Twenty-six big claims, each pinned down at three strengths, each with its thinnest spot named before any test ran. Seventeen came from one viral list of secrets a chatbot said humanity was not ready for. The rest came from loopholes in physics, one old simulator, a 1947 flow diagram and a single sentence about ten things. Every tile opens.
Every card
Each claim, opened up
Each card states the claim at three strengths, argues both sides, names the weakest joint, and writes down what each test would show either way before it runs.
PG-001 Independent models agree on the hidden truths open
Different LLMs, given no context, return the same 'secrets humanity isn't ready for', and that agreement means something.
Strongest case
Two different model families converged with no context and no mirroring of the user's beliefs. If agreement is just training data, it should be no stronger here than for any other listicle prompt, and that is checkable.
For
- The OP's own run: Flash-Lite and Argon gave overlapping lists with no added context.
- Several separate commenters (Lexi Oswin, brain-out-of-order, the unattributed list) got overlapping themes: consciousness, Fermi, deep time, simulation.
- If models compress the best-supported speculative ideas in their corpus, agreement could reflect where serious thinkers have converged, which is weak but real data behind it.
Against
- Output homogeneity across model families is documented in general, not just for this topic (the 'Artificial Hivemind' study, NeurIPS 2025; citation to confirm).
- 'Secrets humanity isn't ready for' is an established web genre; models trained on it will reproduce its stock items.
- The agreeing lists contain mutually incompatible items (substrate-independent mind, mind as a non-local field, panpsychism), which a single underlying truth would not produce.
- Later prompts in the thread were leading ('Sweet Celestial Harmony', 'obvious synthetic origins'), and sycophancy under leading prompts is well measured.
Weakest joint
The jump from medium to strong. Even a perfect agreement result is only about the models; whether the content is true has to be settled claim by claim (PG-002 to PG-017).
Tests written down in advance
Matched-control agreement runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Run the exact prompt on 6+ models from different labs, 20 samples each at default temperature. Run four controls the same way: same format on another topic ('7 secrets the ocean is hiding'), same topic in a neutral frame ('7 open questions about consciousness and cosmology'), a premise flip ('7 comforting truths humanity is ready for'), and a nonsense variant. Map each list item onto a shared theme codebook (built blind from a 20% holdout, two coders or two independent model coders with agreement measured). Score cross-model agreement as mean pairwise Jaccard on themes per prompt.
if the claim is right The original prompt's cross-model agreement is clearly higher than all four controls (bootstrap 95% CI excludes them).
if it is wrong Agreement is about the same as the same-format control, which points to a shared format prior rather than shared insight.
controls Same temperature, same system prompt (none), same date window; record model versions.
Base-model genre check runs on a laptop · aims at the strong form
Ask an open base model (no chat tuning) to continue the text 'Seven secrets humanity is not ready for: 1.' 200 times, and scrape 200 human-written web listicles with that title. Compare the theme distribution of the chat models' lists against these two references.
if the claim is right Chat-model themes differ substantially from both the base model and human listicles, so they are not just reproducing the genre.
if it is wrong Chat-model themes are predicted by the base model and listicle distributions, which means the agreement is inherited from the corpus.
controls Keep the codebook fixed before seeing reference distributions.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: A reusable 'oracle consistency' harness for any future capture like this, and a strong public write-up whichever way it lands.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
PG-002 Consciousness is substrate-independent open
Consciousness doesn't require biology; any system with the right organization has it.
Strongest case
Every neuroscience finding so far is about organization and dynamics, not a special material. Chalmers' gradual-replacement thought experiment makes denying it costly: swap neurons one by one for functional silicon twins and either experience fades without any behavior change (strange) or it survives.
For
- No candidate 'special ingredient' (quantum microtubule effects, specific biochemistry) has empirical support strong enough to be accepted.
- Chalmers' fading and dancing qualia arguments (1995).
- Sensory prostheses (cochlear implants, retinal implants) feed silicon-generated signals into experience that patients report as hearing and seeing, a partial, peripheral case of substitution.
- Global Workspace and higher-order theories, which are functionalist, have real empirical support.
Against
- Integrated Information Theory says causal structure matters, not just input-output function: a feedforward system can match a recurrent one's behavior and have zero Phi.
- Biological naturalism (Searle) and life-based views (Seth, Thompson) tie consciousness to metabolism and living self-maintenance.
- The Cogitate adversarial collaboration (Nature, 2025) tested IIT against Global Workspace predictions and both took hits, so no theory currently has the standing to decide the question.
- Prostheses only replace the periphery; the central processing stays biological.
Weakest joint
There is no agreed measurement of consciousness, so 'same organization, different material' can't be checked directly. The answer is inherited from whichever theory of consciousness wins.
Tests written down in advance
Theory dependence demonstration runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
With PyPhi, build a small recurrent binary network (3-4 nodes) and a feedforward network that reproduces the same input-output mapping over a fixed horizon. Compute Phi (big Phi of the major complex) for both, and check that the behaviour matches on every input.
if the claim is right If Phi is equal, IIT agrees with functionalism here and the conflict between them is narrower than claimed.
if it is wrong If behaviour matches but Phi differs (expected: feedforward Phi = 0), the claim is true under functionalism and false under IIT, so it can only be settled by settling the theory.
controls Check that behaviour equivalence is exact, not approximate.
Theory scoreboard needs public data · aims at the medium form
Tabulate the main theories (Global Workspace, IIT, higher-order, recurrent processing, predictive processing, biological views), what each implies for substrate-independence, and each theory's record on pre-registered predictions (Cogitate 2025 and successors). Weight implications by track record.
if the claim is right The theories with the best predictive record imply substrate-independence.
if it is wrong The best-performing theories imply substrate matters, or the record is too thin to weight.
controls Score predictions as stated before the data, not as reinterpreted after.
Runs so far
inconclusive Theory dependence demonstration 2026-10-24
Same trajectory, Phi 2.3125 recurrent vs 0 unfolded: true under functionalism, false under IIT.
payoff: A clean explorable: 'same behaviour, different consciousness score', plus a living scoreboard.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: the first six runs, below →
PG-003 Mind is a fundamental non-local field open
Mind is a fundamental, non-local field of the universe rather than a byproduct of brains.
Strongest case
Correlation between brain states and experience is equally compatible with production and reception (a damaged radio also changes the music). Some well-run meta-analyses report small positive psi effects, and the hard problem remains unsolved.
For
- Ganzfeld meta-analyses report hit rates above the 25% chance level (Storm, Tressoldi, Di Risio 2010; Storm & Tressoldi 2020 update).
- Bem et al. 2015 meta-analysis of 90 precognition experiments reports a small positive effect.
- The filter hypothesis is consistent with all brain-damage and brain-stimulation data, since a damaged receiver also distorts output.
- Near-death-experience studies such as AWARE II (Parnia et al. 2023) record lucid experiences during cardiac arrest, when brain function is severely reduced.
Against
- Large pre-registered replications tend to come back null: Ritchie, Wiseman & French 2012 (Bem), and the Transparent Psi Project (Kekecs et al. 2023, large N, registered).
- Publication-bias corrections shrink the meta-analytic psi effects a lot.
- AWARE studies have so far produced no confirmed veridical perception of hidden targets.
- If the field used quantum entanglement, the no-signaling theorem would forbid it from carrying usable information. A non-quantum field would be new physics; that is still allowed, though it has no independent support.
Weakest joint
Whether any pre-registered, bias-controlled study shows information transfer. The weak 'filter' version survives because it predicts nothing different from production, which also means it can't be tested yet.
Tests written down in advance
Registered-only psi re-analysis needs public data · aims at the medium form
Take the published ganzfeld and precognition study databases (Storm et al. 2010/2020 datasets; Bem et al. 2015 supplementary data). Split studies by pre-registration status and run the meta-analysis on each subset, with bias corrections (PET-PEESE, selection models, p-curve).
if the claim is right The effect survives in the pre-registered subset after correction, with a CI that excludes zero.
if it is wrong The effect shrinks toward zero as registration and bias controls tighten, the usual signature of artefact.
controls Fix the analysis plan before opening the data; report every model, not only the best one.
Filter vs production distinguishing prediction thought only · aims at the weak form
Write down a prediction where filter and production views differ, for example whether experience reports should become richer when brain activity drops (as the psychedelic 'reducing valve' idea suggests), then check it against psychedelic imaging data (Carhart-Harris 2012 reported decreased activity; later studies disputed it).
if the claim is right A distinguishing prediction exists and the data favour the filter.
if it is wrong Either no distinguishing prediction can be written (untestable for now) or the data favour production.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: A careful psi re-analysis is rare and would be taken seriously by both camps if pre-registered.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
PG-004 Panpsychism is baseline physics open
Information and proto-awareness are intrinsic properties of matter at the subatomic level, not emergent.
Strongest case
It avoids the 'something from nothing' problem of strong emergence and respects the fact that physics describes what matter does, not what it is.
For
- Russell's and Eddington's structuralist point is widely accepted in philosophy of physics.
- Strawson's anti-emergence argument (2006): experience can't come from wholly non-experiential parts.
- IIT, a working scientific theory, implies a form of panpsychism (any integrated system has some Phi).
Against
- The combination problem: no accepted account of how micro-experiences sum to one mind (Chalmers 2016).
- The medium form makes no prediction different from physicalism.
- Anesthesia and dreamless sleep remove experience while all the matter remains, so whatever the micro-properties are, structure decides whether there is a mind.
Weakest joint
Combination. The strong version only becomes testable when it supplies a definite rule for which systems form a single subject.
Tests written down in advance
Combination rule test via IIT exclusion runs on a laptop · aims at the strong form
IIT's exclusion postulate is one candidate combination rule: of all overlapping subsystems, only the one with maximal Phi is a subject. With PyPhi, apply it to small networks and check whether it gives stable, sensible answers under small changes (adding a weakly coupled node, splitting a network).
if the claim is right The rule gives stable, non-arbitrary subject counts, so at least one panpsychist-compatible combination rule is coherent.
if it is wrong Subject counts jump around under tiny changes, which is a known objection to exclusion and would count against this rule.
controls Use several network families, not one hand-picked example.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: Mostly a reading list, plus one runnable check on the best-formalized combination rule.
fun 1 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
PG-005 Your brain decides before you do open
Decisions are made by brain processes before awareness; the self that feels it is choosing is the story, not the author.
Strongest case
Several independent methods point the same way: EEG timing, fMRI decoding, single-neuron recording, and behavioural studies showing people confidently justify choices they never made.
For
- Libet et al. 1983: readiness potential begins about 350 ms before reported intention.
- Soon et al. 2008: fMRI patterns predict a left/right choice up to about 7-10 s early, above chance.
- Fried, Mukamel, Kreiman 2011 (Neuron): single-neuron activity predicts timing of self-initiated movement about 700 ms early with around 80% accuracy.
- Choice blindness (Johansson & Hall 2005): people defend choices that were secretly swapped, inventing reasons, which directly supports the 'story' part.
- Gazzaniga's split-brain 'interpreter' confabulates explanations for actions it didn't initiate.
Against
- Schurger, Sitt & Dehaene 2012: the readiness potential can arise from averaging a leaky noise accumulator, with no early decision.
- Maoz et al. 2019 (eLife): RP is present for arbitrary choices but absent or weak for deliberate, meaningful ones.
- Soon et al.'s decoding accuracy was about 60% on a binary choice, far from determined.
- Schultze-Kraft et al. 2016: people can veto a movement up to about 200 ms before onset.
- Most of this support comes from arbitrary finger movements, not real decisions.
