Causality, randomness, and related papers (More BI papers: Theoretical, Experimental)

Physics without Causality-Theory and Evidence, Richard Shoup, 2006 [slides-PDF, paper-PDF]
Abstract: The principle of cause and effect is deeply rooted in human experience, so much so that it is routinely and tacitly assumed throughout science, even by scientists working in areas where time symmetry is theoretically ingrained, as it is in both classical and quantum physics. Experiments are said to cause their results, not the other way around. In this informal paper, we argue that this assumption should be replaced with a more general notion of mutual influence -- bi-directional relations or constraints on joint values of two or more variables. From an analysis based on quantum entropy, it is proposed that quantum measurement is a unitary three-interaction, with no collapse, no fundamental randomness, and no barrier to backward influence.
Experimental results suggesting retrocausality are seen frequently in well-controlled laboratory experiments in parapsychology and elsewhere, especially where a random element is included. Certain common characteristics of these experiments give the appearance of contradicting well-established physical laws, thus providing an opportunity for deeper understanding and important clues that must be addressed by any explanatory theory. We discuss how retrocausal effects and other anomalous phenomena can be explained without major injury to existing physical theory. A modified quantum formalism can give new insights into the nature of quantum measurement, randomness, entanglement, causality, and time.
Presented at Frontiers of Time: Retrocausation -- Experiment and Theory, D. P. Sheehan editor, AIP Conference Proceedings for 87th Meeting of AAAS Pacific Division, University of San Diego, 2006

Anomalous Magnetometer Data on September 11, 2001, Richard Shoup, 2010.
Abstract - Despite a great deal of nonsense in the public domain concerning the events of September 11, 2001, there are in fact a number of highly anomalous physical effects seen in data collected from around the globe on that tragic day. Here we show and discuss unusual readings from ground-level and satellite magnetometers at times that are surprisingly coincident with the major events of that day. Several potential prosaic explanations are considered, and some speculations are also offered.
Presented at the Society for Scientific Exploration conference, Boulder, June 2010.

Random number generator data on September 11, 2001
"Correlations of Continuous Random Data with Major World Events", R. Nelson, D. Radin, R. Shoup, P. Bancel, Foundations of Physics Letters, Volume 15, Number 6, December 2002.
Abstract: Here we describe data from a global network of physical random number generators that shows unexpected structure apparently associated with major world events. ... Focused analyses of data recorded on September 11, 2001, show departures from random expectation in several statistics.

Process, System, Causality and Quantum Mechanics, Thomas Etter, 1997 [PDF]
Tom's "long paper" on all of basic Link Physics. Revised and recently published in Physics Essays, Vol. 12, No. 4, Dec. 1999.

Reflections on PSCQM, Thomas Etter, 2001 [PDF]
An update and extension to the above PSCQM paper, recently published in H. Pierre Noyes Bit-String Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy, World Scientific 2001.

Does God Play Dice?, Richard Shoup, with comment by H. Pierre Noyes, May 2005 [slides-PDF]
Abstract: Chance and randomness play an important part in science and in daily life. Randomness is used significantly in encryption and security, communications systems, simulation algorithms, and many other applications in science and technology. In everyday life, from the weather to lottery drawings, we are all subject to the unpredictabilities of Nature. Or are we? For over 80 years, there has been at the core of quantum physics an assumption of unequivocal and fundamental randomness. But is it really so? Recent evidence suggests that random number generators around the world have produced striking deviations from chance during certain human events. We will present this evidence along with its implications for science and society, and briefly introduce a new foundational approach to quantum physics ("Link Theory") that could explain these phenomena -- and much more. The presentation will include remarks by our collaborator H. Pierre Noyes, former head of Theoretical Physics and Professor Emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Does God Play Dice? Part II, Richard Shoup, May 2006 [slides-PDF]
Abstract: In this follow-on talk, we will describe in more detail our speculative theory that enables a new way of looking at randomness, quantum measurement, and other aspects of modern physics, including the possibility of backward causality. We will also discuss our latest experiments in the area of randomness and quantum phenomena, and speculate about implications of this work for science and for society as a whole.

Anomalies & Constraints, Richard Shoup, 2001 [slides-HTML, paper-PDF]
"Anomalies & Constraints-Can clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis be accommodated within known physics? ", Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2002, pp. 3-18. About physics as relations, causality (influence) flowing both forward and backward in time, and how this might explain certain (well-confirmed, but poorly understood) physical phenomena often called "psi". Also discusses the important connection to EPR phenomena in quantum physics.
Presented at the Society for Scientific Exploration conference, San Diego, June 2001.

Among the most difficult yet tantalizing anomalies confronting science today are those usually called "psychic" or "psi" phenomena. Laboratory evidence strongly suggests that these well-confirmed but enigmatic phenomena are due to real physical effects which are as yet poorly understood.

This paper presents a simple theory of relational contraints (Link Physics) that predicts exactly the type of psi phenomena which are often observed in controlled laboratory experiments -- without requiring any new forces, fields, particles, or any other major insult to established physical law within its proper domain. To illustrate the theory, a simple hypothetical psi experiment is described to explore the full implications of random processes interacting in an environment where constraints may be present on both the past and the future. This theory is testable, can help to clarify some of the stranger aspects of quantum physics, gives new insight into the nature of randomness and causality, and carries significant implications for future science and for society as a whole.