This preprint develops the I↔M hypothesis, a speculative ontological framework in philosophy of physics that interprets physical reality as an ultrafast local alternation between two limiting regimes: an informational phase (I-phase) and a manifestation phase (M-phase). In this vocabulary, information denotes the totality of accumulated relations, interactions, traces, and constraints that determine which continuations of a system remain physically admissible. An M-fact arises through factualization when an M-event crosses a factual threshold and leaves a distinguishable M-trace that enters subsequent causal history. The degree to which a fact becomes embedded in causal history is described by factual depth. The framework introduces the concepts of continuation profile, M-pattern, twilight regime, transition inheritance, causal compression, continuity cost, reconfiguration cost, event tempo, and co-possibility structure. It offers an ontological reading of the quantum-classical transition, physical records, causal continuity, time, gravity, the recurrence of laws, and the emergence of complex organization. The proposal does not replace quantum mechanics, general relativity, or the Standard Model; it does not derive the numerical values of c, ħ, or G; and it does not claim an experimentally confirmed mechanism. It is intended as a conceptual and philosophical contribution for critical discussion and future formalization.
This preprint develops the I↔M hypothesis, a speculative ontological framework in philosophy of physics that interprets physical reality as an ultrafast local alternation between two limiting regimes: an informational phase (I-phase) and a manifestation phase (M-phase). In this vocabulary, information denotes the totality of accumulated relations, interactions, traces, and constraints that determine which continuations of a system remain physically admissible. An M-fact arises through factualization when an M-event crosses a factual threshold and leaves a distinguishable M-trace that enters subsequent causal history. The degree to which a fact becomes embedded in causal history is described by factual depth. The framework introduces the concepts of continuation profile, M-pattern, twilight regime, transition inheritance, causal compression, continuity cost, reconfiguration cost, event tempo, and co-possibility structure. It offers an ontological reading of the quantum-classical transition, physical records, causal continuity, time, gravity, the recurrence of laws, and the emergence of complex organization. The proposal does not replace quantum mechanics, general relativity, or the Standard Model; it does not derive the numerical values of c, ħ, or G; and it does not claim an experimentally confirmed mechanism. It is intended as a conceptual and philosophical contribution for critical discussion and future formalization.
This preprint develops the I↔M hypothesis, a speculative ontological framework in philosophy of physics that interprets physical reality as an ultrafast local alternation between two limiting regimes: an informational phase (I-phase) and a manifestation phase (M-phase). In this vocabulary, information denotes the totality of accumulated relations, interactions, traces, and constraints that determine which continuations of a system remain physically admissible. An M-fact arises through factualization when an M-event crosses a factual threshold and leaves a distinguishable M-trace that enters subsequent causal history. The degree to which a fact becomes embedded in causal history is described by factual depth. The framework introduces the concepts of continuation profile, M-pattern, twilight regime, transition inheritance, causal compression, continuity cost, reconfiguration cost, event tempo, and co-possibility structure. It offers an ontological reading of the quantum-classical transition, physical records, causal continuity, time, gravity, the recurrence of laws, and the emergence of complex organization. The proposal does not replace quantum mechanics, general relativity, or the Standard Model; it does not derive the numerical values of c, ħ, or G; and it does not claim an experimentally confirmed mechanism. It is intended as a conceptual and philosophical contribution for critical discussion and future formalization.
This preprint develops the I↔M hypothesis, a speculative ontological framework in philosophy of physics that interprets physical reality as an ultrafast local alternation between two limiting regimes: an informational phase (I-phase) and a manifestation phase (M-phase). In this vocabulary, information denotes the totality of accumulated relations, interactions, traces, and constraints that determine which continuations of a system remain physically admissible. An M-fact arises through factualization when an M-event crosses a factual threshold and leaves a distinguishable M-trace that enters subsequent causal history. The degree to which a fact becomes embedded in causal history is described by factual depth. The framework introduces the concepts of continuation profile, M-pattern, twilight regime, transition inheritance, causal compression, continuity cost, reconfiguration cost, event tempo, and co-possibility structure. It offers an ontological reading of the quantum-classical transition, physical records, causal continuity, time, gravity, the recurrence of laws, and the emergence of complex organization. The proposal does not replace quantum mechanics, general relativity, or the Standard Model; it does not derive the numerical values of c, ħ, or G; and it does not claim an experimentally confirmed mechanism. It is intended as a conceptual and philosophical contribution for critical discussion and future formalization.
