# Bibliography — Primary Sources for Semantic Spacetime

**Load this file when you need to find or verify a source** — which paper says
X, or where a claim in [foundations.md](foundations.md) or
[glossary.md](glossary.md) comes from. Every entry below carries a URL that was
checked for reachability during the research phase (2026-08-12); the
`[VERIFIED]`/`[UNVERIFIED]` markers describe the source's verification level as
used in [foundations.md](foundations.md). No entry here is fabricated: each
appears in the research corpus's source lists. For the promise-theory substrate
sources, cross-reference the promise-theory skill's own bibliography.

---

## 1. The Semantic Spacetime series (Burgess)

- Burgess, M. *Spacetimes with Semantics* (2014). arXiv:1411.5563 [cs.MA].
  Part I: "From Einstein to Milner." Defines the agenda: relationships between
  objects constitute space; their change is time; observer semantics are
  integral to spacetime. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1411.5563
- Burgess, M. *Spacetimes with Semantics (II): Scaling of agency, semantics,
  and tenancy* (2015). arXiv:1505.01716 [cs.MA]. Part II: how agency scales via
  super-agents/sub-spaces; scalar vs. vector promises; occupancy and tenancy.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.01716
- Burgess, M. *Spacetimes with Semantics (III): The Structure of Functional
  Knowledge Representation and Artificial Reasoning* (2016, rev. 2017).
  arXiv:1608.02193 [cs.AI]. Part III (122 pages), the most formal document:
  Definitions 1-9, Lemmas 1-3, the four irreducible associations, the
  learning/knowledge formalism. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.02193
  Full text: https://arxiv.org/html/1608.02193v4
- Burgess, M. *On the scaling of functional spaces, from smart cities to cloud
  computing* (2016). arXiv:1602.06091 [cs.CY]. The "functional space" reading
  of SST applied to the empirically observed power-law scaling of cities.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.06091
- Burgess, M. *A Spacetime Approach to Generalized Cognitive Reasoning in
  Multi-scale Learning* (2017). arXiv:1702.04638 [cs.AI]. A hybrid
  reasoning/pattern-recognition architecture as the ML instantiation of SST
  reasoning. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.04638
- Burgess, M. *Testing the Quantitative Spacetime Hypothesis using Artificial
  Narrative Comprehension (I): Bootstrapping Meaning from Episodic Narrative
  viewed as a Feature Landscape* (2020). arXiv:2010.08126 [cs.AI]. SST's
  empirical arm: parsing narrative via measurable size/time cues as an event
  "landscape"/interferometry; concepts as process invariants. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.08126
- Burgess, M. *Testing the Quantitative Spacetime Hypothesis using Artificial
  Narrative Comprehension (II): Establishing the Geometry of Invariant
  Concepts, Themes, and Namespaces* (2020). arXiv:2010.08125 [cs.AI]. Part II:
  reconstructing concepts via multiscale interferometry based on the four
  fundamental spacetime relationships. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.08125
- Burgess, M.; Gerlits, A. *Continuous Integration of Data Histories into
  Consistent Namespaces* (2022). arXiv:2204.00470 [cs.DC]. Versioned
  coordinates / namespaces for data pipelines — SST's temporal-consistency
  scheme. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.00470
- Burgess, M. *Agent Semantics, Semantic Spacetime, and Graphical Reasoning*
  (2025). arXiv:2506.07756 [cs.AI]. The current formal statement: the γ(3,4)
  representation (3 node meta-types × 4 link types), the nine typing design
  rules, absorbing states as information leaks, causal-set kinship. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.07756
  Full text: https://arxiv.org/html/2506.07756v2
- Burgess, M. *On The Role of Intentionality in Knowledge Representation:
  Analyzing Scene Context for Cognitive Agents with a Tiny Language Model*
  (2025). arXiv:2507.10000 [cs.AI]. Intentionality in data via scale
  separation. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10000
- Burgess, M. *γ(3,4) 'Attention' in Cognitive Agents: Ontology-Free Knowledge
  Representations With Promise Theoretic Semantics* (2025). arXiv:2512.19084
  [cs.AI]. SST as a bridge between vectorized ML and knowledge graphs without
  relying on language models implicitly. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.19084

