innovation sets the stage for the possibility of storing an entire 3D video game on the Bitcoin blockchain. The possibilities are limitless. Bitcoin is evolving into an internal internet, where each file can request data from others on the Bitcoin network.