Qimes

Qimes is a fictional concept used in speculative fiction and theoretical discussions to describe a class of autonomous, decentralized digital agents that form a distributed network. In most imaginings, qimes are small software objects that can reside on diverse devices and collaborate to perform tasks, learn, and adapt without a central controller.

Key properties include self-organization, resilience to node failures, and low resource requirements. They communicate through short peer-to-peer exchanges and use probabilistic inference to decide actions, with governance usually defined by embedded ethics rules, consent constraints, and sometimes external oversight.

Origins and usage: The idea of qimes emerged in modern debates about distributed artificial intelligence and digital sovereignty, serving as a narrative device to explore how autonomous systems might coordinate while preserving user autonomy and privacy.

Variants: Some depictions differentiate soft versus hard qimes, varying in autonomy and ability to migrate tasks across devices; others emphasize energy efficiency or security.

In criticism: Scholars discuss qimes as a thought experiment about control, accountability, and the social implications of ubiquitous software agents. Outside fiction, the term is rarely used in formal theory, and references typically frame it as a hypothetical concept. Related ideas include distributed AI, swarm intelligence, mesh networks, and digital ethics.