Theoretical Papers and Technical Reports
Three-place Identity,
Thomas Etter, 2006 (PDF)
Abstract: In this paper it will be shown that all of mathematics can be expressed in terms of
relative identity when this concept is formalized as a three-place predicate.
My focus here will be on the proof of this theorem, though I’ll also take a brief look at
how three-place identity might help to expand the horizons of science, which is the main topic
of a longer paper, Membership and Identity, forthcoming.
Link Physics in a Nutshell,
Thomas Etter, 2005 (PDF)
A concise and accessible summary and introduction to the Link Theory point of view on Physics.
Does God Play Dice?,
Richard Shoup, with H. Pierre Noyes, 2005
[slides: PDF]
Abstract: Chance and randomness play an important part in science and in daily life.
Randomness is used significantly in encryption and security, communications systems,
simulation algorithms, and many other applications in science and technology.
In everyday life, from the weather to lottery drawings, we are all subject to the
unpredictabilities of Nature. Or are we? For over 80 years, there has been at the
core of quantum physics an assumption of unequivocal and fundamental randomness.
But is it really so? Recent evidence suggests that random number generators around
the world have produced striking deviations from chance during certain human events.
We will present this evidence along with its implications for science and society, and
briefly introduce a new foundational approach to quantum physics ("Link Theory") that
could explain these phenomena -- and much more. The presentation will include remarks by
our collaborator H. Pierre Noyes, former head of Theoretical Physics and Professor Emeritus
at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
Anomalies & Constraints,
Richard Shoup, 2001
[paper: PDF,
slides: HTML]
"Anomalies & Constraints - Can clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis
be accommodated within known physics?
", Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2002, pp. 3-18.
About physics as relations, causality (influence) flowing both forward and
backward in time, and how this might explain certain (well-confirmed, but
poorly understood) physical phenomena often called "psi".
Also discusses the important connection to EPR phenomena in quantum physics.
Presented at the Society for
Scientific Exploration conference, San Diego, June 2001.
Among the most difficult yet tantalizing anomalies
confronting science today are those usually called "psychic"
or "psi" phenomena. Laboratory evidence strongly suggests
that these well-confirmed but enigmatic phenomena are due to real
physical effects which are as yet poorly understood.
This paper presents a simple theory of relational
contraints (Link Physics) that predicts exactly the type of psi
phenomena which are often observed in controlled laboratory experiments
-- without requiring any new forces, fields, particles, or any other
major insult to established physical law within its proper domain.
To illustrate the theory, a simple hypothetical psi experiment is
described to explore the full implications of random processes interacting
in an environment where constraints may be present on both the past
and the future. This theory is testable, can help to clarify some
of the stranger aspects of quantum physics, gives new insight into
the nature of randomness and causality, and carries significant
implications for future science and for society as a whole.
Dynamical
Markov States and the Quantum Core, Thomas Etter, 2001
[slides: HTML, PDF]
Presented at the Society
for Scientific Exploration conference, San Diego, June 2001.
Might it be that the core laws of quantum mechanics,
like entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, really belong
to a wider domain of nature than physics? In this paper we show
the mathematical fact that the laws of the quantum core, in a generalized
form, are just the defining equations of Markov processes. The primary
result of this work is to mathematically extend the basic conception
of lawful change that underlies current scientific practice. This
extended lawfulness retains Markovian separability, but no longer
require separation into functional parts with unidirectional causality.
In other words, it no longer requires that the internal variables
be inputs connected only to outputs. The links between parts, and
even between past and future, can now have a two-way information
flow.
Many parts of our culture today share a strong discontent with the
technocratic narrowness of science as it stands. The broader message
here is that nature, including human nature, has many ways of being
besides using things. A world that is nothing but functionality
is a world fit only to be used. Here we describe an alternative
to functional composition that is nonetheless accessible to the
engineer’s mathematical tools. We show how this alternative way
of thinking can simply explain some of the more puzzling laws of
physics, and perhaps even steer the intellectual power of science
into a better partnership with the whole of nature.
Process,
System, Causality and Quantum Mechanics, Thomas Etter, 1997
(PDF)
Tom's "long paper" on all
of basic Link Physics. Revised and recently published in Physics
Essays, Vol. 12, No. 4, Dec. 1999.
Reflections
on PSCQM, Thomas Etter, 2001 (PDF)
An update and extension to the above
PSCQM paper, recently published in H. Pierre Noyes
Bit-String
Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy,
World Scientific 2001.
Theories
of Psi, Thomas Etter, 1997
(PDF)
1997 ANPA West paper about causality,
the relativization of AND, etc, with a new postscript (2002) by the
author. See also the related article by Jack Kotik, My
Kingdom for a Theory, which first appeared in the Bardian, Bard
College alumni magazine, Spring 2002.
Link Theory, Part I: The Basics, Richard Shoup & Thomas Etter,
1998
(PDF)
Introduction to the mathematics of
Link Theory and its applications.
Link
Theory, Part II: The Miracle, Thomas Etter & Richard Shoup,
1998
(PDF)
Link Theory derivation of the core
laws of quantum mechanics, beginnings of an explanation of the "miracle"
of quantum measurement.
Link
Theory and Psi - Clairvoyance, Precognition, and PK without Rewriting
Physics?, Richard Shoup, 2000
(PDF)
Similar to "Anomalies and Constraints"
paper above.
The
Expressive Power of Equality, Thomas Etter, 2001
(PDF)
Shows how three equality relations
are enough to express all of mathematics.
Relation-arithmetic
Revived, Thomas
Etter, 2000
(PDF)
Structure
Theory, Thomas
Etter, 1999
(PDF)
Psi,
Influence and Link Theory, Thomas Etter, 1998
(PDF)
Survey of Mathematical Theory of Paracausality, Thomas Etter,
1977 (HTML)
Early mathematics of Link Theory, including
psi-like effects from future boundary conditions, condensation of
diffuse backward influences, experimenter effects, etc. Establishes
definitively Tom's claim to development
of the deep connection between the core laws of quantum mechanics
and simple mathematical structures.
(Appendix to a 1977 grant proposal, included here as page images for
the historical record.)
On
The Occurrence of Some Familiar Processes Reversed in Time, Thomas
Etter, 1960(!)
(PDF)
Tom's earliest writing about double
boundary conditions, a mathematical approach to quantum physics, etc.
