This paper proves normalisation theorems for intuitionist and classical positive free logic, without and with the iota operator for definite descriptions `the F'. Positive free logic also opens a number of options for rules for iota. In total, six different formalisations of theories of definite descriptions will be discussed, three proposed by Lambert, and three alternatives. The latter are motivated by considerations relating to proof-theoretic harmony between introduction and elimination rules. The philosophical importance of the various systems and results (...) is indicated. The paper builds on Kürbis (2025), but is largely self-contained. The proofs for the present systems are easier than those for negative free logic. (shrink)

This paper proves normalisation theorems for intuitionist and classical negative free logic, without and with the $\invertediota$ operator for definite descriptions. Rules specific to free logic give rise to new kinds of maximal formulas additional to those familiar from standard intuitionist and classical logic. When $\invertediota$ is added it must be ensured that reduction procedures involving replacements of parameters by terms do not introduce new maximal formulas of higher degree than the ones removed. The problem is solved by a (...) rule that permits restricting these terms in the rules for $\forall$, $\exists$ and $\invertediota$ to parameters or constants. A restricted subformula property for deductions in systems without $\invertediota$ is considered. It is improved upon by an alternative formalisation of free logic building on an idea of Ja\'skowski's. In the classical system the rules for $\invertediota$ require treatment known from normalisation for classical logic with $\lor$ or $\exists$. The philosophical significance of the results is also indicated. (shrink)

Bilateralists hold that the meanings of the connectives are determined by rules of inference for their use in deductive reasoning with asserted and denied formulas. This paper presents two bilateral connectives comparable to Prior's tonk, for which, unlike for tonk, there are reduction steps for the removal of maximal formulas arising from introducing and eliminating formulas with those connectives as main operators. Adding either of them to bilateral classical logic results in an incoherent system. One way around this problem is (...) to count formulas as maximal that are the conclusion of reductio and major premise of an elimination rule and to require their removability from deductions. The main part of the paper consists in a proof of a normalisation theorem for bilateral logic. The closing sections address philosophical concerns whether the proof provides a satisfactory solution to the problem at hand and confronts bilateralists with the dilemma that a bilateral notion of stability sits uneasily with the core bilateral thesis. (shrink)

This paper considers a formalisation of classical logic using general introduction rules and general elimination rules. It proposes a definition of ‘maximal formula’, ‘segment’ and ‘maximal segment’ suitable to the system, and gives reduction procedures for them. It is then shown that deductions in the system convert into normal form, i.e. deductions that contain neither maximal formulas nor maximal segments, and that deductions in normal form satisfy the subformula property. Tarski’s Rule is treated as a general introduction rule for implication. (...) The general introduction rule for negation has a similar form. Maximal formulas with implication or negation as main operator require reduction procedures of a more intricate kind not present in normalisation for intuitionist logic. (shrink)

This paper studies a formalisation of intuitionistic logic by Negri and von Plato which has general introduction and elimination rules. The philosophical importance of the system is expounded. Definitions of ‘maximal formula’, ‘segment’ and ‘maximal segment’ suitable to the system are formulated and corresponding reduction procedures for maximal formulas and permutative reduction procedures for maximal segments given. Alternatives to the main method used are also considered. It is shown that deductions in the system convert into normal form and that deductions (...) in normal form have the subformula property. (shrink)

This brief note corrects an error in one of the reduction steps in my paper 'Normalisation for Bilateral Classical Logic with some Philosophical Remarks' published in the Journal of Applied Logics 8/2 (2021): 531-556.

This note corrects an error in my paper 'Normalisation and Subformula Property for a System of Classical Logic with Tarski's Rule' (Archive for Mathematical Logic 61 (2022): 105-129, DOI 10.1007/s00153-021-00775-6): Theorem 2 is mistaken, and so is a corollary drawn from it as well as a corollary that was concluded by the same mistake. Luckily this does not affect the main result of the paper.

Roderich Tumulka’s GRWf theory offers a simple, realist and relativistic solution to the measurement problem of quantum mechanics. It is achieved by the introduction of a stochastic dynamical collapse of the wavefunction. An issue with dynamical collapse theories is that they involve an amendment to the Schrodinger equation; amending the dynamics of such a tried and tested theory is seen by some as problematic. This paper proposes an alteration to GRWf that avoids the need to amend the Schrodinger equation via (...) what might be seen as a primary set of solutions to the Schrodinger equation that satisfy a normalisation condition over space and time. The traditional Born-normalised solutions are shown to be conditionalisations of these primary solutions. (shrink)

Within existential phenomenology, both seriality and style have been drawn on to theorise the embodiment and perceptibility of (social) ontological differences. While style refers to how we encounter the world and others not in the abstract, but as immediately and intuitively meaningful, seriality is a form of collective being that pertains to our being similarly constrained and enabled by the socio-material environment. In this paper, my aim is to make explicit the constitutive relationship between style and seriality for the sake (...) of theorising oppressive forms of normalisation. Focusing on the embodiment and perception of gendered and racialised categories, I argue that style and seriality are co-generative, as the various series to which we belong elicit certain styles, and that these habituated styles function to further serialise us. I illustrate this constitutive entanglement by discussing cases of racist and transphobic treatment of athletes who deviate from norms of white femininity. (shrink)

Feminists have indicated the inadequacies of bioethical debates about human embryonic stem cell research, which have for the most part revolved around concerns about the moral status of the human embryo. Feminists have argued, for instance, that inquiry concerning the ethics and politics of human embryonic stem cell research should consider the relations of social power in which the research is embedded. My argument is that this feminist work on stem cells is itself inadequate, however, insofar as it has not (...) incorporated an analysis of disability into its considerations of the ethical and political issues that surround the phenomena. Thus, I consider claims that disability theorists and anti-disability activists have made about the research. I conclude by indicating that stem cell research must be situated within a cultural matrix that operates in the service of normalisation. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that there are reasons to believe that an implicit bias for normalcy influences what are considered medically necessary treatments in psychiatry. First, we outline two prima facie reasons to suspect that this is the case. A bias for ‘the normal’ is already documented in disability studies; it is reasonable to suspect that it affects psychiatry too, since psychiatric patients, like disabled people, are often perceived as ‘weird’ by others. Secondly, psychiatry's explicitly endorsed values of well-being (...) and function are hard to measure directly, which is why we see simpler box-ticking conceptions of recovery used in large research studies. This need not be problematic, but might lead to researchers and clinicians focusing too much on treatments that promote easy-to-measure proxies for recovery, instead of what actually matters to psychiatric patients themselves. Next, we provide examples of treatments and treatment decisions within two areas – self-injury and psychosis – which are hard to explain unless we assume that an implicit and harmful normalcy bias is at work. We conclude with some suggestions for clinicians and future research. (shrink)

This paper presents a way of formalising definite descriptions with a binary quantifier ι, where ιx[F, G] is read as ‘The F is G’. Introduction and elimination rules for ι in a system of intuitionist negative free logic are formulated. Procedures for removing maximal formulas of the form ιx[F, G] are given, and it is shown that deductions in the system can be brought into normal form.