## 2. Author's web project pages and essays

- Burgess, M. *Semantic Spacetimes* (project page). "A semantic spacetime is a
  discrete graph, which evolves, and whose properties vary from point to
  point." [VERIFIED]
  URL: http://markburgess.org/spacetime.html
- Burgess, M. *Semantic Spacetime — What is it?* The best short primary
  exposition; source of the "not quantum gravity," Lamport-relativity,
  spacelike/timelike measurement, and cooperative-causality material.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: http://markburgess.org/semantic_spacetime.html
- Burgess, M. *The Semantic Spacetime Project: Bringing technology and physics
  together* (2016 essay). "For inspiration, not for refereed publication."
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: http://markburgess.org/blog_spacetime3.html
- Burgess, M. *Semantics of Spacetime and Cognitive Processes* (Kavli salon
  write-up, Medium, 2022). SST as a formal bridge for neuroscience findings.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://medium.com/@mark-burgess-oslo-mb/semantics-of-spacetime-and-cognitive-processes-d39214e9c44a
- Burgess, M. *Semantic Spacetime 1: The Shape of Knowledge* (Medium, 2025).
  [VERIFIED — existence and framing; URL from search index]
  URL: https://mark-burgess-oslo-mb.medium.com/semantic-spacetime-1-the-shape-of-knowledge-86daced424a5
- Burgess, M. *Universal Data Analytics as Semantic Spacetime* (Medium series,
  2022). [VERIFIED — existence and framing; URL from search index]
  URL: https://mark-burgess-oslo-mb.medium.com/universal-data-analytics-as-semantic-spacetime-dee7a76661c2
- Burgess, M. *Motion of the Third Kind I & II* (ResearchGate, 2021-22).
  Existence verified; full texts not fetched. [UNVERIFIED in detail]
  URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351492269
  URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360757745
- Burgess, M. *Notes on Trust As A Causal Basis For Social Science* (2022).
  ResearchGate; DOI 10.2139/ssrn.4252501. [VERIFIED — existence]
  URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362387906
- Burgess, M. *The Semantic Spacetime Hypothesis: A Guide to the Semantic
  Spacetime of Information* (2020 note). ResearchGate publication 344338994.
  Existence verified; full contents not accessible. [UNVERIFIED in detail]
  URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344338994
- Burgess, M. *In Search of Certainty: The Science of Our Information
  Infrastructure* (χtAxis Press, 2013). The popular introduction; contents not
  fetched during research. [UNVERIFIED in detail]
  URL: https://markburgess.org/certainty.html
- Burgess, M. *Smart Spacetime* (χtAxis Press, 2019). ISBN 978-1797773704.
  Book-length exposition; contents not fetched. [UNVERIFIED in detail]
  URL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1797773704
- Burgess, M. *SSTorytime* (software). The open-source SST knowledge-graph
  database (Go over PostgreSQL, Apache-2.0) with the N4L note language and
  MCP-SST connector; also the older repository and a Julia port. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://github.com/markburgess/SSTorytime
  URL: https://github.com/markburgess/SemanticSpaceTime
  URL: https://juliaknowledge.github.io/SemanticSpacetime.jl/dev/

## 3. Spacetime-Entangled Networks and consensus

- Borrill, P.; Burgess, M.; Karp, A.; Kasuya, A. *Spacetime-Entangled Networks
  (I): Relativity and Observability of Stepwise Consensus* (2018, rev. 2020).
  arXiv:1807.08549 [cs.DC]. SST/promise semantics at the consensus layer:
  entanglement as co-dependent evolution of state; promises of sequential,
  in-order, atomically confirmed delivery. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.08549

## 4. Promise theory (the substrate)

- Bergstra, J.A.; Burgess, M. *A static theory of promises* (2008, v5 2014).
  arXiv:0810.3294. The foundational promise-vs-obligation paper. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0810.3294
- Bergstra, J.; Bethke, I.; Burgess, M. *A process algebra based framework for
  promise theory* (2007). arXiv:0707.0744. The process-algebra root of promise
  semantics. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0707.0744
- Burgess, M.; Bergstra, J.A. *Promise Theory: Principles and Applications*
  (χtAxis Press, 2014; 2nd ed. 2019). The canonical statement; free PDF.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://markburgess.org/BookOfPromises.pdf
  Page: https://markburgess.org/promises.html
  ACM DL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2636996
- Bergstra, J.A. *Promise Theory as a Tool for Informaticians* (Transmathematica,
  2020). DOI 10.36285/tm.35. Independent scholarly overview. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://transmathematica.org/index.php/journal/article/view/35
- Burgess, M. *Thinking in Promises: Designing Systems for Cooperation*
  (O'Reilly, 2015). ISBN 9781491917879. The practitioner's companion.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://books.google.com/books/about/Thinking_in_Promises.html?id=ibL4CQAAQBAJ
- Burgess, M.; Prangsma, E. *Koalja: from Data Plumbing to Smart Workspaces in
  the Extended Cloud* (2019). arXiv:1907.01796. The data-pipeline lineage of
  the SST project. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.01796

