Thomas L. Etter collected papers, 1960-2008

Tom is retired now and living comfortably in Sonoma, California. See more of Tom's papers in the archives of the Journal of ANPA West,
which Tom also edited for a number of years, and see the Boundary Institute web site for additional papers on these subjects.

Causality, physics, time, and related Process, System, Causality and Quantum Mechanics, Thomas Etter, 1997 Tom's "long paper" on all of basic Link Physics. Revised and published with H. Pierre Noyes in Physics Essays, Vol. 12, No. 4, Dec. 1999. Reflections on PSCQM, Thomas Etter, 2001 An update and extension to the above PSCQM paper, published in H. Pierre Noyes Bit-String Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy, World Scientific 2001. Dynamical Markov States and the Quantum Core, Thomas Etter, 2001 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. On the Occurrence of Some Familiar Processes Reversed in Time, Thomas Etter, 1960(!) Tom's earliest writing about double boundary conditions, a mathematical approach to quantum physics, etc. Outline of a New Science, Thomas Etter, 2002 Introduction to Tom's thinking (and perhaps an eventual book) about a transformation of science and the difference between fundamental science and advanced science. [DRAFT] Quantum Mechanics as a Branch of Mereology, Tom Etter, 1996 In this paper I shall argue that the core of quantum mechanics -- by which I mean that part of it that is given by the quantum unitary dynamical law (generalized Schrodinger equation), the Born probability law, and the projection postulate -- really belongs to mereology, the mathematical theory of parts and wholes. ["extended abstract"]

Link Theory, physics, and related Link Theory - From Logic to Quantum Physics, Richard Shoup and Thomas Etter, 2008 Abstract: This informal paper presents the basic ideas and mechanics of Link Theory, along with several examples from diverse domains including logic and digital circuits, arithmetic and statistical reasoning, and quantum physics and quantum computing. Link Physics in a Nutshell, Thomas Etter, 2005 A concise and accessible summary and introduction to the Link Theory point of view on Physics. Link Theory, Part I: The Basics, Richard Shoup and Thomas Etter, 1998 Introduction to the mathematics of Link Theory and its applications. Link Theory, Part II: The Miracle, Thomas Etter and Richard Shoup, 1998 Link Theory derivation of the core laws of quantum mechanics, beginnings of an explanation of the "miracle" of quantum measurement. Complex Numbers in Link Theory, Tom Etter, 1997 Following an idea by Mackey, this paper shows how to represent complex case counts in Link Theory using additional table rows. How to Take Apart a Wire, Tom Etter, 1996 Quantum mechanics is without question the most successful theory ever, and is steadily becoming more so. But what does it mean? I don't see that the march of progress in physics has brought us much closer to an answer. The questions we have the most trouble with seem to belong to a level more fundamental than physics, and we will probably need a whole new science that operates on this more fundamental level to answer them. The present paper is an attempt in this direction. Psi and physics Theories of Psi, Thomas Etter, 1997 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. Survey of Mathematical Theory of Paracausality, Thomas Etter, 1977 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.) Psi, Influence and Link Theory, Thomas Etter, 1998 Trying to create a science of parapsychology with our present primitive understanding of causality is like trying to do long-distance navigation with a map of the flat Earth. Mathematics and related Three-Place Identity, Thomas Etter, 2006 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. The Expressive Power of Equality, Thomas Etter, 2001 This paper, a precursor to "Three-Place Identity", discusses how three equality relations are enough to express all of mathematics. Relation-arithmetic Revived, Thomas Etter, 2000 Russell and Whitehead had planned to cap off their Principia Mathematica with a last volume devoted to what they called relation-arithmetic, which was to be a general theory of mathematical structure. Alas, this intriguing project was never completed. The existing Principia does introduce its basic idea, but progress ground to a halt when they came to higher-order relations. Russell had a vision of relation-arithmetic as a tool that would extend the power of ordinary arithmetic to structure in general, including the structure of the empirical world. His vision will become our point of departure. Structure Theory, Thomas Etter, 1999 The history of physics has been a dialogue among four modes of description: kinematics, dynamics, statics and atomics, each with its own distinctive mode of explanation. The present essay will explore a more fundamental and more unified mode of description called structure theory, within which all four of these physical modes have their abstract precursors. Structure theory is a very general analytical tool. Surprisingly, certain of its general theorems turn out to provide a simple and natural explanation of the core of quantum mechanics. [Draft] Gödel's Theorem in a Nutshell, Tom Etter, 2001 English, like all modern languages, can describe its own grammar. Gödel’s theorem is a very surprising discovery about such languages. What it says is that they all contain certain propositions about their own grammar whose truth is perfectly obvious to anyone who understands them, but which their self-described rules of grammar cannot formally disclose.

Devices, patents, miscellaneous A Random Stimulus Generator, Thomas L. Etter, Psychophysiology, Vol 2, No 4, 1966 "In the course of our investigation into certain physiological phenomena, we needed a device to present automatically a succession of visual stimuli at random intervals which are within certain limits. As no such device is commercially available, we were obliged to design and build one; The present paper describes certain key parts of our design which may be of general interest." Random Output Control Circuit, US Patent 3,427,478, Thomas L. Etter, Feb. 11, 1969 "A circuit for insuring the provision of randomly spaced pulses. A noise generator is utilized to vary the frequency of a square wave oscillator, the output of which is used to open and close a gate sequentially upon the occurrence of alternate half-cycles of the oscillator. The frequency of the output is varied randomly by a component of the voltage signal supplied by the noise generator." The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed, by Racter, 1983 The computer program Racter written by William Chamberlain and Thomas Etter authored this entire book in 1983, see the Wikipedia article on Racter and links therein. The complete book is available here [33 MB]. From the introduction by Chamberlain: "Racter, which was written in compiled BASIC on a Z80 micro with 64K of RAM, conjugates both regular and irregular verbs, prints the singular and the plural of both regular and irregular nouns, remembers the gender of nouns, and can assign variable status to randomly choosen "things." These things can be individual words, clause or sentence forms, paragraph structures, indeed whole story forms. In this way, certain aspect so the rules of English are entered into the computer. This being the case, the programmer is removed to a very great extent from the specific form of the system's output. This output is no longer a preprogrammed form. Rather, the computer forms output on its own."