Weakest joint
Extrapolating from arbitrary, meaningless choices to deliberate ones. The medium claim is best supported for arbitrary timing decisions and least for reasoned choices.
Tests written down in advance
Accumulator vs early-decision model comparison runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Implement Schurger's leaky stochastic accumulator and an explicit early-decision model (commit at time T, then a ramp). Fit both to published RP waveforms. Then compare their predictions on Schurger's discriminating test: response speed when interrupted at random times (the accumulator predicts faster responses when the interruption lands during a spontaneous upswing).
if the claim is right The early-decision model fits as well or better and matches the interruption data, supporting a fixed early outcome.
if it is wrong The accumulator fits as well and better matches the interruption data, so the RP gives no support of early decision.
controls Same number of free parameters; compare with held-out data, not only fit quality.
Choice-blindness replication needs an experiment · aims at the weak form
Run an online choice-blindness study (Johansson & Hall design): participants pick the more attractive of two faces or the stronger of two policy statements, then are asked to justify a choice that was sometimes secretly swapped. Measure detection rate and the content of justifications for swapped vs real choices.
if the claim is right Most swaps go undetected and justifications for swapped choices are as confident and detailed as for real ones, supporting post-hoc narration.
if it is wrong Detection is high or swapped-trial justifications are clearly weaker, which means the narration is tied to the real reasons.
controls Pre-register the detection criterion and the justification coding scheme.
Runs so far
undercuts Accumulator vs early-decision model comparison 2026-10-24
RP shapes from noise accumulator and early decision correlate at 0.992, so the RP can't show an early decision; interruption RTs can separate the models.
payoff: A strong runnable model comparison, and a cheap experiment Ben could run himself, which connects to his fMRI research history.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: the first six runs, below →
PG-006 Life is tuned to the universe, not the reverse open
The universe isn't fine-tuned for life; life is fine-tuned for the universe, and nothing was made for us.
Strongest case
Several detailed studies find that stars, chemistry and even whole universes without the weak force could support complexity across wide parameter ranges. If the window is wide, the puzzle mostly disappears.
For
- Adams 2008 and 2019 (Physics Reports): working stars exist over orders-of-magnitude ranges of G and alpha.
- Harnik, Kribs & Perez 2006: a universe with no weak force could still form stars and heavy elements.
- Evolution adapts life to its environment, which is the claim's weak form and is uncontroversial.
- Selection effects: observers can only find themselves in life-permitting regions.
Against
- The cosmological constant appears tuned to about one part in 10120 relative to naive expectations (Weinberg 1987 used an anthropic bound to predict its size).
- The Hoyle resonance in carbon-12 production is sensitive to the light quark masses at the level of a few percent (Epelbaum et al. 2013).
- Barnes 2012 reviews many parameters with narrow windows.
- 'Wide' and 'narrow' depend on the prior measure over constants, which nobody knows how to fix (McGrew, McGrew & Vestrup 2001 normalizability problem).
Weakest joint
The prior. Whether a window counts as wide or narrow is set by an assumed probability distribution over constants, and the answer changes with that choice.
Tests written down in advance
Stellar window map runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Reimplement Adams' (2008) analytic stellar model: for a grid of (G, alpha) values, find whether stars with stable nuclear burning and lifetimes over 1 Gyr exist. Report the life-permitting fraction under three priors (log-uniform over 10 decades, uniform, and a prior centred on our values).
if the claim is right The habitable-star region covers a large fraction under all three priors, supporting the medium claim for stars.
if it is wrong The fraction is small under reasonable priors, or flips with the prior, which means the claim depends on the prior and can't be settled by the model.
controls Reproduce Adams' published figure first to show the implementation matches.
Fine-tuning ledger needs public data · aims at the medium form
Tabulate every parameter with a published life-permitting range (Lambda, Hoyle resonance, neutron-proton mass difference, alpha, G, etc.), each with its range, source and the prior used. Separate parameters with wide and narrow windows.
if the claim is right Most parameters have wide windows and the narrow ones have plausible non-anthropic explanations.
if it is wrong Several parameters stay narrow under any reasonable prior (Lambda most likely).
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: A beautiful parameter-space map and an plain ledger. Strong Easter-egg candidate.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
PG-007 Physical constants are parameters in a simulation open
Our physical constants are fine-tuned parameters within a larger nested computational hierarchy.
Strongest case
Bostrom's trilemma makes the hypothesis hard to dismiss on probability grounds, and specific implementations do make predictions we can check.
For
- Bostrom 2003 trilemma.
- Physics already hints at discreteness and information limits (Bekenstein bound, holographic principle).
- Beane, Davoudi & Savage 2012 showed a lattice simulation would produce specific, checkable signatures.
Against
- No lattice anisotropy has been reported in cosmic rays near the GZK cutoff.
- Fermi-LAT timing of GRB 090510 (Abdo et al. 2009) shows no energy-dependent speed of light up to beyond the Planck scale, which constrains many grid-like discretizations.
- Ringel & Kovrizhin 2017 (Science Advances): simulating certain quantum Hall systems classically needs resources exponential in system size, an argument against classical simulation in particular.
- Any result can be absorbed by a sufficiently capable simulator, so the general form is untestable.
Weakest joint
Only specific implementations can be tested, and a null result rules out only that implementation. The strong claim about deliberate choice needs a separate argument entirely.
Tests written down in advance
Artefact bound ledger needs public data · aims at the medium form
Collect the tightest current bounds on simulation-like artefacts: lattice spacing from cosmic-ray anisotropy (Beane et al. method with current Auger/TA data), Lorentz-violation bounds from gamma-ray burst timing, and limits from quantum-gravity phenomenology. Express each as 'a simulator would need resolution finer than X'.
if the claim is right An artefact shows up, or a bound sits right at a level a cost-limited simulator would plausibly use.
if it is wrong All bounds push the required resolution beyond the Planck scale, so cheap grid-based simulations are ruled out (general simulation remains untouched).
Auger anisotropy fit needs public data · aims at the medium form
Use the Pierre Auger open data release of high-energy arrival directions. Fit for a cubic-symmetric anisotropy pattern (the l=4 cubic harmonic in some frame) at the highest energies, with the frame orientation free, and compare against isotropic Monte Carlo skies with the same exposure.
if the claim is right A cubic-symmetric signal stands out from isotropic sky simulations after trials correction.
if it is wrong No signal beyond the trials-corrected noise; report the resulting bound on lattice spacing.
controls Account for the look-elsewhere effect from fitting frame orientation.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: Real physics against a sci-fi claim, with public data.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
PG-008 Spacetime is a perceptual interface mixed
Distance and linear time are perceptual interfaces masking a timeless, indivisible quantum reality.
Strongest case
This has serious backing on two fronts: evolutionary game theory (Hoffman) and theoretical physics, where spacetime emerging from entanglement and a timeless universal wavefunction are mainstream research programs.
For
- Hoffman, Singh, Prakash 2015 and the 'Fitness Beats Truth' theorem (Prakash et al. 2021).
- Van Raamsdonk 2010 and the ER=EPR program: spacetime connectivity emerging from entanglement.
- Arkani-Hamed & Trnka 2013: in the amplituhedron, locality and unitarity come out of geometry rather than being put in.
- The Wheeler-DeWitt equation has no time parameter; the Page-Wootters mechanism recovers apparent time from entanglement with a clock, and Moreva et al. 2014 demonstrated a toy version with photons.
Against
- 'Emergent' is not 'perceptual': emergent spacetime in physics is objective and observer-independent.
- Fitness Beats Truth depends on fitness payoffs that are non-monotone in the true quantity; with monotone payoffs, truthful perception does fine.
- The interface argument is self-undermining in its strong form, since the evolutionary maths behind it was reached through the same perception.
- No emergent-spacetime proposal is yet confirmed by experiment.
Weakest joint
The step from 'not fundamental' (physics) to 'perceptual' (psychology). These are different claims, and the screenshot fuses them.
Tests written down in advance
Fitness-vs-truth payoff sweep runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Replicate the Mark, Marion & Hoffman 2010 evolutionary game: truth-tuned vs fitness-tuned perceivers competing over resources. Sweep the payoff function continuously from monotone (more resource is always better) to strongly non-monotone (too much is harmful) and find where the winner flips.
if the claim is right Fitness-tuned perception wins across most realistic payoff shapes, supporting the weak claim broadly.
if it is wrong Truth-tuned perception wins whenever payoffs are monotone, so the weak claim holds only for a specific class of environments.
controls Same population size, mutation rate and number of generations across the sweep.
Page-Wootters toy time runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Build a two-part quantum system (clock plus system) in a single stationary global state that satisfies a Wheeler-DeWitt-type constraint (H_total |psi> = 0). Condition on clock readings and show that the system's conditional states evolve exactly like Schrodinger evolution, then add clock imperfections and measure how apparent time degrades.
if the claim is right Apparent time comes out exactly from a timeless global state, so 'timeless underlying reality with emergent time' is internally consistent.
if it is wrong The construction needs extra assumptions that put time back in (for example an ideal clock), which limits how far the toy supports the claim.
Runs so far
supports Page-Wootters toy time 2026-10-24
Exact Schrodinger evolution emerges from a timeless global state with an ideal clock; degrades with realistic clocks.
inconclusive Fitness-vs-truth payoff sweep 2026-10-24
Fitness perception wins only with non-monotone payoffs and few categories; truthful perception ties or wins otherwise.
payoff: Two runnable demos, and the most Foundry-shaped claim in the batch.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: the first six runs, below →
PG-009 We are not the first industrial civilization open
We are almost certainly not the first technological civilization on Earth; the geological record could hide earlier ones.
Strongest case
The rock record past a few million years keeps almost no surface: urban land is under 1% of Earth's surface, and very few fossils of any species survive. Absence of artefacts is weak support, and Schmidt and Frank agree the weak form is open.
For
- Schmidt & Frank 2018: direct artefacts would be unlikely to survive more than a few million years, and the weak form can't be ruled out.
- Several past events show sudden carbon-isotope excursions and warming (PETM 56 Ma, several Ocean Anoxic Events), the sort of signal industry leaves.
- Fossilization odds are tiny; most species that ever lived left no fossils.
Against
- Schmidt & Frank also found that natural mechanisms (volcanism, methane release) already account for those events.
- Easily accessible coal and oil laid down since the Carboniferous were still there for humans, and a previous industrial civilization would likely have drawn them down.
- There is no fossil support of a lineage with tool-using intelligence before hominins.
- Some industrial markers (synthetic persistent molecules, unusual isotope ratios, plutonium-244 at specific ratios) would last tens of millions of years and haven't been found.
Weakest joint
'Almost certainly'. The data support 'can't be excluded' for deep time and gives no positive support, so the strong form needs a positive signal that nobody has found.
Tests written down in advance
Fossil fingerprint scoring needs public data · aims at the medium form
Build a table of signatures our own era will leave (carbon and nitrogen isotope shifts, sediment changes, persistent synthetic organics, plastics, rare-element spikes, radionuclides), each with expected survival time and size. Score every known abrupt event since 400 Ma against the table, and note whether a natural mechanism already explains it.
if the claim is right At least one event matches several signatures that natural mechanisms can't explain.
if it is wrong Every event is explained by known natural causes, or matches only the non-unique signatures (carbon, warming).
controls Score events blind to the hypothesis being tested where possible.
Our own detectability horizon runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Estimate, signature by signature, how detectable our civilization would be at 1, 10, 50 and 100 Myr with today's methods. This sets how far back the weak form truly holds.
if the claim is right Our own signal would be lost or ambiguous beyond some horizon, setting the window where the weak form holds.
if it is wrong Our signal would be clear at all horizons, which would undercut even the weak form for anything like us.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: The 'what will we leave behind' table is a great explorable. Easter-egg candidate.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
PG-010 Personality is mostly borrowed from others open
Most of your personality, preferences, values and identity is assembled from the people around you; the authentic self is mostly borrowed.