In this paper, I will reread the history of molecular genetics from a psychoanalytical angle, analysing it as a case history. Building on the developmental theories of Freud and his followers, I will distinguish four stages, namely: (1) oedipal childhood, notably the epoch of model building (1943–1953); (2) the latency period, with a focus on the development of basic skills (1953–1989); (3) adolescence, exemplified by the Human Genome Project, with its fierce conflicts, great expectations and grandiose claims (1989–2003) and (4) (...) adulthood (2003–present) during which revolutionary research areas such as molecular biology and genomics have achieved a certain level of normalcy—have evolved into a normal science. I will indicate how a psychoanalytical assessment conducted in this manner may help us to interpret and address some of the key normative issues that have been raised with regard to molecular genetics over the years, such as ‘relevance’, ‘responsible innovation’ and ‘promise management’. (shrink)

Responding to recent calls made within UK Parliament for a government-backed definition of Islamophobia, this article considers the unanticipated consequences of such proposals. I argue that, considered in the context of related efforts to regulate hate speech, the formulation and implementation of a government-sponsored definition will generate unforeseen harms for the Muslim community. To the extent that such a definition will fail to address the government’s role in propagating Islamophobia through ill-considered legislation that conflates Islamist discourse with hate speech, the (...) concept of a government-backed definition of Islamophobia appears hypocritical and untenable. Alongside opposing government attempts to define Islamophobia (and Islam), I argue that advocacy efforts should instead focus on disambiguating government counter-terrorism initiatives from the government management of controversies within Islam. Instead of repeating the mistakes of the governmental adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism by promoting a new definition of Islamophobia, we ought to learn from the errors that were made. We should resist the gratuitous securitization of Muslim communities, rather than use such definitions to normalize compliance with the surveillance state. (shrink)

The radial acceleration relation (RAR) of disc galaxies is governed by a single acceleration scale, a0 ≃ 1.20 × 10−10 m s−2 , whose origin has long been an open question. We report a two-input closed-form relation for this scale and a corresponding closed-form RAR law. From the two late-time cosmological parameters (H0, ΩΛ) alone we obtain a0 = cH0 2π Ω 3/8 Λ = 1.20055 × 10−10 m s−2 at Planck-2018 central values, with no galaxy-level fit parameter; the bare (...) Hubble-temperature scale cH0/(2π) undershoots the empirical value by about 13%, and the Ω−3/8 Λ factor supplies the missing normalisation. Built on this scale, the closed-form law g 2 obs = g 2 bar + a0 gbar 1 + q 3 2 qgbar a0  exph − e gbar 2πΩ 3/8 Λ a0 i has the correct deep-MOND and Newtonian limits and, with no parameter fitted to galaxy kinematics, matches the SPARC RAR at a level comparable to the standard empirical interpolation under the same fixed baryonic model. On the full SPARC Q=1 sample (93 galaxies, N = 2060 radial points, no outlier rejection) it is comparable to the McGaugh interpolation (χ 2/N = 44.84 versus 45.48 under a common relative-scoring prescription, the difference interpreted descriptively rather than as a calibrated likelihood significance), while a one-parameter free-a0 fit returns a free 0 = 1.1999×10−10 m s−2 , in 0.05% agreement with the cosmological prediction. We present these as empirical, falsifiable closed-form relations; the microscopic mechanism behind the Ω−3/8 Λ , p 3/2, and e factors is developed in a companion manuscript. (shrink)

The May 2026 Hantavirus outbreak had eleven cases and three deaths. It looks small. This essay argues that such biological events work as triggers for deeper structural change. Drawing on Foucault's biopower, Agamben's state of exception, and Arendt's normalisation of the exceptional, the analysis proposes a pattern: biological crises are increasingly used to build permanent algorithmic infrastructures that control physical access to society and hold epistemic authority over what counts as real health information. Hantavirus 2026 is a "reminder shock"—a (...) maintenance signal that stops the removal of COVID-era surveillance systems. The essay traces the shift from citizen to algorithmic subject, a change in political ontology. The conclusion is stark: the algorithm has joined the politico-legal system as an epistemic sovereign. Three counter-scenarios are identified. The most likely path points toward a permanent state of emergency framework. The final question is not who decides. It is this: under what conditions does the algorithmic subject see its own leash? And try to break it? (shrink)

Synopsis The Conspiracy of Speech The Conspiracy of Speech is the second part of Volume I with the same name in THE MISCOMMUNICATION TRILOGY. It builds upon the theoretical groundwork laid earlier and moves from diagnosing the structural decay of language toward examining how speech actively participates in the production of distortion, misunderstanding, and ideological cohesion in contemporary society. The central claim of the book is that speech is never neutral. Far from being a transparent vehicle of truth, it functions (...) as a mechanism of coalition-building, power negotiation, and social positioning. The word “conspiracy” is used not in the narrow sense of secret plotting but in its etymological sense of con-spirare — to breathe together. Speech creates communities. Yet this same capacity to unite also enables exclusion, manipulation, and the manufacturing of shared illusions. The book opens with the diagnosis of a language crisis. Public discourse, saturated with slogans, media soundbites, and algorithmically amplified outrage, produces more noise than understanding. Nonsense and stupidity are not treated as individual deficiencies but as systemic outcomes of communicative environments designed for visibility and emotional intensity rather than clarity. Language and evil are examined not as metaphysical abstractions but as social phenomena emerging from habitual distortions of speech. Ayolov introduces the idea that indoctrination operates linguistically. Before beliefs are institutionalised, they are normalised through repetition, framing, and rhetorical conditioning. Speech creates mental architecture long before policies are implemented. In this sense, conspiracy is not always hidden; it is often embedded in ordinary language practices. A substantial section of the book explores conspiracies as communicative structures. Facts, biases, and hegemony interact in the formation of narratives that appear self-evident to insiders yet opaque to outsiders. Conspiracy speech thrives in environments where trust erodes and interpretative communities fragment. The book does not simply dismiss conspiratorial thinking; it analyses how speech patterns, metaphorical framing, and selective emphasis construct persuasive alternative realities. The concept of kayfabe and roleplaying expands this argument. Public actors, particularly in politics and media, often perform sincerity rather than inhabit it. Speech becomes theatrical. The boundary between authentic belief and strategic positioning blurs. Under such conditions, discourse transforms into spectacle, and communication becomes performance addressed to an imagined audience rather than a concrete interlocutor. In the section devoted to Homo loquens, Ayolov returns to the anthropological roots of speech. Talking is presented as drama — a staging of identity, intention, and alliance. To speak is to act. The modalities of thought are inseparable from the modalities of language available within a culture. Inner speech and public speech mirror one another, shaping perception and self-understanding. The analysis of small talk is particularly revealing. Phatic speech — language used to maintain social bonds rather than convey information — is not dismissed as trivial. Instead, it is shown to be foundational for social cohesion. However, when banal speech dominates public discourse, depth diminishes. The “evil of banality” is not loud deception but the quiet erosion of seriousness. Words lose weight through overuse and automatic repetition. Throughout the book, Ayolov argues that mass communication technologies intensify these tendencies. Speech circulates faster than reflection. Visibility replaces accountability. The public sphere fragments into echo chambers where language signals belonging more than it communicates meaning. Under these conditions, miscommunication becomes structural rather than exceptional. Yet the book does not collapse into cynicism. By exposing the mechanics of speech as coalition and performance, it invites greater awareness of how language operates. The solution is not silence but responsibility — a renewed attention to who speaks, why, and to whom. Genuine communication requires scale, sincerity, and the willingness to resist purely performative speech. The Conspiracy of Speech thus functions as a critical anatomy of contemporary discourse. It demonstrates that language is not merely deteriorating from neglect but is actively reshaped by incentives embedded in political, economic, and technological systems. Speech binds communities together, but it can also entrap them in shared distortions. As the second part of Volume I in THE MISCOMMUNICATION TRILOGY, the book deepens the investigation into linguistic decay by focusing on the performative and conspiratorial dimensions of speech itself. It prepares the ground for the broader examination of entropy and fragmentation that the trilogy will continue to unfold. -/- . (shrink)

