Hello!

I am Botao ‘Amber’ Hu—call me Amber (him/he).

I'm a PhD candidate in Human Centred Computing at University of Oxford's Department of Computer Science, supervised by Prof. Max Van Kleek. I was also a researcher in the Summer of Protocols.

Research: As a Social Computing researcher, my long-term interest is Cyborg Sociology—the study of societies transformed by human augmentation through Crypto, XR, AI, and other technologies. During my PhD, I focus on Decentralized AI (DeAI)—specifically DeAI governance through Decentralized Agent Symbiosis and DeAI applications through Intelligence as a Commons. My research applies Protocol Studies, Artificial Life, Collective Intelligence, Trust Systems, Human-AI Symbiosis thinking. I've proposed a Trust Experience Design (TXD) manifesto for distributed autonomous futures. See more here: https://tx.design.

Design: I also work as an Experiential Futures designer across various media, with Mixed Reality as my primary media. I employ diverse design approaches including Speculative Design, Somaesthetic Design, More-Than-Human Design, and Game Design. I direct Reality Design Lab, while I teach Mixed Reality Design at China Academy of Art. See more my design works: https://reality.design. I also invented HoloKit, an open-source mixed reality headset designed for spatial computing education: https://holokit.io.

Google Scholar: Botao Amber Hu LinkedIn: Botao Amber Hu Bluesky: @botao.hu GitHub: botaohu X: @bah_eth

If you're interested in learning more or discussing potential collaborations, please don't hesitate to interact with me.

Research Statement

Research Interests:

Cyborg Sociology

• Pillar 1: Designing Trust After Autonomy
• Trust Experience Design (TXD)
• Is Decentralized AI Governable? (2025)
• Is That Agent Credible? (2026) — Soulbound Agent (2026)
• How Can I Trust That Agents? (2026) — Inter-Agent Trust (2025)
• Is That Agent Vouched? (2026) — Insured Agents (2026)
• AI for Commoning (AI4C)
• Trustless Autonomy (2026)
• VitaMeme (2026)
• Agentic Serendipity (2026)
• Autonomous Commoning (2026)
• Agentic Mortality and Sovereignty
• What is a Sovereign Agent? (2026) — Spore in the Wild (2025)
• Some[Body] Must Receive That Pain (2026) — Mortal Agents (2026)
• Unstoppable Nature (2024) — EverForest (2024)
• Composable Life (2023) — ERC42424 (2035)
• Pillar 2: Designing Reality Across Umwelten
• More-Than-Human Through Human Augmentation (>HtH+)
• Becoming Bats (2024) — EchoVision (2024)
• Becoming Moles (2025) — FeltSight (2025)
• Entangling as Mycorrhizas (2026) — FungiSync (2024)
• Move Like an Octopus (2026) — TentacUs (2025)
• Embodying as AI (2025) — City of Sparkles (2019)
• Embodying the Shoggoth (2026) — AlignMon (2026)
• Protocolizing Mixed Reality (Realverse)
• Mixed Reality Street Play (2025) — MOFA (2023)
• Nudging the Soma (2026) — GravField (2024)
• Allow Me Into Your Dream (2026) — TouchPort (2025)
• Leak from Otherworld (2026) — WhatsReality (2026)
• Just a Glimpse (2026) — HoloMasks (2026)
• Autonomous Realities (2025) — Rockyu (2025)
• Pillar 3: Designing Life for Flourishing
• Protocols for Flourishing
• Serendipity at Edge (2026) — Social Layer (2025)
• Protocol as Poetry (2025)
• Protocol Futuring (2026)
• Understand Protocol Design (2026)
• Impact Drift (2026)
• Augmenting the Soma
• Don’t Die! (2025) — Cybroc (2024)
• Somatic Hieroglyphs (2025) — Body Oracle (2024)
• Seeing the Somadata (2026) — Cell Space (2024)
• Glitching the Empathy (2026)
• On Improvisation and Open-Endedness (2026)

Legend: Full Paper (Year of Publication) — Design Work (Year of Design)