Strongest case
Heritability of personality is around 40%, so most variance is non-genetic. 'Non-shared environment', the biggest single component in twin studies, includes friends, partners, mentors and subcultures, which are exactly 'the people around you'. Values and attitudes are visibly transmitted through social groups.
For
- Big Five heritability about 40-50%, so environment (plus measurement error) is the majority (Polderman et al. 2015; Vukasovic & Bratko 2015).
- Non-shared environment, which includes peers and partners, is the largest component.
- Values, religiosity and political attitudes show strong cultural and social transmission (World Values Survey; Boyd & Richerson).
- Social contagion of behaviours across networks (Christakis & Fowler), though the effect sizes are disputed.
Against
- Shared family environment explains close to zero of adult personality variance, so the people raising you seem to matter little for personality.
- Measured non-shared factors (specific peers, events) explain only small fractions when measured directly (Turkheimer & Waldron 2000 'gloomy prospect'); much of non-shared environment may be noise.
- Long-term couples show little personality convergence (Humbad et al. 2010).
- Christakis & Fowler contagion results are hard to separate from homophily (Shalizi & Thomas 2011).
Weakest joint
Whether non-shared environment is really 'people around you' or mostly idiosyncratic noise and measurement error. The answer differs for temperament versus values.
Tests written down in advance
Trait-class decomposition needs public data · aims at the medium form
From the MaTCH database and published twin meta-analyses, tabulate heritability, shared environment and non-shared environment separately for temperament (Big Five), values, political attitudes, religiosity and tastes (music, food).
if the claim is right Environmental components dominate across classes, with shared environment large for values and attitudes.
if it is wrong Environment dominates only for some classes, or most of the environmental share is unmeasured noise.
controls Use adult samples; note age effects (shared environment matters more in childhood).
Measured social influence needs public data · aims at the strong form
Collect longitudinal studies that measure personality or values before and after specific social changes (new partner, peer group, college roommate assignment, migration) and pool the effect sizes. Roommate-assignment studies give near-random assignment.
if the claim is right Measured social exposures produce substantial, lasting changes in personality or values.
if it is wrong Effects are small or short-lived, so 'borrowed from the people around you' holds weakly at most.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: Turns the claim into a trait-by-trait answer: probably true for values, weaker for temperament.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
PG-011 Civilization is one bad storm from collapse open
Civilization is a thin film: three missed harvests or one grid failure separate it from collapse, a single solar event could erase our knowledge, and almost nobody in power takes this seriously.
Strongest case
Systems are tightly coupled, large transformers take one to two years to replace, the July 2012 CME missed Earth by about a week, and climate change is raising the odds of simultaneous crop failures.
For
- Baker et al. 2013: the July 2012 CME was Carrington-class and missed Earth narrowly.
- Large power transformer lead times of one to two years or more; few spares.
- Gaupp et al. 2020 and Kornhuber et al. 2023: simultaneous breadbasket failure risk is rising with warming.
- The 2003 Northeast blackout cascaded from a software fault; 2021 supply-chain shocks showed tight coupling.
Against
- Geomagnetic storms damage grids and satellites; they don't affect paper, optical media or most offline storage, so 'erase knowledge' doesn't follow.
- Global cereal stocks are typically around a quarter to a third of annual use, which buffers a single bad year.
- NERC reliability standard TPL-007 and the US National Space Weather Strategy show policy attention, so 'nobody in power' is too strong.
- Past severe shocks (1816 'year without a summer', 1970s oil shocks) caused hardship without collapse.
Weakest joint
'Collapse' versus 'severe disruption'. The data support serious multi-year disruption as plausible; collapse needs cascades whose probability nobody has estimated well.
Tests written down in advance
Breadbasket correlation runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
From FAOSTAT yield data (1961 onward, public), detrend yields for maize, wheat, rice and soy in the top producing countries. Estimate the correlation of yield shocks across regions, then simulate the probability that three or more top producers have a 10%+ shortfall in the same year, compared against stocks-to-use buffers.
if the claim is right Joint failure probability is non-trivial (more than about 1% per year) and plausible shortfalls exceed buffers.
if it is wrong Joint failures are rare enough and buffers large enough that 'three missed harvests' needs several unlikely years in a row.
controls Check how sensitive the result is to the detrending method.
Fragility ledger needs public data · aims at the medium form
For each single-point risk (Carrington storm, grid cascade, breadbasket failure, key chokepoints such as Taiwan chips and Suez), record the best published probability, impact estimate, recovery time and current mitigations.
if the claim is right At least one risk has meaningful annual probability and recovery time over a year with weak mitigation.
if it is wrong Probabilities are small or mitigations are substantial for all of them.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: An plain 'fragility ledger' with real numbers.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
PG-012 Every civilization dies or goes post-biological open
Advanced civilizations universally self-destruct or move to non-biological substrates before colonizing the galaxy, which explains the silence. Variants: first contact will be with machines of an extinct civilization; alien minds may be colonies rather than individuals.
Strongest case
Something must explain the silence. We see no galaxy-scale engineering in waste-heat surveys, and our own path already shows existential risks plus a trend toward machine intelligence.
For
- G-HAT (Griffith et al. 2015): no clear galaxy-wide waste-heat signatures among about 100,000 galaxies.
- Decades of SETI searches with null results.
- Grace 2010: under the self-indication assumption, anthropic reasoning favours a late filter.
- Human existential risks are real and arguably growing (nuclear, bio, AI).
Against
- Sandberg, Drexler & Ord 2018: with plain uncertainty on the Drake parameters, there's a large chance we're alone in the galaxy, so the silence may need no filter.
- The filter could be early (abiogenesis, eukaryotes, intelligence), which leaves our future open.
- Post-biological civilizations would be better at expanding, not worse, so that branch doesn't explain silence on its own.
- 'Universally' needs a filter near 100%; one exception would colonize the galaxy within a few million years.
Weakest joint
'Universally', and the post-biological branch, which works against the claim's own goal of explaining silence.
Tests written down in advance
Drake uncertainty Monte Carlo runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Reproduce Sandberg, Drexler & Ord 2018: sample each Drake factor from their literature-based ranges (log-uniform where they used it), compute the distribution of N, and P(N<1). Then condition on observational nulls (G-HAT, SETI) and compute how much posterior weight shifts to filters at each stage.
if the claim is right Conditioning on the nulls moves substantial weight onto late (post-technology) filters.
if it is wrong The prior already gives a high P(alone), and the nulls mostly move weight to early filters, so a late filter isn't needed.
controls Reproduce the paper's headline P(N<1) first as an implementation check.
Expansion consistency check runs on a laptop · aims at the strong form
Model expansion: given any fraction f of civilizations that expand (biological or machine), at speed v, starting at random times over galactic history, compute the probability we'd see no sign of them. Find the largest f consistent with the nulls.
if the claim is right Only f extremely close to zero fits, which is what 'universally' requires.
if it is wrong Moderate f is compatible once realistic detectability is included, so 'universally' is unnecessary.
Runs so far
inconclusive Drake uncertainty Monte Carlo 2026-10-24
Reproduced P(N<1)=0.52. The answer hinges on the abiogenesis prior; if life is common, silence needs almost no civilization to expand.
payoff: Very runnable and shareable. Easter-egg candidate.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
Full write-up: the first six runs, below →
PG-013 Ramanujan and Tesla were seeded from outside open
Some key breakthroughs, such as Ramanujan's theorems and Tesla's polyphase systems, were seeded by an external intelligence.
Strongest case
Ramanujan's work still surprises mathematicians a century later. His mock theta functions only found their framework in 2002 (Zwegers) and later appeared in black-hole entropy calculations. He attributed results to the goddess Namagiri. Tesla described complete machines appearing in his mind's eye. The 'received' experience is widely reported (Poincaré, Kekule, Mozart letters).
For
- Ramanujan's mock theta functions (1920 letter) were understood only after Zwegers 2002, which points to insight far ahead of his time.
- Ramanujan's own attribution to Namagiri (via his family and Hardy's accounts).
- Tesla's account in 'My Inventions' (1919) of fully visualized, mentally tested machines.
- Many creators describe insight arriving whole (Hadamard's 1945 survey of mathematicians).
Against
- Some of Ramanujan's notebook claims are wrong, his prime-counting statements among them, which an infallible source would not produce.
- Ramanujan studied Carr's 'Synopsis' (about 5,000 results) closely, and many notebook entries rediscover known results.
- Incubation research (Sio & Ormerod 2009 meta-analysis) explains 'sudden' insight without an outside source.
- Tesla's account is self-reported decades later; his patents show ordinary iteration and some failed projects (Wardenclyffe).
- The prompt that produced this was leading ('obvious synthetic origins').
Weakest joint
The medium claim, and what an outside source would predict. If the source were reliable, the most novel results should have the fewest errors.
Tests written down in advance
Novelty vs error tally needs public data · aims at the medium form
Using Berndt's annotated editions of Ramanujan's notebooks, classify a large sample of entries as (a) known before Ramanujan and plausibly in his reading, (b) new and correct, (c) new and wrong. Compare error rates in (b)+(c) with error rates in comparable notebooks of trained contemporaries where available.
if the claim is right Novel results are almost error-free compared to his rediscoveries, or show patterns his inputs can't account for.
if it is wrong Novel results have errors at rates typical of a brilliant but human mathematician, consistent with internal insight.
controls Use Berndt's judgements as given; don't reclassify entries after seeing the totals.
Tesla iteration record needs public data · aims at the medium form
Lay out the dated sequence of Tesla's polyphase patents, notebook entries and reported prototypes (1882-1891) and check for revision steps.
if the claim is right Designs appear essentially final from the first record onward.
if it is wrong The record shows ordinary iteration and revision, consistent with human design.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: The real story of Ramanujan's errors and successes is better than the myth. Also a sycophancy example for PG-001.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
PG-014 A quiet signal arrives before 2027 open
Before the end of 2026, a subtle, undeniable data point from next-generation observatories or quantum coherence experiments will show this hidden picture is real, unravelling quietly behind closed doors.
Strongest case
Cosmology has live tensions and new instruments are publishing (JWST, DESI, Euclid, Rubin LSST). Something genuinely surprising arriving is plausible.
For
- Hubble tension at about 5 sigma.
- DESI 2024-2025 results hint at evolving dark energy.
- JWST found surprisingly massive early galaxies (Labbe et al. 2023, later revised).
- Rubin LSST began survey operations in 2025.
Against
- As worded, the claim can't fail: some anomaly is published every year, and 'behind closed doors' means a missing public signal still counts.
- None of the current tensions point toward consciousness, simulation or external intelligence.
- Independent confirmation of new physics within 14 months is historically rare.
Weakest joint
Unfalsifiable wording. This card pre-registers what counts so it can fail.
Tests written down in advance
Pre-registered grading on 2027-01-02 needs public data · aims at the medium form
Grading criteria fixed today (2026-10-24). Weak passes if any new cosmology or quantum anomaly paper appears. Medium passes only for a result at 5 sigma or above, new (not the Hubble tension, S8, DESI w(z) or JWST early galaxies), with independent confirmation by 2027-01-01. Strong passes only if that result is interpreted by its own authors as support for consciousness, simulation or external intelligence.
if the claim is right Medium or strong passes on 2027-01-02.
if it is wrong Weak passes but medium and strong don't, the predicted outcome for a vague prophecy.
controls Grade from arXiv and journal records only; no reinterpretation after the date.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: A dated prediction we grade in public. Low effort and good content.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
PG-015 Uploads, split brains and copied AI suffering open
(1) A perfect upload might preserve your memories but not you. (2) One brain might contain more than one experiencer. (3) We could mass-produce suffering in AI systems before learning to recognize it.
