This book chronicles the development of the Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe (CTMU) from the first essays in the ultra-high IQ journals in 1989 to its breakthrough interpretation of quantum mechanics in 2019 and explication of reality as a self-simulation in 2020. CONTENTS PART I – Early Writings 1 The Resolution of Newcomb’s Paradox 2 On the CTMU 3 Introduction to the CTMU PART II – The CTMU 4 The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe: A New Kind of Reality Theory PART III – Uncommon Dissent 5 Cheating the Millennium: The Mounting Explanatory Debts of Scientific Naturalism PART IV – Cosmos & History 6 An Introduction to Mathematical Metaphysics 7 Metareligion as the Human Singularity 8 The Metaformal System: Completing the Theory of Language 9 Introduction to Quantum Metamechanics (QMM) 10 The Reality Self-Simulation Principle: Reality is a Self-Simulation

Paperback version of the 2002 paper published in the journal Progress in Information, Complexity, and Design (PCID). ABSTRACT Inasmuch as science is observational or perceptual in nature, the goal of providing a scientific model and mechanism for the evolution of complex systems ultimately requires a supporting theory of reality of which perception itself is the model (or theory-to-universe mapping). Where information is the abstract currency of perception, such a theory must incorporate the theory of information while extending the information concept to incorporate reflexive self-processing in order to achieve an intrinsic (self-contained) description of reality. This extension is associated with a limiting formulation of model theory identifying mental and physical reality, resulting in a reflexively self-generating, self-modeling theory of reality identical to its universe on the syntactic level. By the nature of its derivation, this theory, the Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe or CTMU, can be regarded as a supertautological reality-theoretic extension of logic. Uniting the theory of reality with an advanced form of computational language theory, the CTMU describes reality as a Self Configuring Self-Processing Language or SCSPL, a reflexive intrinsic language characterized not only by self-reference and recursive self-definition, but full self-configuration and self-execution (reflexive read-write functionality). SCSPL reality embodies a dual-aspect monism consisting of infocognition, self-transducing information residing in self-recognizing SCSPL elements called syntactic operators. The CTMU identifies itself with the structure of these operators and thus with the distributive syntax of its self-modeling SCSPL universe, including the reflexive grammar by which the universe refines itself from unbound telesis or UBT, a primordial realm of infocognitive potential free of informational constraint. Under the guidance of a limiting (intrinsic) form of anthropic principle called the Telic Principle, SCSPL evolves by telic recursion, jointly configuring syntax and state while maximizing a generalized self-selection parameter and adjusting on the fly to freely-changing internal conditions. SCSPL relates space, time and object by means of conspansive duality and conspansion, an SCSPL-grammatical process featuring an alternation between dual phases of existence associated with design and actualization and related to the familiar wave-particle duality of quantum mechanics. By distributing the design phase of reality over the actualization phase, conspansive spacetime also provides a distributed mechanism for Intelligent Design, adjoining to the restrictive principle of natural selection a basic means of generating information and complexity. Addressing physical evolution on not only the biological but cosmic level, the CTMU addresses the most evident deficiencies and paradoxes associated with conventional discrete and continuum models of reality, including temporal directionality and accelerating cosmic expansion, while preserving virtually all of the major benefits of current scientific and mathematical paradigms.

FAQs About Reality contains all of Christopher Langan's answers to questions posted on Quora during the years he was active, 2016-2019. Langan was banned from Quora for his conservative worldview and uncompromising debate style. Although Langan never broke Quora's rules or violated its terms of service, he was summarily deplatformed without warning. All of his posts were deleted or orphaned. With the help of members of the Mega Foundation and CTMU Community, the majority of his work on Quora was preserved in this volume.

Solutions for problems arising at the limits of science and philosophy require ontological grounding. Quantum Mechanics (QM) is increasingly called upon as a source of insight regarding such problems, but is not itself well-understood. The fact that QM has many conflicting interpretations for which ontological status is claimed demands a "post-quantum" theory which clarifies its meaning, settles the differences among its interpretations, and facilitates the analysis and solution of otherwise intractable problems. Herein described as Quantum Metamechanics (QMM), this theory is a "meta-interpretative" mapping of QM and its various interpretations into a supertautological description of reality, the CTMU Metaformal System. By incorporating the CTMU, a true ontic identity supporting the self-identification and self-existence of reality, QMM provides QM with a valid ontology in terms of which its various interpretations can be evaluated and synergized.

An in-depth look at the United States Marine Corps-in the New York Times bestselling tradition of Submarine, Armored Cav, and Fighter Wing Only the best of the best can be Marines. And only Tom Clancy can tell their story--the fascinating real-life facts more compelling than any fiction. Clancy presents a unique insider's look at the most hallowed branch of the Armed Forces, and the men and women who serve on America's front lines. Marine includes: An interview with the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Charles "Chuck" Krulak The tools and technology of the Marine Expeditionary Unit The role of the Marines in the present and future world An in-depth look at recruitment and training Exclusive photographs, illustrations, and diagrams

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado. When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors. Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.

"A young drama teacher in the West of Scotland suffers deep psychological problems which affect all areas of her life. She fails to find meaning in anything around her, but in her search she strips situations of their conventional values and sees them in a sharp, new light." --Publisher's description.

"Buehlman...slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors."* The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found an orphan of the Black Death in a Norman village. An almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that the plague is only part of a larger cataclysm--that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on Heaven. But is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across an apocalyptic landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission. There her true nature will be revealed. And there Thomas will confront an evil wrestling for the throne of Heaven, and which has poisoned his own soul. *Kirkus Reviews

"The true story of a group of boy resistance fighters in Denmark after the Nazi invasion"--