The prevailing interpretations of physics are based on deeply entrenched assumptions, rooted in classical mechanics. Logical implications include: the denial of entropy as a fundamental physical property, and the inability to explain irreversible change, random quantum measurements, or nonlocality without untestable and implausible metaphysical implications. We propose a conceptual model that is based on empirically justifiable assumptions and consistent with observations. The WYSIWYG Conceptual Model (WCM) assumes no hidden properties: “What You can See Is What You Get.” The WCM contextually defines a system’s state with respect to its actual ambient background, and it extends existing models of physical reality by defining entropy and exergy as objective contextual properties of state. The WCM establishes the irreversible dissipation of exergy and the Second law of thermodynamics as a fundamental law of physics, it recognizes physical randomness, and it provides a physical explanation for nonlocality, consistent with Special Relativity, without hidden variables, superdeterminism, or “spooky action.”
The prevailing interpretations of physics are based on deeply entrenched assumptions, rooted in classical mechanics. Logical implications include: the denial of entropy as a fundamental physical property, and the inability to explain irreversible change, random quantum measurements, or nonlocality without untestable and implausible metaphysical implications. We propose a conceptual model that is based on empirically justifiable assumptions and consistent with observations. The WYSIWYG Conceptual Model (WCM) assumes no hidden properties: “What You can See Is What You Get.” The WCM contextually defines a system’s state with respect to its actual ambient background, and it extends existing models of physical reality by defining entropy and exergy as objective contextual properties of state. The WCM establishes the irreversible dissipation of exergy and the Second law of thermodynamics as a fundamental law of physics, it recognizes physical randomness, and it provides a physical explanation for nonlocality, consistent with Special Relativity, without hidden variables, superdeterminism, or “spooky action.”
The thermocontextual interpretation (TCI) is an alternative to the existing interpretations of physical states and time. The prevailing interpretations are based on assumptions rooted in classical mechanics, the logical implications of which include determinism, time symmetry, and a paradox: determinism implies that effects follow causes and an arrow of causality, and this conflicts with time symmetry. The prevailing interpretations also fail to explain the empirical irreversibility of wavefunction collapse without invoking untestable and untenable metaphysical implications. They fail to reconcile nonlocality and relativistic causality without invoking superdeterminism or unexplained superluminal correlations. The TCI defines a system's state with respect to its actual surroundings at a positive ambient temperature. It recognizes the existing physical interpretations as special cases which either define a state with respect to an absolute zero reference (classical and relativistic states) or with respect to an equilibrium reference (quantum states). Between these special case extremes is where thermodynamic irreversibility and randomness exist. The TCI distinguishes between a system's internal time and the reference time of relativity and causality as measured by an external observer's clock. It defines system time as a complex property of state spanning both reversible mechanical time and irreversible thermodynamic time. Additionally, it provides a physical explanation for nonlocality that is consistent with relativistic causality without hidden variables, superdeterminism, or "spooky action".
ABSTRACT. What is the physical significance of entropy? What is the physical origin of irreversibility? Do entropy and irreversibility exist only for complex and macroscopic systems? Most physicists still accept and teach that the rationalization of these fundamental ques-tions is given by Statistical Mechanics. Indeed, for everyday laboratory physics, the math-ematical formalism of Statistical Mechanics (canonical and grand-canonical, Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions) allows a successful description of the ther-modynamic equilibrium properties of matter, including entropy values. However, as al-ready recognized by Schrödinger in 1936, Statistical Mechanics is impaired by conceptual ambiguities and logical inconsistencies, both in its explanation of the meaning of entropy and in its implications on the concept of state of a system. An alternative theory has been developed by Gyftopoulos, Hatsopoulos and the present author to eliminate these stumbling conceptual blocks while maintaining the mathematical formalism so successful in applications. To resolve both the problem of the meaning of entropy and that of the origin of irreversibility we have built entropy and irreversibility
Quantum mechanics describes change as reversible and deterministic over unitary time, but we observe random change over nonunitary time. Thermocontextual mechanics (TCM) accommodates nonunitary time as fundamental by introducing two innovations. First, it defines states thermocontextually with respect to a measurement framework in equilibrium with the system’s actual surroundings, which always has a positive minimum temperature. This establishes ambient temperature, ambient heat, and exergy as objectively defined properties of state. Second, TCM’s “No hidden variables” law empirically defines states as measurable and definite. TCM’s second law is based on measurable changes in state before and after transitions between discrete measurable states. It codifies observations that a state only transitions in the direction of declining work potential on a fixed reference. It accommodates thermodynamics’ Second Law and statistical mechanics’ MaxEnt as distinct transition types. TCM’s third law codifies observations showing that networked transitions minimize irreversible losses. In the limit of reversibility, quantum processes are deterministic and unitary. By recognizing both unitary and nonunitary time, TCM explains previously unexplained observations strictly in terms of testable and empirically justified assumptions. These include the arrow of time, the measurement problem, nonlocality, and the spontaneous emergence of functional complexity.
A colloquial interpretation of entropy is that it is the knowledge gained upon learning the outcome of a random experiment. Conditional entropy is then interpreted as the knowledge gained upon learning the outcome of one random experiment after learning the outcome of another, possibly statistically dependent, random experiment. In the classical world, entropy and conditional entropy take only non-negative values, consistent with the intuition that one has regarding the aforementioned interpretations. However, for certain entangled states, one obtains negative values when evaluating commonly accepted and information-theoretically justified formulas for the quantum conditional entropy, leading to the confounding conclusion that one can know less than nothing in the quantum world. Here, we introduce a physically motivated framework for defining quantum conditional entropy, based on two simple postulates inspired by the second law of thermodynamics (non-decrease of entropy) and extensivity of entropy, and we argue that all plausible definitions of quantum conditional entropy should respect these two postulates. We then prove that all plausible quantum conditional entropies take on negative values for certain entangled states, so that it is inevitable that one can know less than nothing in the quantum world. All of our arguments are based on constructions of physical processes that respect the first postulate, the one inspired by the second law of thermodynamics.
A key conceptual achievement of special relativity was the abandonment of absolute time and the introduction of an operational definition of simultaneity through clock synchronization. Building on Einstein’s operational treatment of simultaneity, we extend the logic of clock synchronization to the quantum domain. Within the Overtime interpretation, quantum systems evolve in an internal time τ that becomes related to the observer’s time t only through synchronization. Measurement is thus understood as a temporal embedding rather than a physical collapse. Crucially, this resolution requires no new ontological entities—no additional state vectors, hidden variables, collapse mechanisms, or cosmological boundary conditions. The parameter τ is simply the standard ordering parameter of the Schrödinger equation, reinterpreted as system-intrinsic. This approach preserves all standard quantum predictions, maintains relativistic causality, and offers a unified conceptual framework for superposition, entanglement, delayed-choice phenomena, and the apparent discontinuity of measurement. The interpretation naturally aligns with the operational logic of special relativity and clarifies the role of entropy and the arrow of time in distinguishing macroscopic and microscopic systems.
This project explores the fundamental link between information, thermodynamics, and physical reality. It proposes a unified model where information is not a passive descriptor but an active physical quantity shaping energy flows, entropy, and the structure of the observable universe. The work includes: A reformulation of Landauer’s principle and its physical limits A reinterpretation of entropy as a measure of structural uncertainty A thermodynamic explanation of observation and measurement A geometric approach connecting information gradients to physical forces A proposed framework unifying information, energy, and physical emergence This repository contains the manuscript, figures, mathematical derivations, and complementary notes.