The paper introduces a semantic elevation operator that transforms static semantic questions about a program into dynamic questions about whether a property is preserved after the program rewrites itself. It proves that for intensional transformations the elevated property remains undecidable, showing that the class of non‑verifiable properties is closed under this operator and that repeated application climbs the arithmetical hierarchy to Υ02‑completeness. The work also demonstrates that no finite tower of verifiers can provide an unconditional certificate of preservation, and suggests a categorical perspective for future exploration.
arXiv:2609. 11326v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We ask whether it can be certified algorithmically that a self-modifying computational system preserves a safety property at its next step (preservation) and along its whole evolution (persistence).
The paper proves that algorithmic safety verification for Turing‑complete, self‑modifying systems—whether fixed or recursively self‑improving—is fundamentally limited. Statistically, no verifier can be sound, complete, and tractable across unbounded domains, all finite configurations, or succinctly described finite environments, due to Rice’s, Gödel’s, Trakhtenbrot’s, coNP, and PSPACE barriers. Dynamically, even a single self‑modification step can render safety properties undecidable, and no total supervisory algorithm can guarantee correctness for all such transformations, though a monitor that raises alarms on violations remains feasible. whyItMatters":"The results show that formal safety guarantees for recursive self‑improvement are unattainable, highlighting intrinsic verification barriers for advanced AI systems."
arXiv:2606. 28639v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We establish the mathematical limits of AGI safety in two forms: verifying a fixed system, and verifying that a certified safety property persists once the system self-modifies.
arXiv:2607. 15629v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Topos causal models recast causal inference inside a topos: a causal world is a presheaf, an intervention is a characteristic map into the subobject classifier, and reasoning is carried out in the intuitionistic internal language.
arXiv:2609.36279v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: The shallow embedding of higher-order modal logic in classical higher-order logic, used in Benzm\"uller and Scott's Notes on G\"odel's and Scott's va...
We propose ZX-Calculus (Knowledge Evolution Calculus), a conservative extension of Martin-Lof Dependent Type Theory (MLTT) integrating trace-indexed types, presheaf non-monotone semantics, and constructive AGM belief revision. A Coq mechanisation accompanies the paper (34 complete proofs; zero admits for the two central results).
arXiv:2607. 09729v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: In his 1996 doctoral thesis, Maurice Pagnucco created the first AGM-like abductive expansion operation.
arXiv:2606. 03655v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Recent work in defeasible reasoning has seen notions of preferential semantics and entailment in the style of Kraus et al.
arXiv:2607. 10880v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We extend, in Isabelle/HOL, the deep-and-shallow embedding methodology of our prior work from propositional to first-order modal logic (FML) with constant-domain Kripke semantics.
arXiv:2609.23954v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Programmers write formal specifications, and LLMs implement them, proving that each implementation matches its spec. Taken to its extreme, this makes...
arXiv:2608. 15147v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Machine intelligence has conquered the symbolic world but stalled at the physical one.
arXiv:2303. 04203v4 Announce Type: replace Abstract: The theory of computation was built to answer Turing's question: what is effectively calculable by an unbounded, immortal, disembodied agent following rules?