NEXUS RESEARCH DESK · SOURCE LITERACY
Follow a question back to its sources
Start with the actual guides and Labs in our open worlds, inspect the research references attached to each one, and ask what the evidence can and cannot establish. A linked source is a reading starting point, not proof that the original work is current, independently endorsed or comprehensive.
3 open worlds · 12 unique cited references grouped by world. Sources shared by different worlds may appear in more than one group. Unreviewed draft-world references are intentionally absent.
Read a published guide, test an assumption in the Labs, or examine the explained Nexus Graph.
How to work with a source
- Name the exact question. Write down what you want to know before looking for a quotation that supports an answer. Is the question conceptual, experimental or about interpreting a method?
- Identify the kind of material. A formal argument, an educational textbook, an evaluation guide and a research paper can be useful for different purposes. Check the author or institution, the publication or edition and the scope of the evidence.
- Separate source claims from our explanation. Reading an external citation does not automatically validate every sentence in a Nexus Humano guide. Follow the link, locate the relevant part and record where your own inference begins.
- Ask what would change the conclusion. Can you construct a logical counterexample? Would another experimental measurement help? Could a model threshold yield a different trade-off?
- State the limitation. An accessible simulation is not a real neuron or deployed AI product; a valid logical form does not tell you whether its premises are factually true. Revisit source changes and corrections rather than treating a reading list as permanent proof.
These prompts are original editorial study guidance, not a claim that any institution has approved Nexus Humano, that references are current today, or that a reader has completed an accredited course.
PUBLISHED WORLD · SOURCE STARTING POINTS
Philosophy & Meaning
What can we know, value and reasonably believe?
Reading and experiments that cite these sources
- Consciousness (guide) — Philosophical questions about subjective experience.
- Deductive Arguments: Validity and Soundness (guide) — Use counterexamples and truth tables to distinguish valid forms from persuasive-sounding mistakes.
- Deductive Validity Lab (lab) — Explore four logical forms and search truth assignments for counterexamples.
Sources attached to these published materials
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Argument and Argumentation
Referenced by: Deductive Arguments: Validity and Soundness · Deductive Validity Lab
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Classical Logic
Referenced by: Deductive Arguments: Validity and Soundness · Deductive Validity Lab
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Consciousness
Referenced by: Consciousness
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Neuroscience of Consciousness
Referenced by: Consciousness
These are links cited by our current introductory materials. Verify the latest edition, the claims you actually use and the source’s limitations before relying on it.
PUBLISHED WORLD · SOURCE STARTING POINTS
Life, Body & Mind
How do human bodies, brains and living systems work?
Reading and experiments that cite these sources
- Brain and Cognition (guide) — Neuroscientific and cognitive approaches to mental processes.
- How Neurons Send Signals (guide) — Understand voltage changes, thresholds, synapses and the limits of simplified neuron models.
- Neuron Threshold Sandbox (lab) — Adjust abstract excitatory and inhibitory inputs in a transparent educational threshold model.
Sources attached to these published materials
- OpenStax — Anatomy and Physiology: The Action Potential
Referenced by: How Neurons Send Signals · Neuron Threshold Sandbox
- OpenStax — Biology 2e: How Neurons Communicate
Referenced by: How Neurons Send Signals · Neuron Threshold Sandbox
- OpenStax — Psychology 2e: How Memory Functions
Referenced by: Brain and Cognition
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Neuroscience of Consciousness
Referenced by: Brain and Cognition
These are links cited by our current introductory materials. Verify the latest edition, the claims you actually use and the source’s limitations before relying on it.
PUBLISHED WORLD · SOURCE STARTING POINTS
Technology & Futures
How does technology shape human possibilities?
Reading and experiments that cite these sources
- AI and Consciousness (guide) — Debates about whether artificial systems can have experience.
- Evaluating AI Models Beyond Accuracy (guide) — Understand generalization, held-out data and classification tradeoffs through examples.
- Classifier Trade-offs Lab (lab) — Move a decision threshold to observe precision, recall and confusion counts on fictional data.
Sources attached to these published materials
- Google Machine Learning Crash Course — Classification Metrics
Referenced by: Evaluating AI Models Beyond Accuracy · Classifier Trade-offs Lab
- Google Machine Learning Crash Course — Overfitting and Generalization
Referenced by: Evaluating AI Models Beyond Accuracy · Classifier Trade-offs Lab
- NIST — Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework
Referenced by: AI and Consciousness · Evaluating AI Models Beyond Accuracy
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Consciousness
Referenced by: AI and Consciousness
These are links cited by our current introductory materials. Verify the latest edition, the claims you actually use and the source’s limitations before relying on it.
Bring the methods together
Our Methods Workshop puts the logic, toy-neuron and fictional-classifier models next to one another so you can compare their different kinds of conclusions.