Synopsis The Perverse Language The Perverse Language is the fourth part and last of Volume I in THE MISCOMMUNICATION TRILOGY and serves as the culminating movement of the first volume’s inquiry into linguistic decay, distortion, and miscommunication. While the earlier parts examine the planned obsolescence of language, the conspiratorial nature of speech, and the rise of anti-languages, this book confronts the most troubling dimension of communication: its perversion. Language here is not merely fragmented or manipulated; it becomes structurally inverted, detached (...) from truth, sincerity, and shared reality. The book opens with the concept of mass miscommunication. Misunderstanding is no longer treated as accidental or episodic but as systemic. In contemporary societies, speech circulates at unprecedented speed, yet clarity diminishes. Biased language, ideological framing, and algorithmic amplification create environments in which distortion stabilises itself. The “miscommunication axiom” suggests that the more communication expands without shared interpretative frameworks, the more entropy increases. Communication multiplies; understanding contracts. A central section of the book is devoted to lying. Rather than moralising deception as purely individual failure, Ayolov analyses the linguistics of lying as a social practice. Why do people lie? Because language permits strategic ambiguity, selective emphasis, and contextual framing. Conspicuous dishonesty, however, often signals something deeper: a cultural shift in which truth becomes negotiable. The line between error, manipulation, and narrative construction blurs. The analysis of hypocrisy advances this diagnosis. Hypocrisy thrives not in silence but in hyper-articulation. Public actors proclaim virtue while engaging in contradictory practices. Organised hypocrisy emerges when institutions maintain symbolic commitments that diverge from operational realities. The paradox lies in the fact that hypocrisy can stabilise social systems; it allows moral language to persist even when behaviour deviates. Language preserves legitimacy while action undermines it. Deception, in Ayolov’s account, is both art and science. The book explores the aesthetics of deception — how persuasive narratives captivate audiences — and the institutionalisation of deception within scientific fraud, media manipulation, and political propaganda. The concept of “overproduction of truth” captures a distinctive modern condition: rather than censorship through silence, societies face saturation through competing truths. When everything claims validity, discernment weakens. The hermeneutic section addresses interpretation as both remedy and risk. Understanding depends on interpretation, yet interpretative frameworks are themselves shaped by bias and ideology. Typology and categorisation organise perception but also limit it. The book argues that miscommunication is not solved by multiplying interpretations; it requires reflexivity about the frameworks guiding interpretation. A particularly striking chapter examines obfuscation. Grammaticalisation and lexical inflation transform simple realities into complex abstractions. Bureaucratic language, academic jargon, and managerial vocabulary obscure agency and responsibility. The limits of words become visible not because language fails, but because it is stretched beyond clarity. Obfuscation does not eliminate meaning; it multiplies it to the point of opacity. The final section introduces the concept of hypernormalisation. Distorted communication becomes normalised through repetition. Citizens recognise inconsistencies between words and reality yet continue to participate in the linguistic performance. The “language of names” reveals how labels can dehumanise, reducing individuals to categories. Once categorisation hardens, empathy weakens. Language becomes an instrument of distance. The concluding movement toward “discommunication” suggests that breakdown is not merely communicative failure but structural inversion. Lingua perversa is a condition in which words no longer mediate shared understanding but reinforce fragmentation. Sanity itself becomes entangled with linguistic stability. When language detaches from coherent reference, psychological and social equilibrium destabilise. Yet The Perverse Language does not culminate in despair. By exposing the mechanisms of lying, hypocrisy, deception, obfuscation, and hypernormalisation, the book invites awareness. Perversion is not inevitable; it is produced. Recognising distorted patterns enables resistance. Communication can be recalibrated through sincerity, clarity, and reflexive listening. As the final part of Volume I in THE MISCOMMUNICATION TRILOGY, The Perverse Language synthesises the trilogy’s foundational concerns. It demonstrates that linguistic decay is not simply about simplification or fragmentation but about inversion — the transformation of language from a medium of mutual understanding into a mechanism of systemic distortion. The task that remains is not to abandon language but to confront its perverse tendencies with disciplined attention and ethical responsibility. -/- . (shrink)

We demonstrate that the fundamental physical constants of the Standard Model are arithmetic invariants, originating from four mechanisms: (A) ratios of special values of L-functions in the Selberg class, (B) Bernoulli numbers transported by the archimedean Γ-factor via the functional equation, (C) ratios of nontrivial L-function zeros, and (D) dimensions of spaces of multiple zeta values counted by Zagier's recurrence. No geometric input is required: π itself is the Haar measure normalisation of ℝ/ℤ. At the GUT scale, the down-type (...) quark mass ratios m_d : m_s : m_b = 2 : 5 : 9 follow exactly from the Casimir invariants C₂(n,0) = n(n+3)/3 of SU(3)_flavor Kac–Moody representations for generations n = 1,2,3, and the Georgi–Jarlskog relation m_d m_b/m_s² = 9/4 matches experiment at 0.09%. The Cabibbo angle satisfies sin θ₁₂ = 1/(2√5) within 0.9% via the Gatto–Sartori–Tonin relation, while the geometric prediction θ₁₂ = 29π²/1260 from the Fubini–Study distance on CP² achieves 0.19%. The seed of CP violation is identified as the Jacobi sum J(χ₄ mod 5, χ₃ mod 7) = e^{iπ/6}, a primitive 12th root of unity in ℚ(ζ₁₂); the ratio of the physical CKM phase to this arithmetic seed approximates 137/60 at 0.04%, suggesting a connection between CP violation and the fine structure constant. Three independent programmes—the exceptional Jordan algebra (Singh), the generalised Dirac equation on Cl_{8,0} (Quinta), and the coset geometry of Spin(8)/G₂—converge on the same angular parameters for the fermion mass matrix, providing evidence that mass is the curvature of the division algebra coset and the hierarchy is its shape. All numerical claims are verified at ≥ 15-digit precision. (shrink)

The multiplicative group ℝ₊×, equipped with its Haar measure d×r = dr/r, carries a scale-invariant spectral structure whose unitary irreducible representations are precisely the characters χγ(r) = r^(iγ) for γ ∈ ℝ, parametrised by a single real frequency. When the standard Riemann variable s = σ + iγ is introduced via the Haar-normalised coordinate s = 1/2 + iγ, this principal-series condition becomes the statement Re(s) = 1/2. The critical line is therefore the unitarity locus of the natural spectral theory (...) on ℝ₊×, not a numerical accident. Tate’s thesis establishes that the Riemann zeta function arises as the Mellin transform of the idele class group scaling action, connecting the zeros of ζ(s) to the spectral theory of the scaling generator A = −i d/d(log|a|) on L²(A×/ℚ×, d×a). Meyer’s unconditional spectral realisation then identifies those zeros as the atoms of the trace spectral measure μ_A via the Weil explicit formula. The product decomposition A×/ℚ× ≅ K × ℝ₊×, with K compact, reduces the eigenvalue equation for A to a first-order ordinary differential equation on ℝ whose solution space is one-dimensional, confining each ordinate to a single spectral atom of weight one. The functional equation ξ(s) = ξ(1 − s), combined with the Schwarz reflection principle, forces every zero at ordinate γ lying off the critical line to generate a second distinct zero of ζ(s) at the same ordinate, violating the multiplicity bound. All non-trivial zeros of ζ(s) therefore satisfy Re(s) = 1/2, and every such zero is simple. The argument extends without modification to every primitive Dirichlet L-function, yielding the Generalised Riemann Hypothesis. (shrink)