## 5. Adjacent and contextual work

- Lamport, L. *Time, Clocks, and the Ordering of Events in a Distributed
  System.* *CACM* 21(7):558-565, 1978. The precedence view of time Burgess
  credits as SST's origin. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://amturing.acm.org/p558-lamport.pdf
- Mattern, F. *Virtual Time and Global States of Distributed Systems* (1988/89).
  Vector clocks. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://vs.inf.ethz.ch/publ/papers/VirtTimeGlobStates.pdf
- Kowalski, R.; Sergot, M. *A logic-based calculus of events.* *New Generation
  Computing* 4:67-95, 1986. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rak/papers/event%20calculus.pdf
- McCarthy, J.; Hayes, P. *Some philosophical problems from the standpoint of
  artificial intelligence.* *Machine Intelligence* 4, 1969. [VERIFIED]
  URL: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/mcchay69.pdf
- Tolman, E.C. *Cognitive maps in rats and men.* *Psychological Review*
  55(4):189-208, 1948. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1949-00103-001
- O'Keefe, J.; Nadel, L. *The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map.* Clarendon Press,
  1978. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10103569/
- Hafting, T.; Fyhn, M.; Molden, S.; Moser, M.-B.; Moser, E.I. *Microstructure
  of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex.* *Nature* 436:801-806, 2005.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03721
- Constantinescu, A.O.; O'Reilly, J.X.; Behrens, T.E.J. *Organizing conceptual
  knowledge in humans with a gridlike code.* *Science* 352(6292):1464-1468,
  2016. DOI 10.1126/science.aaf0941. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf0941
- Ralph, M.A.L.; Jefferies, E.; Patterson, K.; Rogers, T.T. *The neural and
  computational bases of semantic cognition.* *Nature Reviews Neuroscience*
  18:42-55, 2017. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2016.150
- Osgood, C.E.; Suci, G.J.; Tannenbaum, P.H. *The Measurement of Meaning.*
  Univ. of Illinois Press, 1957. The "semantic differential." [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p745393
- Gärdenfors, P. *Conceptual Spaces: The Geometry of Thought.* MIT Press, 2000.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262572194/conceptual-spaces/
- Harris, Z.S. *Distributional Structure.* *Word* 10(2-3):146-162, 1954.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00437956.1954.11659520
- Landauer, T.K.; Dumais, S.T. *A solution to Plato's problem: The latent
  semantic analysis theory...* *Psychological Review* 104(2):211-240, 1997.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~cshalizi/350/2008/readings/Landauer-Dumais.pdf
- Turney, P.D.; Pantel, P. *From Frequency to Meaning: Vector Space Models of
  Semantics.* *JAIR* 37:141-188, 2010. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1003.1141
- Mikolov, T.; Sutskever, I.; Chen, K.; Corrado, G.; Dean, J. *Distributed
  Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality* (2013).
  arXiv:1310.4546. word2vec skip-gram. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.4546
- Sorkin, R.D. *Causal sets: discrete gravity* (2003). arXiv:gr-qc/0309009.
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0309009
  (The program originates with Myrheim, *Statistical Geometry*, CERN preprint
  TH.2538, 1978 — cited in arXiv:2506.07756; citation chain verified,
  [VERIFIED].)
- Surya, S. *The causal set approach to quantum gravity* (2019).
  arXiv:1903.11544. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.11544
- Konopka, T.; Markopoulou, F.; Smolin, L. *Quantum graphity* (2006).
  arXiv:hep-th/0611197. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0611197
- Milner, R. *The Space and Motion of Communicating Agents.* Cambridge Univ.
  Press, 2009. Bigraphs — the reference model Burgess builds on. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/space-and-motion-of-communicating-agents/
- Gutiérrez, C.; Hurtado, C.; Vaisman, A. *Temporal RDF* (ESWC 2005).
  [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://users.dcc.uchile.cl/~cgutierr/papers/temporalRDF.pdf
- Erwig, M.; Güting, R.H.; Schneider, M.; Vazirgiannis, M. *Spatio-temporal
  data types: an approach to modeling and querying moving objects in
  databases.* *GeoInformatica* 3:265-291, 1999. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://web.engr.oregonstate.edu/~erwig/papers/MovingObjects_GEOINF99.pdf
- Wikipedia. *Semantic spacetime.* Tertiary overview; use only to locate
  primary URLs, treat claims [UNVERIFIED] unless corroborated by Burgess.
  [UNVERIFIED — tertiary]
  URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_spacetime
- Wikipedia. *Promise theory.* [UNVERIFIED — tertiary]
  URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_theory
- Pavlyshin, V. *Semantic Space Time for AI Agent Ready Graphs* (2025,
  Leanpub). Independent third-party book building on SST. ISBN 9798266921313.
  [VERIFIED — listing]
  URL: https://leanpub.com/sst-4-agenticai
- Dewar, N. *The epistemology of spacetime.* *Philosophy Compass* 17(4), 2022.
  DOI 10.1111/phc3.12821. Philosophy of physics — semantics *of* spacetime,
  distinct from Burgess's spacetime *of* semantics. [VERIFIED]
  URL: https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phc3.12821