Update

Rabbit Brain has been accepted as a poster at the NeurIPS 2025 NeurReps workshop in San Diego. I recently presented related work on Gödel Mirror at the ITP Lean Workshop. NeurIPS financial aid was declined, so I’m continuing to self-fund the trip and research.

Project summary

I’m an independent researcher from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, working on two interconnected projects:

• Gödel Mirror: a formal logic system that computationally models contradictions using Lean4.

• Rabbit Brain: a framework exploring fractal geometry as a substrate for neural representation.

Rabbit Brain has been accepted as a poster presentation at the NeurIPS 2025 NeurReps Workshop in San Diego, marking one of the first attempts to connect formal geometry with representation learning.

I’m seeking $5,000 USD in support to cover travel costs and represent this independent work on the world stage.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

• Present Rabbit Brain at NeurIPS 2025 and engage with global researchers to bridge symbolic and geometric perspectives in AI.

• Publish an updated post-conference report and technical summary accessible to the open research community.

• Open-source the key mathematical and code components (fractal mapping and Lean4 proof structures) on GitHub.

Achievement plan: finalize poster materials, attend NeurIPS (Dec 2–7, 2025), network with researchers, and document key dialogues and findings for dissemination.

How will this funding be used?

Total requested: USD $5,000

• Flights (Kuala Lumpur ⇄ San Diego): $2,200

• Lodging (5–6 nights): $1,800

• Local transport + meals + incidentals: $1,000
  (NeurIPS registration already paid personally.)

This enables physical presence at the venue, otherwise financially impossible as a self-funded researcher.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

This is a solo research effort.
I previously authored:

• Gödel Mirror: accepted as a Lean4 presentation at the ITP 2025 Workshop (https://jhetchan.com/presentations/itp2025/).

• Rabbit Brain: accepted at the NeurIPS 2025 NeurReps Workshop (pending camera-ready to be published on OpenReview.net).

Both projects integrate formal logic, geometry, and AI — blending symbolic rigor with creative independence.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Failure cause: lack of travel funding → unable to attend NeurIPS physically → missed opportunity to present and connect with global peers.
Outcome: project visibility and momentum would stagnate temporarily, but research would continue independently.

Success outcome: community engagement, collaborations, and visibility — helping legitimize independent contributions to high-level AI research.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

$0 external funding.
All work and conference registration have been self-funded from personal savings and freelance software work.