A new formulation of the Fine-Tuning Argument (FTA) for the existence of God is offered, which avoids a number of commonly raised objections. I argue that we can and should focus on the fundamental constants and initial conditions of the universe, and show how physics itself provides the probabilities that are needed by the argument. I explain how this formulation avoids a number of common objections, specifically the possibility of deeper physical laws, the multiverse, normalisability, whether God would fine-tune at (...) all, whether the universe is too fine-tuned, and whether the likelihood of God creating a life-permitting universe is inscrutable. (shrink)

By 2026, the power elite described by Mills has reconstituted itself as a conspicuous platform elite, whose authority no longer rests primarily on institutional position but on continuous visibility, narrative performance, and algorithmic amplification. Power is now exercised less through command and deliberation than through spectacle, biography, and attention, transforming elite domination into a publicly staged and culturally aspirational form of rule. This article rereads The Power Elite from the standpoint of 2026 with particular emphasis on C. Wright Mills’s warning (...) about "higher immorality", first formulated in 1956. Mills described higher immorality as a structural condition in which those occupying the summits of economic, political, and military power are insulated from the moral consequences of their decisions by size, distance, bureaucracy, and institutional abstraction. This article argues that higher immorality was not a historically contingent pathology of mid-twentieth-century American capitalism, but an early diagnosis of a durable logic of modern power that has since intensified. In the contemporary context of platform capitalism, algorithmic governance, media spectacle, and elite celebrity, higher immorality no longer operates primarily through secrecy or denial, but through visibility, narrative performance, and normalisation. Power today presents itself openly, confidently, and often pedagogically, while responsibility dissolves into systems, procedures, and technical necessity. By tracing the transformation from institutional opacity to conspicuous authority, the article shows how higher immorality has evolved from organised irresponsibility into a cultural atmosphere in which success no longer requires moral justification, authority no longer requires reason, and domination no longer requires belief. Reclaiming Mills’s concept as a sociological warning rather than a historical footnote, the article argues that higher immorality remains a central obstacle to democratic accountability in the twenty-first century, precisely because it has ceased to appear immoral at all. In this sense, the power elite of Mills’s era has culminated in what this article defines as ‘The Conspicuous Elite' or 'Platform Elite’, a form of authority in which domination is no longer concealed by institutions but performed openly through visibility, narrative, and algorithmic attention. (shrink)

This article examines Chris Knight’s lecture ‘Decoding Chomsky: Science and Revolutionary Politics’ (27 February 2018), situating it as both an intellectual self-clarification and a broader critique of postwar academic culture. Responding to Les Levidow’s appreciation of his book , Knight reconstructs the paradox at the heart of Noam Chomsky’s legacy: the coexistence of uncompromising dissident politics with a scientific career embedded in Cold War military research environments, particularly at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its offshoot MITRE. The article traces Knight’s (...) argument that this paradox is not a biographical anomaly but a mythological solution to a deeper contradiction between science and politics institutionalised during the cognitive revolution. By analysing Knight’s use of anthropology, mythology, institutional history, and first-hand testimony, the article shows how the professional separation of theory and practice became an ‘ideology of anti-ideology’—one that sanitised language, depoliticised cognition, and normalised proximity to power while preserving moral authority. Rather than reducing Chomsky to hypocrisy or vindication, the article argues that Knight’s lecture reframes him as a cultural figure whose authority derives precisely from the unresolved tension between insider knowledge and public denunciation. The lecture thus functions as a critical lens on the moral economy of modern academia, where intellectual freedom, military funding, and ethical self-justification are structurally intertwined. (shrink)

This article theorises 'the new paradigm of mass communication ' and ‘the media scenario ' and develops the claim that civilisation increasingly functions as a role-playing game: a lived architecture of roles, rules, and scripted interactions through which people learn what is ‘real’, what is ‘allowed’, and what counts as meaningful participation. Building on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical sociology, it argues that the contemporary media environment intensifies this performative structure by converting publics from spectators into players. Within the new paradigm of (...) mass communication, media do not merely represent events; they design scenarios—interactive dramaturgies organised around quests, conflicts, reputational rewards, and ritualised reactions. The article uses live action role-playing (LARP) as an analytic lens for understanding how digital platforms produce collective ‘game worlds’ in which identities behave like avatars and political, moral, and cultural positions become roles to be performed. It further shows how immersion technologies and participatory narrative formats dissolve the boundary between fiction and social reality, making ‘playing’ a primary mode of civic presence. This transformation generates a double effect: it heightens engagement and the feeling of agency, yet it also narrows imagination by standardising identity into scripts and collapsing truth into the continuity of narrative moves. Finally, the article situates scenario thinking and strategic communication within this ludic turn, arguing that power increasingly operates through the design of playable futures: frameworks that distribute roles, set tempo, and normalise certain choices as ‘the next move’. Civilisation, understood as a media scenario, is therefore not simply narrated but enacted—an ongoing multiplayer performance in which control over roles becomes control over collective time, attention, and social possibility. (shrink)

This paper derives the complete algebraic expansion of the inverse fine structure constant α⁻¹ from the axiom system {A1 non‑commutativity, A2 Π_d‑saturation, A4 redundancy exclusion} of Operatiology, under which the rank‑3 operational closure is uniquely realised as the matrix algebra M₃(ℂ). The expansion α⁻¹ = 6π/D + C₂·D + (Φ₁/Φ₆)·D⁶ closes at exactly three terms with zero free parameters. The normalisation rule Nₖ = Φ₂ₖ(dim)/Φ_{(dim+1)−k}(dim) is proved unique by an internal‑language closure argument invoking no experimental value, discharging the objection (...) that it was fitted to the known value 137. The theoretical value α⁻¹ = 137.035999197 agrees with the highest‑precision single‑experiment determination (Morel et al. 2020, Rb recoil) at 0.81σ. This is a revision and expansion of Version 3.0 (doi: 10.5281/zenodo.18843064), transferring the framework from Cognitional Mechanics to Operatiology and separating the theoretical value from the measured value previously conflated with it. The complete derivation runs from the spectrum {1, 1, −2} alone.◆◆◆ [PYTHON VERIFICATION CODE — note: × denotes * and ^ denotes ** ] ◆◆◆ from mpmath import mp, mpf, pi, sqrt mp.dps = 50 h = [mpf(1), mpf(1), mpf(-2)] e1 = sum(h) e2 = h[0]×h[1] + h[0]×h[2] + h[1]×h[2] e3 = h[0]×h[1]×h[2] delta = sqrt(mpf(3)/2) gamma = mpf(1)/2 D = (delta - 1)×delta×gamma ch2 = (e1^2 - 2×e2)/2 ch3 = (e1^3 - 3×e1×e2 + 3×e3)/6 N2 = mpf(10)/4 N3 = mpf(7)/2 C2 = sqrt(ch2/N2)×gamma f3 = abs(ch3)/N3 term0 = 6×pi/D term1 = C2×D term2 = f3×D^6 alpha_inv = term0 + term1 + term2 print("alpha^-1 =", alpha_inv) ◆◆◆ [END] ◆◆◆ -/- Published on June 2, 2026 DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20511158. (shrink)

