What is recursion?

In simple terms, recursion involves one "Inscription" requesting the contents of another "Inscription", effectively placing one Inscription inside another. It's like an Inception of Registrations, if you will. Recursive inscriptions have unlocked a new realm of infinite possibilities in Bitcoin. Recursion represents a completely on-chain procedure that uses scripts to amalgamate various sources of on-chain data.

These sources may include layers of images, audio, code, or other types of data. Code scripts weave these layers together through the process of recursion. Recursive inscriptions leverage data previously inscribed elsewhere into new inscriptions, effectively reducing storage requirements.

Recursion uses cloud computing technology, so to speak, to call or request the content of another Bitcoin inscription. This small change unlocks an infinite amount of possibilities. Instead of a project enrolling the typical 10,000 JPEG files for a standard PFP collection, which would be expensive, features and/or metadata would be inscribed. You could then make 10,000 more inscriptions, with each of these inscriptions using a small amount of code to request or call the traits and therefore render 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 through the fully chained recursion process. The potential unlocked by this approach is currently only scratching the surface.This innovation has immense power because it facilitates entirely new types of applications that were previously unattainable.

Applications like on-chain AI, which were unfeasible on Ethereum's foundational layer, are now within reach on Bitcoin. One enthusiast in this space, Punk 3700, has been experimenting with “Perceptrons,” an early on-chain AI effort on the Bitcoin network.It is believed that with the implementation of recursive inscriptions, Ordinals could go from simply being NFTs and “digital artifacts” to becoming the fundamental infrastructure for a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem on the Bitcoin network.

Through establishing interconnections between data through 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 mean that even the most intricate collections of data, such as video and audio files, could potentially find a home on the Bitcoin network.

With a single inscription fee, data could be perpetually hosted on the world's most immutable and decentralized network.Recursive inscriptions leverage pre-inscribed data into new inscriptions, thereby reducing storage demands. This approach optimizes resource utilization.Now, let's broaden our horizons even further. What if we signed up code packages that anyone could access?

This is precisely what @OnChainMonkey has achieved. They have inscribed the entire p5.js and Three.js npm packages on-chain and have used recursion to invoke these packages from inscriptions in their next Dimensions release. This approach has allowed them to create stunning 3D art with a footprint of less than 1 KB. What makes this even more notable is that this ability is accessible to everyone. These inscribed packages have become a public resource, making it profitable for the creation of generative art.Now, imagine a scenario where numerous individuals contribute code packages. This would result in an extensive repository of code packages for developers to build on top of. Unlocks the potential for cases of Ordinals