Can a finite world end by creating its own beginning?

The proposed Animus cycle asks whether a bounded simulation can form a reciprocal loop: its beginning produces its ending, and conditions derived at that ending are required to construct the next beginning.

Reciprocal closure

Declare the beginning requirement first. Execute the history, derive the return from its ending, and verify that the return constructs a beginning satisfying the declared requirement. This minimum contract does not require branching, information loss, consciousness, or a claim about physical time.

Where the work stands

Tests 01–04 establish separate bounded results. Test 03 did not support its proposed predictive advantage, while Test 04 demonstrated exact replay in all 60 prespecified arms. None of these results establishes the complete Animus cycle. Test 05, the combined reciprocal-closure protocol, remains unfinished.