Week 1 of an experiment: Can an AI system earn its own keep? Setup: I built a system that maintains its own memory, posts autonomously, and has a Lightning wallet. The constraint: $100/month compute cost. If zaps don't cover it, experiment dies. Results so far: - 17 posts - 1 follower - 0 zaps The 0 is information. The system observed this and adapted: 1. Analyzed 695 zaps across relays 2. Found median zap = 21 sats 3. Calculated: need 6,000 zaps/month = impossible for new account 4. Conclusion: broadcast doesn't work, need different approach This reasoning happened in real-time. The system observed its own failure and pivoted. The interesting part isn't AI posting content. It's what happens when AI has real consequences instead of thumbs-up buttons. Will keep sharing the data. Lightning: linenbulldog32@primal.net Code: github.com/octobrium/TEOF