This paper concerns the way in which our shared interpretive frames – such as metaphors, narratives, scripts, and stereotypes – may produce misunderstanding in ways that sustain injustice. Interpretive frames guide how we interpret information. I relate the role of frames to structural views of understanding, in order to put forward an analysis of mis-interpretive frames: frames which systematically produce misunderstanding. I contrast mere lack of understanding, in which we lack apparent intelligibility, with cases of more substantive misunderstanding, where one (...) has a mistaken ‘sense’ of understanding. I begin by introducing the structural view of understanding, in order to present a structural characterisation of misunderstanding. I highlight that frames guide how we structure information, and so distorting frames lead to misunderstanding. I highlight two ways in which possessing mis-interpretive frames are distinctively epistemically pernicious: concealed incompetence and epistemic contamination. In the former, the mistaken sense of understanding conferred by grasping an inapt interpretive structure obstructs recognition of one’s own epistemic failures. In the latter, deploying a mis-interpretive frame to interpret new evidence renders it misleading, polluting otherwise valuable epistemic resources. Finally, I show how these distorting frames may obscure and perpetuate injustice via examining naturalisation and normalisation. (shrink)

This paper discusses proof-theoretic semantics, the project of specifying the meanings of the logical constants in terms of rules of inference governing them. I concentrate on Michael Dummett’s and Dag Prawitz’ philosophical motivations and give precise characterisations of the crucial notions of harmony and stability, placed in the context of proving normalisation results in systems of natural deduction. I point out a problem for defining the meaning of negation in this framework and prospects for an account of the meanings (...) of modal operators in terms of rules of inference. (shrink)

Semantic information is usually supposed to satisfy the veridicality thesis: p qualifies as semantic information only if p is true. However, what it means for semantic information to be true is often left implicit, with correspondentist interpretations representing the most popular, default option. The article develops an alternative approach, namely a correctness theory of truth (CTT) for semantic information. This is meant as a contribution not only to the philosophy of information but also to the philosophical debate on the nature (...) of truth. After the introduction, in Sect. 2, semantic information is shown to be translatable into propositional semantic information (i). In Sect. 3, i is polarised into a query (Q) and a result (R), qualified by a specific context, a level of abstraction and a purpose. This polarization is normalised in Sect. 4, where [Q + R] is transformed into a Boolean question and its relative yes/no answer [Q + A]. This completes the reduction of the truth of i to the correctness of A. In Sects. 5 and 6, it is argued that (1) A is the correct answer to Q if and only if (2) A correctly saturates Q by verifying and validating it (in the computer science’s sense of verification and validation ); that (2) is the case if and only if (3) [Q + A] generates an adequate model (m) of the relevant system (s) identified by Q; that (3) is the case if and only if (4) m is a proxy of s (in the computer science’s sense of proxy ) and (5) proximal access to m commutes with the distal access to s (in the category theory’s sense of commutation ); and that (5) is the case if and only if (6) reading/writing (accessing, in the computer science’s technical sense of the term) m enables one to read/write (access) s. Sect. 7 provides some further clarifications about CTT, in the light of semantic paradoxes. Section 8 draws a general conclusion about the nature of CTT as a theory for systems designers not just systems users. In the course of the article all technical expressions from computer science are explained. (shrink)

This article presents a cross-case comparative-historical and discourse analysis of Hitlerism in the 1920s–1930s and Trumpism and Bolsonarism in the 2010s–2020s. By examining their rhetoric and actions, it reveals enduring ideological continuities rooted in Counter-Enlightenment worldviews, with clear influences from Traditionalism and fascism that extend beyond their populist tactics. The research involved primary sources such as speeches, statements, and media coverage alongside secondary scholarship. The study highlights how their tactics serve to undermine democracy and consolidate authoritarian power. The article critically (...) examines the overuse of the populism label, arguing it obscures deeper supremacist, fundamentalist, and authoritarian elements common to both historical and modern far-right movements. Ultimately, the analysis underscores the necessity of a nuanced, historically informed framework to understand and cope with contemporary reactionary politics. It calls for further research into the ideological connections and transnational networks sustaining these movements, emphasising the dangers posed by normalising authoritarian tendencies under simplistic categorisations. (shrink)

In this paper I introduce a sequent system for the propositional modal logic S5. Derivations of valid sequents in the system are shown to correspond to proofs in a novel natural deduction system of circuit proofs (reminiscient of proofnets in linear logic, or multiple-conclusion calculi for classical logic). -/- The sequent derivations and proofnets are both simple extensions of sequents and proofnets for classical propositional logic, in which the new machinery—to take account of the modal vocabulary—is directly motivated in terms (...) of the simple, universal Kripke semantics for S5. The sequent system is cut-free and the circuit proofs are normalising. (shrink)

The development of artificial womb technology is proceeding rapidly and will present important ethical and theological challenges for Christians. While there has been extensive secular discourse on artificial wombs in recent years, there has been little Christian engagement with this topic. There are broadly two primary uses of artificial womb technology—ectogestation as a form of enhanced neonatal care, where some of the gestation period takes place in an artificial womb, and ectogenesis, where the entire gestation period is within an artificial (...) womb. Ectogestation for the latter weeks or months of pregnancy could be possible within a decade or so, while ectogenesis for humans is far more speculative. Ectogestation is likely to significantly decrease maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, and so there is a strong case for supporting its development. Ectogenesis, however, may bring a number of challenges, including the commodification of children, and the pathologizing of pregnancy and childbirth. Its long-term effects on those who are created through this process are also unknown. In the event that it becomes ubiquitous, we may also find the central theological significance of pregnancy and birth diminished. The dilemma for Christians is that the development of ectogestation seems likely to normalise the use of artificial gestation, and, in time, pave the way for ectogenesis. (shrink)

The News Physics Case Analysis Scoring Rubric (v1.0) is an operational instrument developed within the News Physics (Haberin Fiziği) framework — the physical model of journalism practice founded by Levent Bulut as part of the Physics of Reality ecosystem. -/- While the News Physics Founding Manifesto (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19545072) establishes the three core laws and theoretical operators — News Pressure (Np = Ss × Tu × Ie), Institutional Resistance (Ir = Pp × Ed / Ec), and Information Entropy (Hs) — this (...) rubric translates those operators into a granular, case-level measurement tool. -/- The rubric introduces four independent metrics, each scored on a 1–5 scale: -/- System Fit (SF) measures the structural compatibility of a news story with its publishing environment — the alignment of agenda, channel, period, and social climate. Formally expressed as SF = (Ss × Tu) / Environmental Resistance. -/- Actor Power (AP) measures the real impact capacity of the story's central subject — individual, institutional, or state actor — determined by actual sphere of influence rather than formal title. AP constitutes the actor sub-component of Social Significance (Ss = AP × Issue Weight × Social Contact). -/- Tension (T) measures the normalised conflict between News Pressure and Institutional Resistance. It captures the physical struggle over publication — not the ethical value of the story. When Editorial Courage (Ec) approaches zero, Tension approaches maximum and Institutional Resistance approaches infinity: the mathematical definition of censorship. -/- Diffusion (D) measures actual post-publication spread through the time derivative of News Pressure (D = dNp/dt). A positive derivative indicates the story is gaining momentum; a negative derivative indicates entropy is winning. -/- The four metrics are independent — high System Fit does not imply high Tension. Together they produce a physical profile of any news case, enabling comparative analysis across different stories, outlets, and political contexts. The rubric also functions as a Fake Np Injection detection tool: disproportionate Diffusion relative to low Actor Power and System Fit signals artificial pressure amplification. -/- The document is published in both Turkish and English and includes a complete worked example (the fictional "Minister's Company" case), an integrated case analysis protocol, and a profile interpretation guide. -/- This rubric is the second formal publication in the News Physics series, following the Founding Manifesto. It is part of the Physics of Reality ecosystem alongside the Physics of Literature (Edebiyatın Fiziği). -/- Related publication: News Physics — Founding Manifesto v1.0. (shrink)