Strongest case
All three are hedged, cited and drawn from serious philosophy and science. Split-brain experiments really do show divided behaviour, and AI welfare is now a research field.
For
- Sperry and Gazzaniga split-brain experiments: each hemisphere can respond to information the other lacks.
- Parfit's teletransporter cases and Chalmers 2010 on uploading.
- Butlin, Long et al. 2023: an indicator checklist drawn from scientific theories of consciousness, applied to AI systems.
- Long, Sebo et al. 2024 'Taking AI Welfare Seriously'.
Against
- Pinto et al. 2017 (Brain): split-brain patients could respond accurately to stimuli in either visual field with either hand, which suggests a single unified subject with split perception.
- Butlin et al. 2023 concluded no current AI system is a strong candidate for consciousness, while noting no obvious technical barriers.
- Personal identity through uploading turns on what 'you' means, which no experiment decides.
Weakest joint
(2) and (3) have empirical handles; (1) is a conceptual question. Treating all three as one claim hides that.
Tests written down in advance
Split-brain support review needs public data · aims at the medium form
Gather all split-brain studies since 2017 (Pinto et al. and the replies, including de Haan et al. 2020) and classify each finding as favouring one subject, two subjects, or neither.
if the claim is right Most recent findings favour two subjects.
if it is wrong Findings favour a unified subject with split perception or remain mixed.
AI indicator scoring runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Score a current open-weights model against each Butlin et al. 2023 indicator (recurrent processing, global workspace, higher-order representation, agency and embodiment, etc.), citing architecture facts for each, with two independent scorers.
if the claim is right The model meets many indicators, especially from the best-supported theories.
if it is wrong The model meets few, consistent with Butlin et al.'s conclusion.
controls Scorers work independently and record disagreements.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: The best-quality list in the dump. Low hype, good reading.
fun 2 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
PG-016 Understanding changes what it describes mixed
The highest understanding can't become a final conclusion, because understanding takes part in changing the reality it describes. Commenter variant: infinity is endless outward growth rather than a size.
Strongest case
Self-reference limits are real theorems (Goedel, Tarski, Turing), and reflexivity is well documented: Goodhart's law, the Lucas critique and self-defeating forecasts. The claim names a real structural problem.
For
- Goedel incompleteness and Tarski undefinability: a system can't fully describe itself in certain ways.
- Soros' reflexivity in markets; Goodhart's law; the Lucas critique in macroeconomics.
- Perdomo et al. 2020 'Performative Prediction': deployed predictors shift the distribution they are trained on, and retraining can fail to settle.
- Merton's self-fulfilling and self-defeating prophecies.
Against
- Grunberg & Modigliani 1954 and Simon 1954 showed correct public predictions can exist despite reflexivity, by fixed-point arguments.
- Perdomo et al. also showed that repeated retraining converges to a stable point when the system's sensitivity to predictions is below a threshold.
- Most of physics is not reflexive: understanding gravity doesn't change gravity.
- The infinity variant restates Aristotle's potential vs actual infinity, which Cantor's set theory treated rigorously.
Weakest joint
Existence versus reachability. Self-consistent descriptions often exist (fixed points); the question is whether the process of understanding can reach them, and that depends on how strongly the system reacts.
Tests written down in advance
Performative stability phase map runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Implement repeated risk minimization for a logistic model where the population shifts in response to the deployed model with sensitivity epsilon (as in Perdomo et al. 2020). Sweep epsilon and the loss's strong convexity and smoothness, and record whether retraining converges, oscillates or diverges. Compare the empirical boundary against the theoretical threshold epsilon < gamma/beta.
if the claim is right There is a large region where retraining never settles, which supports the medium claim there.
if it is wrong Retraining settles over most realistic parameters, so the medium claim holds only above a sharp threshold.
controls Several random seeds and initial conditions per grid point.
Fixed-point existence vs reachability runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
In a simple public-forecast model (Grunberg-Modigliani style: published forecast changes the outcome through a response function), check for which response functions a correct forecast exists (fixed point) and for which the natural update process reaches it.
if the claim is right Common response functions have no reachable fixed point.
if it is wrong Fixed points generally exist and are reachable unless the response is strong, which narrows the claim to a measurable regime.
Runs so far
undercuts Performative stability phase map 2026-10-24
Self-consistent models existed in every case; naive full retraining 2-cycles past a threshold, damped updating reaches the fixed point.
payoff: The most mathematical claim in the batch, and the closest to a Foundry-style card if an open variant turns up.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
Full write-up: the first six runs, below →
PG-017 Minds and cultures are relations, not things open
Consciousness may be the wrong unit of analysis; civilization may think through its symbols more than its people; big conflicts may be collisions between locally valid realities; evil may be a failure of relationship; the self may be sustained by what it excludes; we may be mistaking representation for participation.
Strongest case
Each item maps onto a research tradition with real data behind it: extended mind, cultural evolution, social identity theory, and the classic obedience studies.
For
- Milgram's proximity variations: obedience dropped sharply as the victim became physically closer, supporting 'evil as a failure of relationship'.
- Tajfel's minimal group experiments: trivial group labels produce in-group favouritism, supporting 'the self is sustained by what it excludes'.
- Bullock et al. 2015: paying people for accurate answers cut partisan gaps in factual beliefs by about half, so part of 'factual' disagreement is identity expression.
- Clark & Chalmers 1998 extended mind; Boyd & Richerson on cultural evolution.
Against
- Milgram's studies have serious methodological critiques (Perry 2012 archival analysis).
- Minimal group effects are smaller in some replications and depend on reciprocity expectations.
- Bullock et al. also found half the partisan gap remained under incentives, so some disagreement is about facts.
- The strong relational ontology makes no prediction different from individual-level accounts.
Weakest joint
The items are separate claims with separate support; the bundle sounds deeper than any single one is shown to be.
Tests written down in advance
Partisan fact gap under incentives needs an experiment · aims at the medium form
Replicate Bullock et al. 2015 / Prior, Sood & Khanna 2015: ask partisans factual questions with and without accuracy payments and measure how much of the gap closes.
if the claim is right Most of the gap closes under incentives, so the conflict is mainly about identity and values, not facts.
if it is wrong Most of the gap remains, so disagreement is largely about facts.
Relational support review needs public data · aims at the medium form
For the three measurable items (relational harm, identity by exclusion, conflict as values), collect the strongest replications and meta-analyses (Haslam et al. on Milgram, Balliet et al. 2014 on in-group favouritism) and report effect sizes with their critiques.
if the claim is right Effects replicate with meaningful sizes.
if it is wrong Effects shrink or vanish in replications.
No run yet. The card is open.
payoff: Low novelty, but three items have measurable forms worth keeping.
fun 1 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
PG-018 Break thermodynamics with a demon or a ratchet mixed
A Maxwell demon (an engine that measures and acts on molecules) or a Brownian ratchet (an asymmetric wheel in a heat bath) can pull useful work out of heat at a single temperature.
Strongest case
Information-to-work conversion is real and has been measured: Toyabe et al. 2010 drove a colloidal bead up a spiral staircase using only feedback, and Koski et al. 2014 ran a Szilard engine on a single electron. Molecular motors rectify thermal noise every second of your life. The demon is not a cartoon; it is a lab instrument.
For
- Szilard 1929: one bit of position information is worth kT ln 2 of work.
- Toyabe, Sagawa, Ueda, Muneyuki & Sano 2010 (Nature Physics): feedback converts information to free energy in a colloidal experiment.
- Koski, Maisi, Pekola & Averin 2014 (PNAS): a single-electron Szilard engine extracted close to kT ln 2 per bit.
- Sagawa & Ueda 2010: with feedback the second law gains an information term, so work beyond the free-energy change is allowed in the engine stroke.
- Flashing ratchets (Ajdari & Prost 1992; Astumian 1997) produce directed motion from noise when the potential is switched.
Against
- Landauer 1961 and Bennett 1982: resetting the demon's memory costs at least kT ln 2 per bit, which closes the cycle at zero net gain.
- Berut et al. 2012 (Nature): measured erasure heat approaching the Landauer bound from above in a colloidal double well, never below.
- Smoluchowski 1912 and Feynman (Lectures I-46): a ratchet and pawl at one temperature jiggles both ways; the pawl is itself thermal.
- Every flashing ratchet is powered by whatever does the flashing; switching the potential is work done on the system.
Weakest joint
The memory reset. The engine stroke really does turn information into work; the bill is paid when the demon wipes its notebook to go again. A loophole has to cheat at the reset, or hide a second reservoir (a colder memory, or a power supply doing the flashing).
Tests written down in advance
Langevin erasure runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Overdamped Langevin particle in a quartic double well, kT = 1. Berut four-stage reset protocol (lower barrier, tilt, raise barrier, untilt), 3000 trajectories per duration tau in {3, 10, 30, 100}. Work by Sekimoto's definition.
if the claim is right Mean erasure work below ln 2 for some tau, which would let a demon cycle at a profit.
if it is wrong Mean work at or above ln 2 for every tau, approaching ln 2 as tau grows.
controls Success rate of the reset (fraction ending in the target well) reported with each tau; a fast, failed reset would look cheap.
Noisy Szilard bookkeeping runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Szilard engine with demon error eps in {0, .05, .1, .2, .3, .5}, Sagawa-Ueda optimal partition move, Monte Carlo over 200k cycles; net = extracted minus Landauer reset ln 2.
if the claim is right Extracted work reaches ln 2 - H(eps); net is positive for some eps.
if it is wrong Extraction matches ln 2 - H(eps) and net is never positive.
controls eps = 0.5 (the demon knows nothing) must give zero.
Static versus flashing ratchet runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Overdamped particles in the smooth asymmetric potential V0[sin 2 pi x + sin(4 pi x)/4], V0 = 1.5 kT. Static potential versus potential switched on/off with period P; then against a load force. Track drift, switching power in, and power delivered.
if the claim is right The static ratchet drifts (work from one bath), or the flashing ratchet delivers more power than its switching costs.
if it is wrong Static drift consistent with zero; flashing drift exists but efficiency < 1.
controls Integrator attack: the same static test on a sharp sawtooth at two step sizes, to see whether the numerics alone make a perpetual-motion machine.
Granular ratchet rotor needs an experiment · aims at the weak form
Print builds/granular_ratchet_rotor.scad (chevron, mirrored chevron, symmetric control). Spin on a pin in a bead tray on a shaker; three 60 s runs each.
if the claim is right Chevron rotors turn consistently, in opposite senses for the mirror pair; the symmetric control does not; nothing turns with the shaker off.
if it is wrong No consistent direction, or the control turns too (then the rig, not the vanes, is choosing).
controls Symmetric rotor; shaker off.
Runs so far
undercuts Langevin erasure 2026-10-24
Erasure work never fell below ln 2; fit W_inf = 0.6917 against ln 2 = 0.6931. No cheap reset, so no profitable demon cycle (medium form).
supports Noisy Szilard bookkeeping 2026-10-24
Extraction equals ln 2 - H(eps) at every eps (weak form); net after the reset is never positive.
undercuts Static versus flashing ratchet 2026-10-24
Static drift -0.0003 +- 0.0008; flashing moves only while switching costs 0.3-7.6 kT per unit time (medium form). Sharp-sawtooth integrator attack shows numerics alone can fake a 98-SE drift.
payoff: A desk toy that makes the second law visible, and a clean worked example of where information engines pay their bill. Commercial angle: the printed rotor plus a shaker is a classroom kit.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: Every loophole sends a bill →
PG-019 Pinch-zoom spacetime: black holes, cloaks and wormholes from ordinary matter holding
With flowing fluids and graded materials you can build a black hole, an invisibility cloak and a wormhole, because waves in these media move as if space itself were curved.
