Boundary Institute
for the Study of Foundations


Boundary Institute is a nonprofit scientific research organization dedicated to the advancement of 21st-Century science. We are currently pursuing two major research themes, one concerning the foundations of physics, the other the foundations of mathematics and computer science.


Mathematics and Computer Science

Formal Methods - design tools, verification, and security
Boundary Math - www.boundarymath.org
Link Theory & Identity Theory
Sequential Constraints - www.torics.org

Physics

Link Theory and new physics
Causality and randomness
Anomalies in randomness
Space, Time, and some anomalies in physics
Consciousness and physics

  
The amazing Antikythera Mechanism, circa 80 B.C., [video],
an inspiring example of deep knowledge and understanding actualized in a powerful tool.


Ongoing research projects and activities

Formal Methods project
"Improved Design Methodology for Reconfigurable Systems: New Tools and New Foundations", proposal by Shoup and Furtek, 2004

Abstract: Computing hasn't changed much in nearly 50 years... That is, while the price/performance of computing hardware has improved dramatically over the years, and computers have gotten considerably easier to use, our underlying models of computation and our most common methods of hardware and software engineering have remained largely unchanged since the earliest days of computing.

Although the entire computing industry has been driven primarily by IC feature size (and thus Moore’s law) for more than three decades, several new developments and trends would indicate that a sea change is imminent. Reconfigurable and adaptive systems will inevitably become the next mainstream computing technology, replacing a wide class of instruction-based and ASIC-based computers -- and making new and better tools not only desirable but essential.

We argue here that not only better tools, but new mathematical foundations are needed that permit grounded formal representations, unified and common to both hardware and software, from the earliest specification of a computation through to implementation and testing. Specification, design, verification, and debugging should be represented as a seamless whole, rather than by a collection of language extensions and ad hoc techniques.

Markov Chain experiment
"Can Causal Influence Propagate Backwards in Time? - a Simple Experiment in Markov Chains and Causality", Shoup and Etter, 2002

Abstract: We describe here a simple experiment in psychic phenomena (Psi) where the usual target generator is replaced by a cascade of randomly controlled stages of a Markov Chain. If the experiment is successful, examination of the intermediate stages of the chain will indicate whether, and how, backward causation plays a role in some forms of Psi functioning. [Implemented beneath the “Card Draw Test” at www.gotpsi.org, and operational since February 2004. Backwards influence has not been seen.]

RetroComm experiment
"The RetroComm Experiment - Using Quantum Randomness to Send a Message Back in Time", proposal by Shoup and Etter, 2004

Abstract: In a simple electro-optical system, an agent attempts to influence a random number generator (RNG) based on quantum phenomena, and to use that influence to perform retrocausal signaling. This is a hypothetical experiment useful for thinking about exactly how it is that QM prohibits communicating into the past while still enabling distant correlations.

Experimental site - www.boundarylab.org (aka www.gotpsi.org)



Events

Physics Off the Beaten Path, a small eclectic physics meeting held in July 2010 on the San Jose State University campus



People

Associates and colleagues
Richard Shoup home page
William Bricken home page
Thomas L. Etter collected papers 1960-2008



Contact Information

Email: info[at]boundary.org
        rshoup[at]boundary.org
Phone: 408-996-0190  


Mailing address:
    Boundary Institute
    P.O. Box 10336
    San Jose, CA 95157  USA




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