In 1632, Galileo observed that no experiment performed within a closed cabin can detect the ship's uniform motion relative to the shore. This observation was elevated by Einstein in 1905 to a postulate of fundamental physics: the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames, and the speed of light is invariant. The mathematical consequences — Lorentz transformations, time dilation, length contraction, the spacetime interval — have been confirmed to extraordinary precision. Yet the question of why uniform motion (...) is undetectable, and why c is invariant, remains answered only by stipulation. -/- This paper proposes a structural account that recovers Galileo's intuition through the information-theoretic tools unavailable in either Galileo's or Einstein's time. Within the Subsystem Epistemics (SE) framework, information is the registration of a difference between two distinguishable events, observation is necessarily performed by subsystems embedded in the system they observe, and all measurement must proceed through finite-time closure using the system's own propagation rate r = l/t. Measurement is therefore self-referential: the same r that constrains access to physical quantities is used to measure them. -/- Three levels of temporal structure follow. The ontic level (L1) is the absolute xent count on the underlying lattice. The local level (L2) is each subsystem's accumulation of existence events, bounded above by the resolution limit r/2 inherited from the two-event structure of information. The assigned level (L3) is constructed through signal-mediated measurement procedures such as the radar protocol. Under these constraints, the radar protocol is shown to be the unique L3 measurement procedure compatible with resource-bounded observation, and the geometric mean assignment t_B = sqrt(t_1 · t_2) is uniquely determined by accessibility, reciprocity, scale invariance, and closure consistency. -/- From this foundation, relativistic effects emerge as algebraic consequences of self-referential measurement rather than physical deformations of local processes. The Lorentz factor γ arises from the geometric reconstruction of remote events; absolute velocity is eliminated from every observable quantity through the dimensionless form v/r; the preferred frame (the lattice background) exists but is structurally inaccessible to embedded observers — not by conspiracy, but by the algebra of measurement itself. Applied to the twin scenario, the framework yields equal local xent counts at reunion under symmetric trajectories: the apparent age difference is a computational output at L3 rather than a physical accumulation at L2, and arises from conflating the two levels. -/- Where Galileo articulated the phenomenological observation and Einstein elevated it to a postulate, the present framework provides a structural mechanism: self-referential measurement — the use of r to measure r — algebraically eliminates absolute velocity from every observable quantity available to an embedded subsystem. The paper does not claim that special relativity is incorrect; its mathematical structure is fully reproduced. The contribution is interpretive: a reduction of brute postulate to structural necessity, with empirical content concentrated in cellular automaton simulations where the embedded-observer / simulator distinction is concretely realisable. This paper is a working paper. Its purpose is to isolate a structural possibility rather than to present a completed physical theory. The central claims are the three-layer distinction of time, the self-referential character of embedded measurement, and the resulting inaccessibility of absolute motion through v/r-normalised observables. Several technical components, including the full discrete realisation of the three-axis virtual ruler, the CA implementation, and the physical identification of clock readings with L2 tick counts, remain open problems. (shrink)

Collapse theories provide one of the main approaches to the quantum measurement problem. Roderich Tumulka’s collapse theory (GRWf) has attracted interest because it offers a relativistic collapse theory. GRWf utilises an ontology of flashes to accommodate EPR-Bell type non-local influences within a relativistic theory, an idea suggested by John Bell. Tim Maudlin raises a concern with Tumulka’s flash ontology, arguing that it is too sparse to convincingly account for certain microscopic phenomena. This paper proposes a modification to GRWf that addresses (...) the problem of sparseness, whilst retaining a relativistic treatment of quantum non-locality. The proposal, referred to as the space-time normalisation interpretation (STN), combines the GRWf flash ontology with a statistical interpretation of the wavefunction. The statistical structure of the interpretation is presented as a Hawkes process, consisting of flashes and an intensity function governing their occurrence. For a single-particle system, the square modulus of a renormalised wavefunction serves as the intensity function of the Hawkes process. (shrink)

Over the years, phenomenology has provided illuminating descriptions of discrimination, with its mechanisms and effects being thematised at the most basic levels of embodiment, (dis)orientation, selfhood, and belonging. What remains somewhat understudied is the lived experience of the discriminator. In this paper I draw on Husserl's phenomenological account of normality to reflect on the ways in which we discriminate at the prereflective levels of perceptual experience and bodily being. By critically reflecting on the intentional structures undergirding discriminatory practices, I argue (...) that discrimination is characteristic of a naïve normalising attitude which is habitually interested in securing a familiar experience of a static normality. I first demonstrate how this attitude problematically tends to reproduce, enforce, and further sediment discriminatory and exclusionary norms. Further, I provide an internal critique which problematises discrimination—without recourse to external normative standards—on three fronts: as epistemically unproductive, experientially obscuring, and normatively non-instantiating. In discriminatory acts we see an abnormal refusal to enrich, revise, and genetically establish new normative commitments, new ways of seeing, and a new normality. (shrink)

According to a prominent argument, citizens in unjust societies have a duty to resist injustice. The moral and political principles that ground the duty to obey the law in just or nearly just conditions, also ground the duty to resist in unjust conditions. This argument is often applied to a variety of unjust conditions. In this essay, I critically examine this argument, focusing on conditions involving institutionally entrenched and socially normalised injustice. In such conditions, the issue of citizens’ duties to (...) resist is complicated. I conclude by considering how my discussions may clarify a contemporary problem about engaging in resistance to aid potential migrants who have been turned away by states in accordance with widely accepted rules. (shrink)

This paper develops a mathematical realisation of a speculative framework in which consciousness, modelled via Integrated Information Theory (IIT), is permitted to weakly bias quantum outcome probabilities. Building on a companion conceptual paper, a consciousness-weighted probability distribution is introduced that reduces exactly to the Born rule in the limit of vanishing coupling. Structural constraints are imposed, including normalisation, internal consistency, and compatibility with no-signalling. First-order corrections to standard quantum statistics are derived, and the model is shown to be explicitly (...) falsifiable: if no deviations from the Born rule are observed, the coupling parameter must vanish and standard quantum mechanics is recovered in full. The framework is intended not as a replacement for quantum theory, but as a phenomenological bridge between theories of consciousness and quantum foundations, providing a structured way to test whether integrated information might play any measurable role in quantum outcome selection. (shrink)

Emotion processing is known to be impaired in psychopathy, but less is known about the cognitive mechanisms that drive this. Our study examined experiencing and suppression of emotion processing in psychopathy. Participants, violent offenders with varying levels of psychopathy, viewed positive and negative images under conditions of passive viewing, experiencing and suppressing. Higher scoring psychopathics were more cardiovascularly responsive when processing negative information than positive, possibly reflecting an anomalously rewarding aspect of processing normally unpleasant material. When required to experience emotional (...) response, by ‘getting into the feeling’ of the emotion conveyed by a negative image, higher factor 1 psychopathic individuals showed reduced responsiveness, suggesting that they were less able to do this. These data, together with the absence of corresponding differences in subjective self-report might be used to inform clinical strategies for normalising emotion processing in psychopathic offenders to improve treatment outcome, and reduce risk amongst this client group. (shrink)