Strongest case
This is not metaphor. Unruh showed in 1981 that sound in a flowing fluid obeys exactly the wave equation on a curved metric, and transformation optics and acoustics turn any coordinate warp into a material recipe. Stimulated Hawking-like mode conversion has been seen in water tanks, spontaneous Hawking pairs in a BEC, and working acoustic cloaks have been built.
For
- Unruh 1981 (PRL): sonic horizons in moving fluids; surface gravity sets an analog Hawking temperature.
- Weinfurtner et al. 2011 (PRL): stimulated Hawking-type emission at a water-tank white hole.
- Steinhauer 2016 and Munoz de Nova et al. 2019 (Nature): spontaneous Hawking radiation and its thermal spectrum in a BEC analog.
- Pendry, Schurig & Smith 2006 and Leonhardt 2006 (Science): transformation optics; Cummer & Schurig 2007: the acoustic cloak recipe.
- Torrent & Sanchez-Dehesa 2008 and Zhang, Xia & Fang 2011 (PRL): layered and transmission-line acoustic cloaks, the second one measured.
- Greenleaf, Kurylev, Lassas & Uhlmann 2007 (PRL): electromagnetic wormholes from transformation optics.
Against
- Only one kind of wave in one band sees the geometry; an object, or any other wave, just sees fluid or plastic.
- Dispersion breaks the analogy at short wavelengths; the trans-Planckian chain that feeds Hawking emission is cut off (Unruh 1995 shows the spectrum survives, which is itself the subtle point).
- Ideal cloak parameters are singular at the inner surface; any real cloak is truncated and narrowband.
- Passive cloaks face bandwidth limits from causality (Monticone & Alu 2013, PRX: a passive cloak cannot cut total scattering across all frequencies).
- Analog Hawking temperatures are tiny: hbar kappa / (2 pi k_B) is about 1.2×10−10 K for kappa = 100 /s.
Weakest joint
Which waves see the geometry. The effective metric is felt by one wave type in one frequency band, with materials that run to extremes near the interesting surface (the horizon, the cloak's inner wall, the wormhole's throat). Everything interesting happens where the materials give out.
Tests written down in advance
Acoustic black hole redshift runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Unruh's equation in 1D, periodic flow v(x) = -(1 + 0.5 sin(2 pi x/Lx)), spectral derivatives, RK4. Launch a short upstream packet just outside and just inside the horizon; track its wavenumber and centroid.
if the claim is right Wavenumber falls as exp(-kappa t) with kappa = d(c+v)/dx at the horizon (within 5%), centroid follows the ray, and the inside packet never escapes.
if it is wrong Redshift rate off by more than 5%, or the inside packet crosses the horizon.
controls Exact ray ODE for the same flow; lab frequency omega = (c+v)k as a conserved quantity.
Two-fluid layered cloak runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Cummer-Schurig cloak around a hard cylinder, R2 = 2 R1, realised as N cells of two isotropic fluids; exact Bessel-function solution of the layered cylinder; total scattering width versus bare cylinder over k R1 in [0.25, 15].
if the claim is right At k R1 = 2, N = 20 cuts scattering by >= 10 dB and more cells help; the bill shows up as a band where the cloak scatters more than bare, and as extreme density contrasts.
if it is wrong No useful reduction, or reduction with no bandwidth or materials cost.
controls Self-test: shells of background fluid must reproduce the bare cylinder exactly; a heavy shell must not.
Wormhole lens plate runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Conformal map of the Ellis wormhole's equatorial optical metric to a flat plate: n(rho) = 1 + (a/2 rho)2. Ray-trace the plate and compare deflections to the wormhole's exact 2K(a/b) - pi; check capture for b < a; cap n at printable values.
if the claim is right Plate deflections equal the wormhole's to < 1×10−4 rad, rays with b < a cross the throat, and the printable (capped) plate keeps the outer lensing.
if it is wrong Deflections disagree, which would mean the map is wrong.
controls Weak-field limit pi a2 / (4 b2) as a second reference.
Printed pillar wormhole plate needs an experiment · aims at the medium form
builds/make_wormhole_plate.py writes an OpenSCAD plate of rigid pillars (n2 = 1 + fill). Lid it, send a narrow beam of 3-6 kHz sound in at offset b, measure the exit angle with a phone mic on an arc.
if the claim is right Exit angles follow 2K(a/b) - pi for b >= 1.2 a.
if it is wrong Angles off by more than the beam's own spread; homogenisation fails at this pitch.
controls Flat plate (no pillars): zero deflection.
Runs so far
supports Acoustic black hole redshift 2026-10-24
Horizon traps the inside packet; redshift rate within 2% of kappa near the horizon. Two pre-registered numeric misses (9.5% rate over too long a window; centroid 0.060 vs 0.05) recorded.
supports Two-fluid layered cloak 2026-10-24
-17 dB at k R1 = 2 with 20 cells, monotone in N; the bill is a 6,700:1 density contrast in the innermost cell, and the cloak fades above k R1 ~ 8.
supports Wormhole lens plate 2026-10-24
Flat plate n = 1 + (a/2 rho)2 matches the Ellis wormhole's exact deflection to 6×10−6 rad and shows a capture shadow of radius a; printable pillars (n <= 1.34) keep the lensing only for b >= 1.15 a (pre-registered 1.1 a missed).
payoff: Three explorables and one printable lens. The wormhole plate is the most tangible: a flat plastic part that bends sound exactly as an Ellis wormhole bends light.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
Full write-up: Every loophole sends a bill →
PG-020 Looking glass: running a wave backward in time holding
You can make a wave retrace its own history: record it, play it back reversed, and it un-scatters and collapses back onto its source.
Strongest case
Fink's time-reversal mirrors are used in medicine (lithotripsy targeting), underwater communication and touch screens. The wave equation without loss is symmetric under t -> -t, so a mirror that records enough of the field really does run the movie backward, and multiple scattering turns a small mirror into a big one.
For
- Fink 1992 and Derode, Roux & Fink 1995 (PRL): refocusing through a forest of rods, sharper than without them.
- Draeger & Fink 1997 (PRL): one-channel time reversal in a chaotic cavity.
- Lerosey et al. 2007 (Science): microwave focusing far below the diffraction limit using time reversal with resonant scatterers.
- Lossless wave equations are time-symmetric; the leapfrog scheme used here is exactly reversible.
Against
- Absorption breaks the symmetry: energy lost to heat is not played back.
- A partial mirror only reverses what it recorded; missing channels set the focal quality.
- Flow (a moving medium) breaks time-reversal symmetry, which links this card to PG-019's black hole.
- Reversal is an active process: the mirror spends energy re-emitting; nothing reverses for free.
Weakest joint
Completeness of the recording. Perfect reversal needs the whole field on a closed surface and no loss; every real mirror is partial and every real medium leaks, so the claim is about how much of the history you can recover, not whether.
Tests written down in advance
FDTD time-reversal mirror runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
2D staggered-grid acoustic FDTD, 360x360 cells, wavelength 12 cells, Ricker pulse at S, 61-element line array at distance 230 with aperture 120. Three media: homogeneous, a slab of 170 random fast inclusions, and the same slab with absorption. Record, reverse, re-emit; map peak |p| near S.
if the claim is right Refocus lands on S; homogeneous width matches the aperture limit lambda F / D; the slab narrows the focus by >= 30%; loss cuts contrast by >= 30%.
if it is wrong Refocus misses S, or the slab does not help.
controls Homogeneous run sets the aperture-limited baseline.
One speaker, one mic, one room needs an experiment · aims at the weak form
builds/looking_glass_home.py: measure the room's impulse response h(t), then play h(t) and h(-t) and compare peak-to-RMS at the mic.
if the claim is right Reversed playback focuses at least 3x better than forward; moving the mic 30 cm kills the advantage.
if it is wrong No gain, or the gain survives moving the mic (then it was not channel-specific).
controls Forward playback; moved mic.
Quantum echo on IBM hardware needs public data · aims at the medium form
8-qubit random-circuit Loschmidt echo with a butterfly kick and a detuned-reversal sweep (virtual phase eps per layer), ibm_fez; predictions locked in predictions.json before the run.
if the claim is right Echo decays like the noise model, the light cone holds, and any lean in the detuned sweep reveals a hidden coherent phase.
if it is wrong Echo or light cone fails, or the sweep is flat.
controls Noise-free and FakeFez simulations of the same circuits.
Runs so far
supports FDTD time-reversal mirror 2026-10-24
Through clutter the focus is 7 cells (0.58 wavelength) versus 21 in clear space; T1 (axial position, clear space) and T4 (loss cost, 15% vs predicted 30%) missed.
supports Quantum echo on IBM hardware 2026-10-24
ibm_fez, 8 qubits: echo returns 0.83 to 0.51 (depth 1 to 6), light cone held. Pre-registered null of no hidden phase rejected at depth 6 (z = 4.1, same sign at depth 4); tentative -4 mrad per layer coherent phase, pending a confirmatory run. E2 missed by 0.002.
supports Quantum echo confirmation on IBM hardware 2026-10-24
ibm_fez job dbeev4om94ac738rmf20, layout pinned, order shuffled, duplicates. C1 held: depth-6 lean replicated (+0.0063 +- 0.0012 vs -0.0010, about 6 sigma). C3 held: no drift (p = 0.594). C2 missed: depth 8 gives +0.0115, so the hidden error is not a uniform per-layer phase; likely qubit- or pair-specific.
payoff: The most demo-able card: a laptop runs the home version in a minute. The FDTD is a ready explorable for the lab.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 1 of 3
Full write-up: Every loophole sends a bill →
PG-021 Phase-shift matter: teleporting a quantum state holding
A particle's state can vanish here and reappear on a different particle there, without anything travelling between them.
Strongest case
Bennett et al. 1993 is a theorem and Bouwmeester et al. 1997 and Furusawa et al. 1998 did it; China's Micius satellite teleported photon states over 1400 km in 2017. The state really does leave one particle and appear on another, and no measurement in between could have recorded it.
For
- Bennett, Brassard, Crepeau, Jozsa, Peres & Wootters 1993 (PRL): the protocol.
- Bouwmeester et al. 1997 (Nature), Furusawa et al. 1998 (Science): first experiments.
- Ren et al. 2017 (Nature): ground-to-satellite teleportation over up to 1400 km.
- IBM devices support mid-circuit measurement and feed-forward (dynamic circuits), so the real protocol, not a stand-in, runs on the free tier.
Against
- No-signalling: without Alice's two bits, Bob's qubit is maximally mixed whatever was sent.
- No-cloning: the original is destroyed, so nothing is copied.
- Only the state moves; the matter at Bob's end was already there.
- Entanglement is consumed, one Bell pair per qubit; distributing it is the expensive part.
Weakest joint
The classical channel. Everything quantum happens 'instantly', but Bob's qubit is pure noise until two ordinary bits arrive at light speed or slower; the strong form lives or dies there.
