Fractal Reference Library
Curated reference materials for the entire fractal-governance lineage ZAO Fractal sits inside. Synthesized from primary sources (Larimer’s books, Medium announcements, official websites, GitHub repos) and ZAO’s internal research library.
Read order
For a complete picture, read in order. Each file is standalone.
| # | File | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | fractal-democracy-theory.md | Larimer’s More Equal Animals, sortition, why Fibonacci |
| 02 | fractally-protocol.md | The 2022 Fractally protocol + Respect token concept |
| 03 | eden-on-eos.md | First practical implementation, April 2021 |
| 04 | genesis-fractal.md | The 30-week 2022 experiment that proved weekly cadence |
| 05 | eden-fractal.md | The R&D sibling, May 2022-present (EOS to Base) |
| 06 | optimism-fractal.md | The Ethereum chapter, Oct 2023-Jan 2026 (PAUSED) |
| 07 | respect-token-mechanics.md | Soulbound, Fibonacci, decay, Gini coefficient |
| 08 | ordao-orec-frapps.md | The Optimystics software stack |
| 09 | respect-game-process.md | The weekly meeting, step by step |
| 10 | fractal-communities-directory.md | Every known fractal, alive or dormant |
| 11 | key-people.md | Larimer, SingJoy, Tadas, Rosmari, Becker, Zaal |
| 12 | comparison-vs-traditional-daos.md | Fractal vs token-weighted vs multisig vs quadratic |
| 13 | related-experiments.md | Fractal Nouns, IYKYK, async-GitHub fractal idea |
| 14 | timeline.md | Master timeline 2014-2026 |
| 15 | sources.md | Index of every primary URL |
How to use this
- Writing the ZAO Fractal whitepaper? Start with 01 + 02 (theory), then 07 + 08 + 09 (mechanics), then 05 + 06 (lineage), then 12 (comparative case).
- Onboarding a new member? Hand them 11 (people) + 09 (the weekly process) + ZAO Fractal sections in the root README.
- Pitching a partner or grant? Lead with 12 (comparison) + 06 (Optimism Fractal pause leaves ZAO as the only active OP fractal) + ZAO’s music-fractal uniqueness from 10.
- Adapting the fractal model for a new community (sprint, region, vertical)? See 09 (process), 07 (Respect mechanics), and 13 (the ZAOstock sprint variant + GitHub-async idea live in ZAO’s research library).
Honest scope
This is reference material, not the ZAO Fractal whitepaper. It exists to make sure anyone writing about ZAO Fractal can ground their words in verified history instead of inventing it. Every external claim traces to a primary URL listed in sources.md. When numbers are missing, the doc says so explicitly.