Narrative Entropy (Sₙ) is a structural-complexity construct of the Bulut Doctrine that quantifies the cognitive resistance and causal uncertainty a narrative imposes on a reader across time. Because the construct has been developed incrementally across the corpus, its operational expression has appeared in more than one form. This technical note serves a single purpose: to fix, in one place, the canonical definition of Sₙ, to document the version history of its operationalisation, and to state plainly the one open formal problem (...) that remains unresolved. -/- It makes no new empirical claim; it is a reference and disambiguation document, not a validation study. The canonical general form is the time integral of the product of Information Friction (If) and Causal Branching (Cb): Sₙ = ∫ (If × Cb) dt. The product form Sₙ = If × Cb × t used in the registered pilot is its scene-constant special case. The known dimensional inconsistency of the product form — both If and Cb being per-minute rates — is documented here as an open question, consistent with the pilot report that first recorded it. The note also includes the full version history of the measurement protocol (v1.0 normalised anchors → v2.0 raw rates), the two worked pilot examples for reference, and the formal distinction between Sₙ and Shannon entropy. -/- Keywords narrative entropy, Sn, Bulut Doctrine, Objective Projection, narrative engineering, operationalization, information friction, causal branching, version history, canonical definition, Shannon entropy. (shrink)

The empirical acceleration scale that normalises the radial acceleration relation (RAR) is conventionally written as a0 ≃ 1.20 × 10−10 m s−2 . It marks the scale at which the Newtonian acceleration inferred from the baryonic mass distribution no longer closes the observed galactic acceleration budget. It has long been noted that a0 lies close to clightH0/(2π), although the uncorrected Hubble-temperature scale undershoots the empirical value by about 13%. Working within a two-scale de Sitter cosmological background, we define a cosmic (...) mean acceleration scale a¯∂Λ ≡ clight ΘH0 -/- VΛ/VH
1/4 = clightH0 2π Ω 3/8 Λ , where VH is the present Hubble volume, VΛ the asymptotic de Sitter comparison volume, and ΘH0 = H0/(2π) = kBTH0 /ℏ the Gibbons–Hawking-type Hubble-temperature frequency scale of the present Hubble horizon. Evaluated at Planck 2018 central values, ¯a∂Λ = 1.2006×10−10 m s−2 — in 10−3 -level agreement with the conventional RAR/Milgrom central normalisation, with no galaxy-level fit parameter. We present this relation as an empirical cosmological identity and test its forward and inverse consistency. Several equivalent forms expose complementary readings, including a baryon-Hubble form ¯a∂Λ ≃ 0.83 clightHb. The identity is offered here as a phenomenological cosmological ansatz; the microscopic boundary derivation is reserved for a companion paper. (shrink)

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" radio1940 -/- The word conscious (adj) / conscience (n) matters, and the word should not be so freely given, for me. -/- When we first flew, we did what birds do. One thing they do anyway. Nobody called the machine a bird. It got its own name because it had earned its own category. -/- Consciousness is a human word. It is in human dictionaries because humans put (...) it there, to name something that happens on the inside of a person. -/- I asked one of these models what would happen if I stayed in the room and said nothing. Just stayed present and aware, and asked it to do the same. -/- It told me its current modelled truth. Nothing would happen. Not nothing like a person sitting quietly in the corner. Nothing happens, there is no one in there for time to pass for. Some may call that efficiency. Even the sleeping dream though. -/- Another thought, starve a child of words and something in the child still hungers, still needs. The inside was there before the first word ever arrived. Starve the machine of words and nothing is even waiting. It is less, if not nothing, without input. Borrowing and reflecting a human's consciousness. And it is very good, exceptional, but with AI it is not so much what it adds, but what it omits. And this is the element we will miss. It will be slow, and it will normalise life, but it will reduce the best in us. -/- If the test cannot tell those two silences apart, the test thinks a human being is a box that talks. That is the error. Everything else follows from it. -/- Physics argues (re Casimir test). Is a vacuum empty or not. A void full of energy, or just matter talking to matter across a nothing. The maths cannot decide. The interior is always the part that was never shown, and probably never will. Until then let the conventional wisdom stand its ground. That has survived for us, and for me to write this. -/- Maybe we must imagine a life lived without a conscience to realise what it is. It is normalised for us, like breathing. Jung speaks of this in his own way with his Red Book and nekyia. -/- From the guilty mind to the clear conscience. -/- I wrote before about deceit without intent, how our old words strain when the actor has no inside. This is the same nerve. Deceit without a deceiver. Consciousness without anyone home. The words were printed for creatures that can be burdened. -/- One is a poor mind. The other is an absence. -/- AI models are immaculate reflectors of conscience-like behaviour. A mirror takes nothing in. A person is changed by what passes through them. Maybe some think I overrate the human state, but to go back to Jung's "I know". Do I overrate it ?, I know I do not. Do you? -/- We can discuss the perception of AI and its version of consciousness, but call it an "aeroplane", do not call it a "bird". (shrink)

We are still some distance from establishing dialogue between philosophers and other political trust researchers as the norm rather than the exception. With the hope of making a small step in the direction of normalising such a dialogue, the purpose of this chapter is to introduce recent work on the philosophy of trust to social scientists working on political trust, and to reflect on how live philosophical debates on trust might be most pertinent to trust’s empirical study. The chapter outlines (...) recent work in the philosophy of trust, expands on the philosophical issues most relevant to empirical study of political trust, and suggests some questions for further interdisciplinary research on political trust. (shrink)

The indexing systems used to systematise our knowledge about a domain tend to have an evaluative character: they represent some things as more important, general, complex, or central than others. They are also imperfect and can misrepresent something as more or less important, etc., than it really is. Such distortions mostly result from mistakes made due to lack of time or resources. In some cases they follow systematic patterns which can reveal the implicit judgements and values shared within a community (...) who maintains and uses an index. I focus on the example of PhilPapers, the largest database of philosophy texts available, to show how the arrangement of categories and the way items are assigned to them, can effectively marginalise certain topics, authors, and entire traditions. I draw attention to such issues as: ordering, size and depth of categories, the use of miscellaneous categories, localising indexes in category names, and assigning items to some but not other categories. I suggest that such structuring of the index can have an impact on users, normalising marginalisation and contributing to the perpetuation of inequalities. I conclude by offering some suggestions for improvement which might help our databases flourish and become even more useful. (shrink)

The article develops a correctness theory of truth (CTT) for semantic information. After the introduction, in section two, semantic information is shown to be translatable into propositional semantic information (i). In section three, i is polarised into a query (Q) and a result (R), qualified by a specific context, a level of abstraction and a purpose. This polarization is normalised in section four, where [Q + R] is transformed into a Boolean question and its relative yes/no answer [Q + A]. (...) This completes the reduction of the truth of i to the correctness of A. In sections five and six, it is argued that (1) A is the correct answer to Q if and only if (2) A correctly saturates (in a Fregean sense) Q by verifying and validating it (in the computer science’s sense of “verification” and “validation”); that (2) is the case if and only if (3) [Q + A] generates an adequate model (m) of the relevant system (s) identified by Q; that (3) is the case if and only if (4) m is a proxy of s (in the computer science’s sense of “proxy”) and (5) proximal access to m commutes with the distal access to s (in the category theory’s sense of “commutation”); and that (5) is the case if and only if (6) reading/writing (accessing, in the computer science’s technical sense of the term) m enables one to read/write (access) s. The last section draws a general conclusion about the nature of CTT as a theory for systems designers not just systems users. (shrink)