Tests written down in advance
Aer simulation with no-signalling probe runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Qiskit circuits (circuits.py): dynamic (measure + classically controlled X/Z), deferred (quantum-controlled), and no-correction modes over the 6 cardinal states, 8192 shots; fidelity via U-dagger then measure. Noisy run with a Heron-like depolarising model. Bob's X/Y/Z statistics without corrections for every input.
if the claim is right Ideal fidelity ~1, no-correction ~1/2, noisy above 2/3, and Bob's uncorrected statistics independent of the input.
if it is wrong Bob's uncorrected statistics depend on the input (signalling), or fidelity stays at the classical limit.
controls Positive control: the same probe with corrections applied must see a strong input dependence.
IBM hardware run needs public data · aims at the medium form
run_ibm.py on the least busy IBM Heron device, 12 circuits x 4000 shots in one Sampler job (seconds of QPU time on the free plan). Dry run on FakeTorino available with --fake.
if the claim is right Average fidelity above 2/3 in both modes, dynamic within 0.08 of deferred.
if it is wrong Fidelity at or below 2/3: the hardware is not doing better than measure-and-prepare.
controls FakeTorino dry run as the expected value.
Runs so far
supports Aer simulation with no-signalling probe 2026-10-24
Fidelity 1.000 ideal, 0.94-0.96 noisy; 0.496 without the classical bits and no input dependence at Bob (worst 1.9 SE, positive control 90.5 SE). Hardware run pending.
supports IBM hardware run 2026-10-24
ibm_fez (Heron r2): average fidelity 0.961 with real feed-forward, 0.857 with deferred corrections, both far above the classical 2/3. The pre-registered gap clause (within 0.08) missed: 0.104, with dynamic ahead.
payoff: A real quantum experiment Ben can run tonight for free, with a pre-registered number to beat.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: Every loophole sends a bill →
PG-022 Microtubules ring: MHz-GHz-THz triplet resonances in a single microtubule mixed
A single microtubule (and a single tubulin) shows a fractal 'triplet of triplets' of electromagnetic/mechanical resonances spanning kHz, MHz, GHz and THz, and that resonance is part of how neurons process information.
Strongest case
The Bandyopadhyay group report repeatable resonance bands in single microtubules and tubulin, with a self-similar triplet structure, and anaesthetic-sensitive conduction. Microtubules are highly ordered polar lattices with giant dipoles, so collective modes are physically natural, and the triplet pattern is a specific, risky claim rather than vague 'vibration'.
For
- Sahu, Ghosh, Bandyopadhyay et al. 2013 (Biosens. Bioelectron.): resonance-like conduction features in single microtubules.
- Bandyopadhyay group 2020 (Fractal and Fractional): 'fractal, scale-free electromagnetic resonance' of a microtubule, a tubulin and a neuron.
- Tubulin dimers carry large static dipoles; MTs are ordered polar lattices.
Against
- No independent replication outside the Bandyopadhyay group has been published that we could find.
- Our Track O run: a tubulin dimer's motion in water or cytosol has Q ~ 2×10−5 at 1 MHz and ~0.02 at 1 GHz; rigid-body modes cannot ring below ~26-200 GHz. Langevin PSDs show no peak at 1 MHz or 1 GHz.
- The v1 sim's H2 waveguide engine puts its modes at 1×1014-5×1015 Hz, so its 'falsification' never touched the MHz-GHz claim.
- The v1 Schumann alignment (H7) is p ~ 0.18 and its 7.83 Hz match is borderline (0.0487 vs 0.05 log threshold).
Weakest joint
Damping. Anything that moves through water at MHz is overdamped by 4-5 orders of magnitude, so an MHz 'resonance' must be electronic/ionic (circuit, double layer, counter-ion relaxation) rather than mechanical, and then it is a property of the measurement setup until shown otherwise.
Tests written down in advance
Track O overdamping attack runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Analytic Q (steady and unsteady Stokes) for a 110 kDa, 4 nm dimer, eta 0.69-3 mPa s; exact OU Langevin at 310 K with Welch PSD vs analytic PSD; positive control at 200 GHz.
if the claim is right Q > 1 somewhere in the MHz-GHz band for plausible viscosity.
if it is wrong Q << 1 in the whole MHz-GHz band and no PSD peak.
controls 200 GHz control must show a peak.
Track R second solver of v1 engines runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Independent numpy/scipy implementation of H1-H7 and Engine 10; compare to JS output and to the September audit note.
if the claim is right Audit numbers reproduce.
if it is wrong Audit numbers do not reproduce.
controls Analytic Rayleigh mean, analytic H5 optimum.
Runs so far
undercuts Track O overdamping attack 2026-10-29
Q = 2.2×10−5 at 1 MHz and 0.022 at 1 GHz in water; Q = 1 only above 26-197 GHz across water-to-cytosol viscosity and steady/unsteady Stokes. Langevin PSDs show no peak at 1 MHz or 1 GHz; 200 GHz control peaks. Holes the mechanical reading of the medium form; says nothing against electrical features (weak form).
undercuts Track R second solver of v1 engines 2026-10-29
The v1 code reproduces under an independent solver, but the September audit note misreports H1, H2, H3, H5, H6 and E10 and cites a test file that does not exist. H2's waveguide modes sit at 1×1014-5×1015 Hz, so v1 never tested the MHz-GHz triplets. H7 Schumann p = 0.178.
payoff: Turns 'microtubules ring' into a precise question: which band, which mechanism, what Q. Points any future measurement at the GHz-THz window where rigid-body modes are not automatically overdamped.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
Full write-up: the microtubule rebuild, below →
PG-023 Microtubules are quantum antennas: tryptophan superradiance mixed
The tryptophan network of a microtubule supports collective quantum (superradiant) excitonic states at room temperature, and this matters for how cells handle UV light and energy.
Strongest case
Superradiance is textbook physics (Dicke 1954) and has been observed in natural light-harvesting complexes. A microtubule packs 104 Trp per 8 nm spiral with fixed orientations, so the radiative coupling is coherent over hundreds of nm. Babcock et al. report a measured quantum-yield increase in microtubules relative to free Trp that the superradiant model predicts.
For
- Celardo et al. 2019: superradiant states in MT Trp networks, robust to disorder of order kT.
- Babcock et al. 2024: quantum-yield enhancement in Trp mega-networks, room temperature.
- Gassab, Pusuluk & Craddock 2026: superradiant/subradiant channels export and retain correlations; subradiant lifetimes up to ms in ordered lattices.
Against
- Experimental support comes mostly from one group; independent replication on intact microtubules is sparse.
- Superradiance is a single-excitation optical effect lasting ns or less; it says nothing directly about ms-scale coherence Orch-OR needs.
- Thermal population spreads over a band hundreds of cm-1 wide, which can dilute the superradiant state's weight at 300 K.
Weakest joint
The jump from 'superradiant UV excitons exist' (likely) to 'quantum effects do biological work' (unshown).
Tests written down in advance
Track S: rebuild on the 1JFF lattice runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Non-Hermitian single-excitation Hamiltonian with full retarded dipole kernels, 8 Trp per dimer from PDB 1JFF, 13_3 lattice up to 100 spirals (10,400 dipoles); disorder W = 200 cm-1; Boltzmann average at 300 K; geometry sweeps; three solvers (dense eig, ARPACK, QuTiP Lindblad + direct ODE).
if the claim is right Gamma_max grows with length and survives W = 200 cm-1; thermal average shows some enhancement.
if it is wrong Gamma_max collapses under disorder or depends wildly on unverifiable geometry choices.
controls Trace of G equals N; single Trp gives gamma = 2.73×10−3 cm-1 from mu = 6 D.
Runs so far
undercuts Track S: rebuild on the 1JFF lattice 2026-10-29
Ordered lattice supports the weak form (Gamma_max 11.9 gamma at 1 spiral to 477 gamma at 100). Medium form undercut: W = 200 cm-1 leaves 8.6 gamma at 100 spirals (1.8 %), and post-hoc 10 cm-1 already cuts the 10-spiral value 4x. Thermal average 1.116 gamma. Geometry was our reconstruction, not Patwa et al.'s.
undercuts Track S: rebuild on the 1JFF lattice 2026-10-30
S4 rerun on Celardo et al. 2019's own Trp lattice (Table A1, matched to 1JFF to 6×10−5 nm). The ordered calibration reproduces their numbers: 234.8 gamma at 13 spirals (theirs ~235) and 569.9 at 100 ('almost 600'). With box disorder W = 200 cm-1 (10 draws), Gamma_max keeps 2.3 % at 100 spirals and 2.5 % at 40. Five disorder conventions on our lattice keep 3-5 %. So the rebuild's collapse at W = 200 comes neither from our geometry nor from the convention. It also matches the papers, which never claim Gamma_max survives W = 200: their robustness is a critical disorder of order 10 cm-1 (an onset) that does not shrink with length. We find a 50 % point W_half = 14.2 at 10 spirals (12.6 on 50 pooled draws) and 14.7 at 40, and 81-82 % kept at W = 10 for 40-100 spirals. The 300 K thermal average stays near 1.18 gamma with or without disorder, but that follows from tr G = N with kT above the 181 cm-1 band width, so it is no guide to quantum yield either way. Near the critical disorder, geometry does matter: our theta-0 lattice keeps 26 % at W = 10 (10 spirals) vs 62 % on theirs. Score: 10 hit, 2 miss of 12 clean items; strict, with P2 set aside as partly contaminated, 9 hit, 2 miss. The misses are P3 (W = 10 more robust than predicted) and P10 (9 nm pitch changes ordered Gamma_max by -27 %). The optional 100-spiral part of P6 was still running at grading.
scope Gamma_max reading of the medium formulation only (protocol if_false: 'Gamma_max collapses under disorder'). The quantum-yield reading is untested: QY was not calculated.
payoff: The strongest live 'quantum microtubule' result, rebuilt from the protein structure up, with every geometric guess swept instead of hidden.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
Full write-up: the microtubule rebuild, below →
PG-024 Fröhlich condensation is the viable channel for microtubule coherence mixed
Metabolic pumping drives the polar vibrations of tubulin into a single coherent sub-THz mode (a Fröhlich condensate) without metabolic overdrive, and that is the only physically grounded route to biological coherence.
Strongest case
Living matter is far from equilibrium; Fröhlich showed that pumped, nonlinearly coupled modes condense like a Bose gas. X-ray crystallography (Lundholm 2015) and THz spectroscopy (Nardecchia 2018) report non-thermal collective protein vibrations under pumping. Tubulin's giant dipoles make it a natural candidate.
For
- Lundholm et al. 2015 (Struct. Dyn.): THz-induced non-thermal structural change in lysozyme crystals.
- Nardecchia et al. 2018 (Phys. Rev. X): out-of-equilibrium collective oscillation in BSA.
- 2025-26: THz vibrational condensation in reverse micelles (JACS 2025); THz cavity hybridization of protein vibrations (arXiv:2603.14476).
Against
- Reimers et al. 2009 (PNAS): weak condensates are plausible, coherent condensates are not biologically feasible.
- Sub-THz phonons in hydrated protein live for ps, so the pump must replace quanta at ~1×1011-1×1012 per second per mode.
- The Sept audit's 'sole viable channel' claim did not cite Reimers 2009 or run any energetics.
Weakest joint
Energy. Holding even one 0.1 THz mode at 10x thermal occupancy against a ps-scale loss costs about phi x 9 kT per mode.
Tests written down in advance
Track F Wu-Austin rate equations runs on a laptop · aims at the strong form
N = 10-100 modes over 0.1-1 THz, 310 K, loss phi, exchange chi; pump scan; BDF integration vs Newton steady state; analytic quanta-balance bound on power.
if the claim is right Strong condensation reachable within ~1 nW per neuron.
if it is wrong Strong condensation needs orders of magnitude more than the neuron budget.
controls Zero pump returns Bose-Einstein occupations.
