research-notes/blog/content/notes/002-building-the-scaffolding/files/roadmap.md

Maxwell Roadmap

From Concept to Proof of Concept

---

The Real Deliverables

Maxwell is a research project.

Deliverable	Purpose	Required?
Planning Video	Shows how you think—the whiteboard session breaking down the three paradoxes	YES
Baseline Data	Proves Linux CFS wastes energy on parasites—the "before" in your story	YES
The Narrative	The interview answer and GitHub README	YES
Sprint 1 (Real MSRs)	Deeper systems credibility, thermal-aware pricing	Optional
Sprint 2-4 (Full PoC)	Maxwell kills the Leech—the "after" that proves the thesis	Optional

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Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      ROADMAP PHASES                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  DAY 0          BASELINE        SPRINT 1        SPRINT 2        │
│  ──────         ────────        ────────        ────────        │
│  Environment    Control         Physics         Hypervisor      │
│  Setup          Experiment      Engine          Integration     │
│     │              │               │               │            │
│     ▼              ▼               ▼               ▼            │
│  Rust crates    Agents +        Real MSR/RAPL   Firecracker     │
│  + toolchain    Linux CFS       + PID control   + Vsock         │
│                 + Metrics                                       │
│                                                                 │
│  ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════   │
│  │ Research COMPLETE HERE  │     (Optional for commercial)      │
│  ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════   │
│                                                                 │
│  SPRINT 3        SPRINT 4                                       │
│  ────────        ────────                                       │
│  Economy         Multi-Agent                                    │
│  Implementation  Demo                                           │
│     │               │                                           │
│     ▼               ▼                                           │
│  Landauer's      Natural Selection                              │
│  Tax + eBPF      Dashboard + Video                              │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Research Validation Summary

The following parameters have been empirically validated:

Component	Original Assumption	Research Finding	Status
Pause/Resume Latency	<10ms achievable	<10ms requires CPU pinning + RT priority	✅ Conditional
eBPF Overhead	~500ns, <1%	480ns validated; needs ringbuf for <1%	✅ Validated
RAPL Accuracy	±5%	±5% only on calibrated hosts (Tier 1)	✅ Conditional
PID Time Constant	τ=1s fixed	τ varies 0.3-3.5s by hardware class	✅ Implemented
GSP PoA Bound	1.618	1.618 at steady-state; 1.8-2.2 dynamic	✅ Validated

---

Day 0: Environment Setup

Hardware Requirements

Bare metal is required. You cannot develop a thermal-aware hypervisor inside a cloud VM because the hypervisor hides the physics.

Day 0 Exit Criteria

• Rust nightly compiles
• Firecracker binary runs
• MSR readable: sudo rdmsr 0x611 returns a value
• Project compiles: cargo build

---

Baseline: The Control Experiment

Goal: Build agents and measurement infrastructure. Run Linux CFS baseline. Capture data showing "fair" scheduling wastes energy.

Baseline Exit Criteria

• Both agents build and run in Docker
• Metrics collection captures temp, power, primes at 1Hz
• 5-minute baseline run completes without errors
• Summary shows efficiency (primes/Joule) under "fair" scheduling

---

Sprint 1: The Physics Engine

Goal: Replace MockThermal with real hardware telemetry.

• Step 1.1: MSR Interface (read real temperature)
• Step 1.2: PID Controller (smooth price response)
• Step 1.3: Stress Test (verify under load)

---

Sprint 2: The Cell Membrane

Goal: Replace thread-sleep with actual VM containment.

• Step 2.1: Firecracker Jailer
• Step 2.2: Vsock Tunnel
• Step 2.3: Pause/Resume Control (<10ms latency)

---

Sprint 3: The Economy

Goal: Implement Landauer's Tax.

• Step 3.1: eBPF Instrumentation (track munmap/madvise)
• Step 3.2: Tax Logic (debit wallet on memory free)
• Step 3.3: Bankruptcy Handler (trigger apoptosis)

---

Sprint 4: The Demonstration

Goal: Multi-agent natural selection demo with dashboard.

• Step 4.1: The Good Agent (Scientist - finds primes)
• Step 4.2: The Bad Agent (Miner - burns cycles, churns memory)
• Step 4.3: Dashboard (TUI showing auction, thermal, wallets)

The Demo Script

1. Launch both agents with equal funding
2. Watch Miner drive thermal load → prices spike
3. Miner burns through capital → apoptosis
4. Temperature drops → Scientist resumes at lower price

Closing line: "We demonstrated that resource constraints can enforce economic discipline on autonomous agents."