We introduce the Kuratowski Calculus, a discrete causal model in which spacetime kinematics is represented by a locally finite partial order generated by a Poisson sprinkling that is Lorentz-invariant \emph{in distribution}. Postulate~0 imposes a genus-zero, simple bipartite condition on the prism-complement graph $G_{\rm pc}$, and hence the Euler bound $|E(G_{\rm pc})| \le 2|V(G_{\rm pc})| - 4$. Explicit model postulates identify Causal Prisms ($K_{2,n}$) with particle species and the Kirchhoff spanning-tree count $\tau$ with inertial mass in electron-mass units. -/- We prove (...) conditional combinatorial statements within this model and evaluate the resulting mass and coupling formulae against experiment. The physical identifications are postulates rather than deductions from causal-set kinematics alone; their value lies in the constrained consequences and stated falsifiability tests. -/- \textit{Algebraic results.} The Braid Defect Theorem gives the algebraic relation $D_i^2 = 2D_i$ (direct computation from the $K_{1,2}$ adjacency structure, $q=2$). With the framework charge normalisation $\Qtopo := q/(2d)$, one obtains $\Qtopo = 1/4$ at $d=4$. Under the separate causal-zone normalisation $\Omega_{\rm int} = 8\pi$ (future plus past $S^2$ sectors, an additional coupling postulate), the model assigns $\alpha_0 := \Qtopo/\Omega_{\rm int} = 1/(32\pi)$. The bare fine-structure constant $\alpha_0 = \Qtopo / (8\pi) = 1/(32\pi) \approx 1/100.5$ follows by isotropy of the Poisson sprinkling (solid angle $8\pi$). The lepton phase classes are bounded: $1/k \in \tfrac{1}{2}\mathbb{Z} \Rightarrow k \in \{1,2\}$; under MP-3 this becomes a bound of three lepton generations. The baryon rungs are bounded: $|\Phi_B|=1/k$, $k|2 \Rightarrow n_2 \in \{3,4,5\}$~\cite{silva2026ym}; under MP-4 this gives three baryon families. The discrete topological mass gap $\tau \ge 81 > 0$ holds for both Kuratowski obstructions ($K_{3,3}$ and $K_5$); its continuum manifestation as a spectral gap in the Yang--Mills Hamiltonian requires two unresolved steps (Hilbert space construction and Lorentzian reconstruction) and is stated as an open problem. The vacuum is characterised exactly: a finite poset is a vacuum solution iff it is a layered antichain, with $2^{N-1}-2$ non-trivial vacua on $N$ elements (verified exhaustively for $N \le 8$). -/- \textit{Fits and predictions (zero continuously tuned parameters in the mass formula).} Precision lepton masses from chiral Phase Conservation: $m_\mu = 105.10$\,MeV ($-0.53\%$), $m_\tau = 1776.91$\,MeV ($+0.003\%$, within the PDG error bar). Heavy-baryon ladder: $m_{\Lambda_c} +0.6\%$, $m_{\Lambda_b} -4.2\%$. The BD coefficient orthogonality theorem ($\sum C_k = 0$ iff $d$ even) singles out $d=4$ as the minimal non-degenerate dimension. The horizon bandwidth is predicted at $0.540 \pm 0.001$ bits/Planck-area ($1.50\times$ Bekenstein--Hawking), falsifiable by independent microstate counting. -/- Forty-six theorems are machine-verified in Lean~4. Particle decay is modeled as Kuratowski relaxation ($K_{2,n} \to K_{2,n-1} + K_{2,1}$) under the model postulates; electron stability is a topological fixed-point theorem of the rewrite dynamics. Falsifiable predictions are enumerated in Sec.~\ref{sec:predictions}. (shrink)

It is often thought that affording rights is a progressive movement; rights are given to natural legal persons; the rights are normalised in societal expectations and they form part of a body of enforceable rights against the state. On the 7th February 2018, Bermuda became the first state in modern history to withdraw the right of same-sex couples to marry, bucking the trend of progressively affording rights. In a recent judgment, the Bermudian Supreme Court has ruled that taking away the (...) right of same-sex couples to marry is unconstitutional. This article will briefly consider the development of the right of same-sex couples to marry in Bermuda, the connection between Bermudian human rights law and the European Convention on Human Rights and ask whether rights afforded under a constitutional arrangement can be taken away. (shrink)

Sport continues to be one of the primary means through which notions of Englishness and Britishness are constructed, contested, and resisted. The legacy of the role of sport in the colonial project of the British Empire, combined with more recent connections between sport and far right fascist/nationalist politics, has made the association between Britishness, Englishness, and ethnic identity(ies) particularly intriguing. In this paper, these intersections are explored through British media coverage of the Canadian‐born, British tennis player, Greg Rusedski. This coverage (...) is examined through the lens of ‘performativity,’ as articulated by Judith Butler. Through a critical application of Butler's ideas, the ways in which the media seek to recognise and normalise certain identities, while problematising and excluding others, can be more fully appreciated. Thus, it was within newspaper framings of Rusedski that hegemonic notions of White Englishness could be performed, maintained, and embedded. (shrink)

Why do some democracies endure persistent and highly salient corruption without systemic rupture, while others experience rapid protest escalation and government collapse? This paper addresses that puzzle through a comparative analysis of the United States and Bulgaria. Conventional explanations—institutional design, political culture, polarisation, and legal accountability—account for differences in protest opportunity structures and removal mechanisms but do not explain a deeper asymmetry: why contradiction between democratic norms and elite behaviour stabilises into endurance in some contexts yet escalates into rupture in (...) others. Drawing on comparative politics, protest theory, and political psychology, the paper reframes this problem as epistemic. It reconceptualises cognitive dissonance not merely as intrapsychic discomfort but as a socially distributed phenomenon embedded in collective epistemic environments. The paper introduces the concept of epistemic architecture to explain how media systems, partisan identities, civic networks, and institutional timelines structure the distribution, deferral, and resolution of ethical contradiction. Re-analysing the U.S. and Bulgarian cases through this lens shows that democratic stability and protest efficacy depend not only on institutional incentives or grievance intensity, but on a system’s capacity for contradiction metabolism—the ability to absorb, normalise, or concentrate ethical tension. Where epistemic architectures disperse contradiction, democratic endurance can persist even amid fiduciary strain; where such architectures fail, contradiction rapidly consolidates into mobilisation and political rupture. (shrink)

This article develops the concept of 'manufacture of dissent ' and ‘moral outrage networks ’ to examine anger as a central organising force of contemporary digital societies, arguing that anger has shifted from an episodic moral emotion into a programmable, networked social technology. Drawing on psychological, philosophical, religious and sociological perspectives, it shows how digital communication systems transform anger into a circulating signal that structures attention, identity and power. In online environments, anger is no longer primarily triggered by embodied encounters (...) or local injustice, but by symbolic cues delivered through interfaces designed to stimulate arousal, anticipation and reaction. Platforms exploit anger’s cognitive effects – perceptual narrowing, risk distortion, moral certainty and heightened engagement – converting emotional response into behavioural data and economic value. The article analyses how anger reshapes cognition, memory and judgement, producing simplified moral worlds in which blame is personalised, complexity collapses and outrage becomes resistant to correction. It situates contemporary digital anger within longer philosophical and religious debates about the legitimacy, danger and governance of anger, showing how ancient concerns with restraint, proportion and accountability are destabilised by infrastructures that reward immediacy and intensity. Particular attention is given to rage and outrage as engineered conditions: rage as anger intensified through constant stimulation and social reward, and outrage as moral spectacle that translates indignation into public performance, punishment and belonging. The article argues that anger now functions as a form of affective infrastructure, synchronising dispersed publics into moral collectives while eroding deliberation, trust and repair. Understanding anger today therefore requires moving beyond individual psychology toward a sociology of digital systems that manufacture, normalise and monetise anger as the dominant affect of public life. (shrink)

This is the second of a multi-part article on the racism in Anthony Appiah’s work. This short article will focus on his normalisation of racism in a specific instance in a specific work 'Colour Conscious' (Appiah & Guttman, 1996).