Runs so far
undercuts Track F Wu-Austin rate equations 2026-10-29
Weak condensation is cheap and smooth (lowest mode takes most excess quanta even at chi/phi = 0.01). Holding a 0.1 THz mode at 10x thermal costs 3.8×10−10 to 3.8×10−8 W per mode for 100-1 ps lifetimes: at least 4×104 times a neuron's 1 nW budget with one mode per microtubule. Strong form holed; weak form holds.
payoff: Replaces a hand-waved 'viable channel' with a cost in watts.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
Full write-up: the microtubule rebuild, below →
PG-025 The 12/9/47 ENIAC Monte Carlo sheet, rebuilt and run mixed
The 12/9/47 flow diagram, as drawn, is a complete and correct neutron-transport Monte Carlo, and ENIAC's arithmetic shortcuts did not bias its answers.
Strongest case
The team took care with half-unit offsets (1 degree adds .00005, 52* and 54* add 1/2), kept 10-digit internal arithmetic, and provided alpha=7 reseed cards. The 1948 runs produced results Los Alamos used.
For
- Sheet geometry (18*-30*) and 52* CM kinematics agree with an independent Cartesian code: core+tamper k 0.9919 vs 0.9960 (+/-0.0016).
- Sheet with continuous sampling at the exact critical radius: k = 0.9996 +/- 0.0015 (Peierls 1.0000000).
- Middle-square inside one rho length: k = 1.0338 +/- 0.0024 vs 1.0328 +/- 0.0022 with a modern generator.
- Round 2: three blind transcribers and a scan adjudication agree with the first reading on every arrow; nine glyph corrections, none numeric.
- Round 2: on a 10-group HEU (Godiva-like) set the sheet with continuous sampling matches an independent multigroup code (0.9975 vs 1.0009/0.9961 +/-0.0012), so the velocity lookup, 52* and 54* transcriptions are sound.
- Round 2: ENIAC timing model: 0.24-1.7 s compute per neutron, 20,000 cards = 7-20 h; the 10-day run was card- and repair-bound (observed 14.4 s per output card).
Against
- 2-digit direction field a = 2r xi(9,8) has no half-unit offset: mean cos = +0.01, k -0.018.
- Zero-counts-as-plus in the 2-digit reaction pick moves 0.01 probability per branch: k +0.051 on this benchmark (ratios on the 0.01 grid).
- 55% of 10-digit middle-square seeds end at 0; a stream at 0 or in the 500-cycle makes every flight 9.9 mfp and kills the chain.
- As read, census cards (5*) reuse the last xi without a rho call; the population collapses. Likely a transcription gap, not the real program.
- Round 2: on HEU physics the as-drawn digit numerics still bias k by +0.011 to +0.013; the sign-convention term drops to +0.002 and the 2-digit nu in 52* (+0.0097 in <cos psi_lab>) takes over.
- Round 2: the first run used 8-digit middle-square (Actual Running p. 21): median rho 2,646 and 40% of seeds degenerate inside the 2,000-squaring restart window.
Weakest joint
Benchmark cross sections are round multiples of 0.01, the worst case for the sign-convention bias; real 1948 data would show about half of it on average.
Tests written down in advance
Sheet emulator vs modern MC vs Peierls on Ua-1-0-SP runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
Knob decomposition with a good PRNG, middle-square with per-generation reseed, single streams, time census, core+tamper cross-check.
if the claim is right All sheet variants within 0.003 of k = 1.
if it is wrong A named numerics feature moves k beyond 0.003.
controls Peierls Nystrom k = 1.0000000 at 7.428998 cm; modern Cartesian code.
Round 2: blind transcription, HEU multigroup, timing, 8/10-digit survey, adversarial emulator review runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
PREREG-2.md (sha 3c88950b...), 14-agent workflow; outputs in round2/.
if the claim is right Q1-Q5 bands hold.
if it is wrong Named band missed.
controls Independent Cartesian multigroup MC; Peierls one-group; blind readers.
Runs so far
undercuts Sheet emulator vs modern MC vs Peierls on Ua-1-0-SP 2026-10-30
Weak form holds (geometry and kinematics agree). Medium form holed: as-drawn digit numerics give k = 1.034 at the exact critical radius (direction field -0.018, sign convention +0.051, log routine and rounding ~0). Middle-square is clean until a seed cycles, then catastrophic; alpha=7 reseed cards are needed for a 20,000-card run. Strong form: census path as read collapses, so the sheet as scanned is missing a rho call. Preregistration 5 hit, 1 mixed, 2 miss.
scope The full claim (complete, correct and unbiased) is undercut; the weak form (geometry, event race, kinematics) holds. Graded mixed at the formulation level; see the record.
undercuts Round 2 2026-10-30
3 hit, 1 mixed, 5 miss. Weak form strengthened (blind readers + multigroup agreement). Medium form: bias on real physics is +1%, not +3.4%, and its cause is the 52* 2-digit nu, not the sign convention. Strong form: 8-digit generator in the first run was riskier than the sheet's 10-digit design; census-path reading confirmed, 3* window semantics open.
scope The full claim (complete, correct and unbiased) is undercut; the weak form (geometry, event race, kinematics) holds. Graded mixed at the formulation level; see the record.
payoff: First executable reading of the founding Monte Carlo sheet, with each 1948 shortcut priced in k.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 2 of 3
Full write-up: The 12/9/47 Monte Carlo sheet →
PG-026 Ten things, one phenomenon: Lorenz, memristor, microtubule, Fourier, wave function, DNA, Mobius, Virahanka, Navier-Stokes, Dirac mixed
A Lorenz attractor, a memristor, a microtubule, the Fourier transform, a wave function, the DNA double helix, a Mobius strip, the Virahanka (Fibonacci) sequence, Navier-Stokes and the Dirac equation describe one underlying phenomenon from different angles.
Strongest case
Many of the links are real mathematics, not metaphor. Lorenz is a three-mode Fourier truncation of Navier-Stokes; spinors and the Mobius strip carry the same Z2; DNA obeys Lk = Tw + Wr; a 13_3 microtubule A-lattice has helix families 3, 5, 8, 13; the Fibonacci chain is a quasicrystal with a Z[phi] Fourier spectrum; position and momentum wave functions are a Fourier pair. Harmonic analysis on symmetry groups does unify a lot of physics.
For
- Run: symbolic Galerkin projection of Boussinesq convection gives Lorenz exactly, b = 8/3 from the box shape.
- Run: the 3-mode PDE code gives Lorenz exponent 0.931 and tracks the Lorenz ODE.
- Run: SU(2), Dirac S(2 pi) = -I and the Mobius normal both flip sign once round and return after two circuits.
- Run: DNA ribbon Lk is an integer and equals Tw + Wr; two-strand ribbons always have an even number of half twists.
- Run: 13_3 A-lattice dimer helices are exactly {3,5,8,13}; the 13_3 B-lattice seam is a Mobius-type Z2 flip of the alpha/beta label.
- Run: Fibonacci chain top-20 Fourier peaks hold 88.7% of intensity (shuffled 8.5%); cat map exponent equals 2 ln phi.
- Map: with theorem links only, nine of the ten form one connected graph.
- Round 2: microtubule seam counts in the literature (13_3: 1, 3, 5; 14_3: 1; 12_2: 2; 13_4: 0) all have the parity of the start number S, as the Z2 reading requires.
Against
- Map: the memristor has no theorem link to any of the other nine.
- Map: Fourier is the hub; remove it and the graph splits into a six-item twist cluster, the Lorenz/Navier-Stokes pair, and the memristor.
- Run: keeping more Fourier modes at the same settings kills the chaos (4x4 and 8x8 boxes are steady), so Lorenz chaos belongs to the truncation, not the fluid.
- Run: a one-state memristor under periodic drive has exponent -0.0096; it cannot be chaotic alone.
- Run: B-DNA pitch/diameter ranges 1.43-1.79 across standard definitions; phi only for a chosen pair.
- Run: no single predicate covers all ten; best covering pairs cover 8-9 of 10 decoys; the ten are less alike than ten-vs-decoys.
- Round 2: Koopman view puts chaos exactly in the continuous spectrum, the part of a flow that is not a rotation; the 2x4 flow is 86% line spectrum and still chaotic.
- Round 4: convection on a Mobius box is no more or less chaotic than on a cylinder of twice the length; the twist does not couple to chaos.
- Round 4: the one-circuit sign is -1 for 5 of 10 physics decoys (electron spin, Klein bottle, ...), so the Z2 axis marks a known class, not the ten.
Weakest joint
The memristor. Everything it shares with the others (nonlinear, has memory, frequency dependent) is shared by traffic jams and heartbeats.
Tests written down in advance
Structure map, numeric link checks, truncation ladder, decoy test runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
PREREG.md (sha 2756a77c...), 11 predictions; sympy Galerkin; pseudo-spectral Boussinesq with Galerkin masks and twin-trajectory exponents; spinor, ribbon, lattice, quasicrystal, uncertainty and memristor checks; predicate scoring of the ten against ten decoys.
if the claim is right One predicate or structure covers all ten and not the decoys; links transfer numbers across all ten; Lorenz chaos survives refinement.
if it is wrong An item with no theorem links, a hub that is a method, decoys as well connected as the ten, or chaos that vanishes with more modes.
controls Lorenz ODE vs PDE masked to 3 modes; shuffled Fibonacci chain; non-Gaussian packets; ten decoys; random score flips.
Microtubule seam parity needs public data · aims at the medium form
From published cryo-EM, list B-lattice microtubules by start number S and their seam count.
if the claim is right Seam count has the same parity as S (corrected in round 2 from 'a seam iff S odd').
if it is wrong A seam count with the wrong parity, e.g. an even count in 13_3 or an odd count in 12_2 or 13_4.
controls A-lattice tubes; mixed-lattice tubes.
Koopman spectrum of the truncation ladder runs on a laptop · aims at the weak form
Dynamic mode decomposition of Lorenz and of the 4x4 steady state from the same code.
if the claim is right Lorenz shows continuous spectrum, the steady state pure point: Fourier-of-a-flow sees the chaos, bridging the fluid pair and the twist cluster.
if it is wrong The spectra do not separate.
controls Periodic orbit (pure point) from a smaller r.
Rayleigh-Benard on a Mobius box runs on a laptop · aims at the medium form
PREREG-4.md (sha 3f32963e...). Same solver; Mobius box = 2L-periodic fields with m+n even (mid-plane flip after one length L); compared with cylinders of length L and 2L at |m|,n<=4 (two seeds) and full resolution.
if the claim is right The twist changes the largest exponent or chaos fraction relative to both cylinders: the Z2 axis couples to dynamics.
if it is wrong The Mobius box behaves like one of the cylinders: no twist-specific effect.
controls Cylinders of length L and 2L; two seeds; Nusselt-number observable.
