Sources and scientific references
Sources and scientific references
B sources document what was said in the archive, not the truth of its allegations. R sources support only the identified scientific comparisons. Cited texts are not reproduced in full.
A. Archival corpus — sources for the account
[B01] Audio Letter No. 1
Peter David Beter · 1975-06-21 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: date and subjects of the first letter.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal01.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B02] Audio Letter No. 26
Peter David Beter · 1977-09-30 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: attributed account of a space conflict.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal26.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B03] Audio Letter No. 44
Peter David Beter · 1979-03-29 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: the personal-replacement motif.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal44.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B04] Audio Letter No. 47
Peter David Beter · 1979-06-28 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: robotoids and the memory-template description.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal47.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B05] Audio Letter No. 51
Peter David Beter · 1979-10-27 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: terminological distinction of synthetics.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal51.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B06] Audio Letter No. 80
Peter David Beter · 1982-11-03 · Audio Letters; web archive
Use: date and opening of the final letter.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbal80.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[B07] A Bird’s-Eye View of the Audio Letters
Audio Books, Inc. · 1983 · Reference Digest; editorial overview
Editorial overview, not another original Audio Letter. Its group labels are not F1–F4.
https://www.peterdavidbeter.com/docs/all/dbeye.html
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
B. Real science and technology — bounded comparisons
[R01] Internet Protocol — RFC 791
Jon Postel · 1981-09 · RFC Editor
A chronological anchor for networking.
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc791/
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R02] Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search
David Silver et al. · 2016 · Nature 529, 484–489
A result within a bounded game domain.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16961
DOI: 10.1038/nature16961
Companion source: https://research.google/pubs/mastering-the-game-of-go-with-deep-neural-networks-and-tree-search/
Access: abstract / author record. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R03] Attention Is All You Need
Ashish Vaswani et al. · 2017 · arXiv:1706.03762; NeurIPS 2017
The Transformer architecture, not a test of political autonomy.
https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762
Access: abstract / publication record. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R04] RT-2: Vision-Language-Action Models Transfer Web Knowledge to Robotic Control
Anthony Brohan et al. · 2023 · arXiv:2307.15818
Studied robotic tasks, not universal embodied capability.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.15818
Access: abstract / publication record. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R05] Brain–computer interface control with artificial intelligence copilots
Johannes Y. Lee et al. · 2025-09-01 · Nature Machine Intelligence 7, 1510–1523
Shared assistive control; see Chapter 19 for scope.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41221369/
DOI: 10.1038/s42256-025-01090-y
Access: abstract / PubMed record. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R06] Long-term independent use of an intracortical brain–computer interface for speech and cursor control
Nicholas S. Card et al. · 2026-06-15 · Nature Medicine 32, 2504–2510
Public abstract, bibliographic record and NIH account checked; not a complete clinical audit.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04414-6
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04414-6
Companion source: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/brain-computer-device-helps-man-speak
Access: public abstract / institutional account. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R07] Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome
Daniel G. Gibson et al. · 2010 · Science 329, 52–56
A bacterial system using a recipient cell.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20488990/
DOI: 10.1126/science.1190719
Companion source: https://www.jcvi.org/research/first-self-replicating-synthetic-bacterial-cell
Access: abstract / institutional account. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R08] Brain organoid reservoir computing for artificial intelligence
Hongwei Cai et al. · 2023-12-11 · Nature Electronics 6, 1032–1039
Experimental computation, not proof of consciousness.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-023-01069-w
DOI: 10.1038/s41928-023-01069-w
Companion source: https://scholars.mssm.edu/en/publications/brain-organoid-reservoir-computing-for-artificial-intelligence/
Access: abstract / institutional record. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R09] Creating a false memory in the hippocampus
Steve Ramirez et al. · 2013 · Science 341, 387–391
Mouse experiment; human autobiographies are not its demonstrated result.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23888038/
DOI: 10.1126/science.1239073
Companion source: https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/325069c3-5503-4559-abaa-eed464b3c969
Access: abstract / author repository. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R10] Accurate structure prediction of biomolecular interactions with AlphaFold 3
Josh Abramson et al. · 2024-05-08 · Nature 630, 493–500
Structure prediction, not organism manufacture.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07487-w
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07487-w
Access: article. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R11] Quantum teleportation
IBM Quantum Learning · undated · Basics of Quantum Information: Entanglement in Action
Official technical explanation of the protocol.
https://quantum.cloud.ibm.com/learning/en/courses/basics-of-quantum-information/entanglement-in-action/quantum-teleportation
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R12] Space Communications: 7 Things You Need to Know
NASA · 2020-10-06 · NASA / Goddard
Communication constraints; distances in our table are selected examples.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/space-communications-7-things-you-need-to-know/
Companion source: https://science.nasa.gov/mars/mars-relay-network/
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R13] Why We Search
NASA Science · undated · Exoplanets
Goals of the search for life, not verification of A3.
https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/why-we-search/
Access: text. Checked: 2026-10-11.
[R14] Living skin on a robot
Michio Kawai et al. · 2022 · Matter 5, 2190–2208
Cited scope: tissue coverage of a robotic finger.
https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385%2822%2900239-9
DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.05.019
Companion source: https://www.hybrid.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/research-papers/4ff0a260-b08e-4a48-9e50-994f980d32e8/
Access: abstract / author laboratory. Checked: 2026-10-11.