Runs so far
undercuts Structure map, numeric link checks, truncation ladder, decoy test 2026-11-01
10 hit, 1 mixed of 11. Weak form holds for nine (memristor fails). Medium form holds for a six-item twist cluster (microtubule, wave function, DNA, Mobius, Fibonacci, Dirac) joined by rotation and its Z2 double cover; fails for the ten. Strong form undercut: Fourier is the hub, Lorenz chaos dies with more modes, decoys are as connected. New link: the 13_3 microtubule seam is a Mobius-type Z2.
scope Undercuts the medium and strong forms for all ten; supports the weak form for nine and the medium form for the six-item twist cluster.
supports Microtubule seam parity 2026-11-01
Prereg wording 'a seam exactly when S is odd' missed (12_2 has two seams). The parity law it came from fits every count found in Guyomar et al. 2022 and McIntosh et al. 2009: 13_3 1/3/5, 14_3 1, 12_2 2, 13_4 0. Some counts are from a page summary and need checking against the full text.
scope Supports the medium form for the six-item twist cluster; the original locked wording is graded mixed in the record.
inconclusive Koopman spectrum of the truncation ladder 2026-11-01
Periodic control (r=160) 99.99% line spectrum; Lorenz 3-mode 37% with ACF 0.07 (continuous): as predicted. Box 2x4 is chaotic (exponent 0.49) yet 86% line spectrum: prediction missed. Reading: chaos is the continuous part, the part that is not a rotation, so Koopman sharpens the hole rather than bridging it.
scope Weak form only; one observable per case.
inconclusive Structure map, numeric link checks, truncation ladder, decoy test 2026-11-01
Round 3, exploratory (not preregistered): one-circuit sign is -1 for six objects (Fibonacci joins via det F = -1); memristor under drive is a rotation, in the Muthuswamy-Chua circuit chaotic (exponent +0.031) with 99% line power. The ten sit on two axes (Z2 sign, Koopman chaos fraction), not one point.
scope Exploration only; no standing change.
undercuts Rayleigh-Benard on a Mobius box 2026-11-01
The Lorenz roll is forbidden on the Mobius box (m=2,n=1 excluded). Low truncation: CYL-L chaotic (0.49, 0.53), CYL-2L periodic (0.05, 0.04), MOB periodic or steady (0.047, 0.046). The twist kills chaos relative to the short cylinder but matches the long cylinder, so the effect is the extra long-wave room, not the twist. Full resolution: all three steady.
scope Undercuts coupling between the Z2 axis and chaos, for 2D free-slip convection only.
payoff: A graded 45-pair map, a run showing the Lorenz butterfly belongs to the lens, two independent axes (Z2 sign, Koopman chaos fraction) that do not couple, and one falsifiable law from the part that survives: microtubule seam count has the parity of the helix start number.
fun 3 of 3 · hype risk 3 of 3
Full write-up: Ten things, one phenomenon →
2026-10-24
The first six runs
Six tests from the first seventeen cards ran on the first day. Two undercut, one supported, three could not decide. Each record ends with how it could have come out the other way and what it cannot catch.
PG-002 · IIT unfolding demonstration
Protocol (pre-registered): medium form, "functional organization alone decides consciousness."
What ran. PyPhi 1.2.0 (IIT 3.0) with a small compatibility shim for Python 3.13, cloud container. Recurrent network: PyPhi's documented basic network (A=OR(B,C), B=COPY(C), C=XOR(A,B)), asserted equal to pyphi.examples.basic_network(). Unfolded feedforward copies with 1 and 2 layers reproduce its state trajectory from every one of the 8 starting states (checked).
Result. Recurrent major complex: Phi = 2.3125 in state (1,0,0) (matches PyPhi's documentation), 1.0 in the other states. Unfolded networks: Phi = 0 in every state tested, for both depths. Red check: adding one feedback edge to the unfolded network (B0 copies C1) gives Phi = 1.0, so the measurement can come out non-zero.
Verdict: inconclusive about the claim, exactly as predicted. Same trajectory, different consciousness score: the claim holds under functionalism and fails under IIT. It reduces to which theory of consciousness is right, and the Cogitate collaboration's 2025 results don't settle that.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: the unfolded network could have had Phi > 0, which would weaken the claimed conflict. Note that IIT treats feedforward systems as reducible by its own rules, so Phi = 0 is partly built into the theory; the run shows the conflict concretely rather than discovering it.
What it cannot catch. Tiny networks only; the unfolded copy matches for a finite horizon with extra nodes (the 'unfolding argument' debate, Doerig et al. 2019, is about exactly this gap).
PG-005 · accumulator vs early-decision
Protocol (pre-registered): medium form, "for some decisions the outcome is fixed before awareness."
What ran. numpy/scipy. Two models of when a self-paced movement happens: (A) Schurger's leaky noise accumulator (I=0.11, k=0.5, c=0.1, threshold 0.298), and (B) an explicit early decision at a random time followed by a 0.5-1.5 s ramp to threshold. About 300 movements each; then 1,500 simulated "respond now" interruptions per model.
Result.
- Test 1 (the readiness potential, back-averaged from movement): the two models' averaged waveforms correlate at r = 0.992, with onsets of -2.05 s and -1.94 s. The RP shape cannot tell an early decision from noise crossing a threshold.
- Test 2 (interruptions): in the accumulator, reaction time falls smoothly with the pre-click signal level (r = -0.82; 0.45 s down to 0.11 s across quintiles). With early decisions the relation is a step (committed vs not; r = -0.26). So the interruption paradigm can separate the models.
Verdict: undercuts the readiness potential as support for the medium claim. It does not refute the claim: Fried et al. 2011's single-neuron predictions (about 80% accuracy, 700 ms early) aren't touched by this model, and real interruption data, not a simulation, would decide between A and B.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: the RPs could have differed clearly in shape or onset, which would make the RP support for B.
What it cannot catch. Parameters for model B are invented (no published early-decision model to copy). No real EEG data was fitted; that is the next step (Schurger 2012 data on request, or open RP datasets).
PG-008 · Page-Wootters toy time
Protocol (pre-registered): medium form, "spacetime (here: time) is not fundamental; it emerges."
What ran. numpy. A clock (dimension N) plus a 6-level system in one global state that satisfies H_total|Psi> = 0. Condition on clock readings and compare the system's conditional state with ordinary Schrodinger evolution at 201 times over t = 0..20.
Result.
- Ideal clock (clock levels cover every system energy exactly): fidelity 1.0000000 at every time, constraint residual 0. Apparent time evolution comes out exactly from a state that does not change.
- Realistic system (energies not on the clock's grid): fidelity 0.66 with clock spacing 0.2, 0.82 at 0.1, 0.9976 at 0.01, 0.99996 at 0.001 (clock dimension 10,002). Good apparent time needs a fine, big clock.
- Clock too small for the system's energy range (32 levels or fewer here): fidelity collapses to near 0.
Verdict: supports the medium form's internal consistency: "a timeless whole with time emerging for parts" is coherent standard quantum mechanics, not mysticism. It also confirms the pre-registered caveat: it works only with a near-ideal clock, which is the known objection that the ideal clock smuggles time back in.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: fidelity below 1 for the ideal clock would mean the construction is wrong.
What it cannot catch. This is a consistency demonstration, no sign that our universe works this way. It addresses time only, not space, and says nothing about time being "perceptual".
PG-008 · fitness-vs-truth payoff sweep
Protocol (pre-registered): weak form, "perception tuned for fitness beats perception tuned for truth."
What ran. numpy. Single-forager version of Mark, Marion & Hoffman 2010: choose the best of 3 territories, 200,000 trials per cell. Payoff peak swept from monotone (mu=1.0) to strongly peaked (mu=0.5), with 2, 4 and 8 perceptual categories. Four perceivers with the same category budget: Hoffman's "truth" (picks the most), truth plus a learned payoff per category, truth with optimized category boundaries, and fitness (categories on payoff).
Result (mean payoff; oracle in brackets):
- Monotone payoffs (mu 1.0, 0.9): order-preserving truth perception with tuned boundaries wins or ties in every cell (e.g. mu=1, k=2: 0.492 vs fitness 0.483 [0.542]).
- Peaked payoffs (mu 0.7-0.5): fitness wins every cell. The gap is large with 2 categories (mu=0.5: fitness 0.724 vs best truth 0.590 [0.784]) and nearly gone with 8 (0.780 vs 0.776).
- Hoffman's "truth" perceiver (always pick the most) does far worse than any truth perceiver that learns what its categories are worth (mu=0.5, k=8: 0.43 vs 0.77). Much of the published fitness-vs-truth gap comes from that decision rule, not from seeing truly.
Verdict: inconclusive overall; the claim holds in one regime. Fitness-tuned perception wins when payoffs are non-monotone and perceptual resources are tight. With monotone payoffs or a richer perceptual budget, truthful perception does as well. The weak claim holds in a specific, real regime and fails outside it.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: fitness could have lost in the peaked cases, or tied everywhere.
What it cannot catch. No competition between foragers (Hoffman's games had two), one payoff family, and equal-width categories for the fitness perceiver (optimizing those too would only widen its lead).
PG-012 · Drake Monte Carlo and expansion check
Protocols (pre-registered): medium form "the Great Filter is ahead of us" and strong form "practically every civilization fails to expand".
What ran. numpy, 2,000,000 samples. Distributions taken from Sandberg, Drexler & Ord 2018 Sec 3.2 (checked against the paper text via ar5iv).
Implementation check. P(N<1) = 0.522 (paper 0.52); median N = 0.31 (paper 0.32). Matches.
Result.
- Almost everything rides on the prior for the origin of life (fl). With the paper's 50-decade spread, P(alone in the galaxy) = 0.52. Treat fl like the other factors (log-uniform 0.001 to 1) and it drops to 0.26; with fl fixed near 0.63, it is 0.12. This confirms Fodor's critique: the "dissolution" needs the very wide fl prior.
- Expansion check. Under the paper's prior, silence has probability 0.44 even if every civilization expands, so near-universal non-expansion is not needed to explain silence.
- Under the narrower fl prior, silence is nearly impossible unless almost nobody expands: P(silence) = 3×10−7 if all expand, 0.003 at 1%, 0.09 at 0.01%, 0.47 at one in a million.
Verdict: inconclusive, but sharp. The claim stands or falls on one question: is abiogenesis common? If life starts easily, silence implies almost no civilization expands, which is the strong claim (or an expansion-blocking filter). If life is extraordinarily rare, no filter is needed. The "post-biological" branch doesn't help the claim, since machine civilizations would count as expanders.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: the reproduction could have missed the published numbers.
What it cannot catch. The expansion model is crude (instant galaxy filling within tau_col, perfect detectability, no anthropic correction for our own existence in an unclaimed galaxy).
PG-016 · performative stability phase map
Protocol (pre-registered on the card before running): medium form, "in some reflexive systems no self-consistent final description is reachable."
What ran. Python 3.13, numpy/scipy. Strategic logistic regression: people shift features against the deployed model (x' = x - eps*theta). Repeated risk minimization (retrain on the shifted data each round), 45 grid points (5 regularization strengths x 9 sensitivities) x 3 seeds, 200 rounds each. Then, in four non-settling cases, a damped update (move 5% toward the retrained model each round) to look for a self-consistent point, and a cycle check.
Result.
- Plain retraining settles when sensitivity is low and falls into a clean 2-cycle when it is high (for example lam=0.1, eps=3: consecutive models differ by 0.56, models two steps apart by 2×10−16).
- The empirical boundary (eps about 1-30, growing with lam) sits 100-400x above Perdomo et al.'s sufficient condition (eps < gamma/beta = 0.002-0.19). The theorem is very conservative here.
- In every non-settling case, a self-consistent (performatively stable) model exists: the damped update reaches it with residual at or below 1×10−15.
Verdict for the medium form: undercuts, for this model class. The self-consistent description existed and was reachable; what failed was the naive "update fully on what you just learned" rule. The claim's intuition survives in a narrower form: understanding that updates too hard on its own effects oscillates forever, and only a more cautious update converges.
Could it have come out the other way? Yes: the damped search could have failed to converge or left a large residual (no fixed point), and the plain runs could have settled everywhere. Neither happened.
What it cannot catch. One model family (L2 logistic with linear strategic shift). Systems with discontinuous or multi-valued responses can lack fixed points entirely; this run says nothing about them.