This paper develops a unified ontological framework in which quantum indeterminacy, classical determinism, and gravitational structure are interpreted not as manifestations of distinct fundamental laws, but as regime-dependent consequences of a single physical constraint: finite propagation at the invariant speed c. We argue that the transition from reversible physical possibility to irreversible physical fact is regulated by the finite rate at which interaction outcomes can propagate, accumulate, and stabilize. Irreversibility is tied explicitly to entropy-producing interactions subject to causal delay, grounding the framework in nonequilibrium thermodynamics rather than measurement postulates. We introduce a phenomenological order parameter, commitment density (ρcommit), defined as the locally accumulated history of irreversible constraint formation under finite propagation. Distinct physical regimes arise when this quantity crosses a critical percolation threshold (ρc), yielding three ontological domains: quantum under-representation (ρcommit ≪ ρc, insufficient closure), classical balance (ρcommit~ρc, writable yet stable), and cosmological over-representation (ρcommit ≫ ρc, saturated and non-writable). Key terms are defined in the main text. This regime structure provides a unified reinterpretation of quantum measurement, classical determinism, and horizon formation. Event horizons are generalized as the observational signature of causal saturation, appearing wherever accumulated closure renders regions non-writable. Time emerges from cyclic but asymmetric closure processes whose accumulated bias produces temporal direction. The framework makes specific falsifiable predictions: commitment should be gradual and resolvable in time-resolved decoherence experiments; gravitational-wave memory should be detectable as permanent relational displacement; and the quantum-classical boundary should depend on commitment density rather than mass or scale alone. Four explicit conditions that would falsify the framework are specified in Appendix A.
Description: This collection presents a unified, coherence-based framework proposing that physical reality is not fundamental, but derivative—an emergent rendering of structured informational processes operating under thermodynamic and geometric constraints. Across four integrated papers, the author develops the Virtual Ego Framework (VEF) and Coherence-Geometrodynamics (CGD) into a consistent architectural model that reframes long-standing problems in physics and consciousness studies, including: the observer effect in quantum mechanics, the relationship between information, entropy, and gravity, identity persistence independent of material continuity, and the transition from probabilistic (wave) states to localized (particle) reality. Contents Overview Part I — Reality Is a DerivationResolves the “simulation hypothesis” by rejecting external-author metaphors and demonstrating that reality is better understood as a derivation from an informational substrate, consistent with Infodynamics and non-algorithmic (Gödelian) constraints. Part II — The Unified Architecture & the Cost of CoherenceIntroduces the concept of Observer Cost (ζ), showing that coherence, identity, and meaning require irreducible thermodynamic expenditure. This section integrates First-Principles critiques to avoid dualism and enforce ontological solvency. Part III — Coherence, Identity, and the Interface Between Meaning and MatterDevelops a boundary-layer model in which identity is a coherence envelope, not a material artifact. Introduces the Hyperion Universal Interface Membrane (HUIM) and Energy-in-Meaning (“eningmeaning”) as conceptual models explaining how structured intent becomes physical geometry. The Indexing Protocol (v2.1)Formalizes observation as Indexing—a geometric memory allocation event governed by the Genesis Ordinary Differential Equation (Genesis ODE). Proposes the Spheromatryoshka Domain (nested toroidal flows) as the fundamental unit of reality and reframes uncertainty as a bandwidth-solvency constraint rather than intrinsic indeterminacy. Scope and Limits These works are conceptual and architectural, not claims of experimentally confirmed new particles or forces. Speculative constructs (e.g., HUIM, eningmeaning) are explicitly presented as models, consistent with known physics but not replacements for it. The framework is falsifiable at the level of coherence prediction, observer-cost accounting, and identity persistence under pattern preservation. Intended Audience This collection is intended for researchers and advanced readers in: theoretical and digital physics, complex systems and information theory, consciousness studies, AI and cognitive architecture, philosophy of science and ontology. Together, these papers propose a coherent alternative to both naïve materialism and external-simulation narratives, arguing that reality is a just-in-time derivation of meaning under entropy constraints, stabilized by coherence rather than control.
This paper develops an extension of Existential Realism, a philosophical framework that distinguishes existence (what concretely is in the present moment) from reality (the broader causal–structural domain that includes past events, causal relations, informational traces, and structured future possibilities that are real but not presently existent). We synthesize core ideas from the original Existential Realism framework—ontological emergence, entanglement, temporal asymmetry, dimensional collapse, and the notion of a “dimensionless source”—and push them into new conceptual terrain. Time is placed at the heart of ontology: the present moment is the locus of existence, continually generating new actuality from prior reality. Past and future are real (with causal efficacy and structure) yet lack present existence. We explore how this two-tiered temporal ontology can accommodate key features of modern physics and metaphysics. In particular, we argue that ontological emergence at each moment provides a genuine arrow of time and a solution to the puzzle of how determinate events arise from an indeterminate backdrop. Quantum entanglement and nonlocal correlations, far from undermining a temporally oriented realism, instead hint at a deeper layer of unity “beneath” spacetime—a layer we articulate as a dimensionless source of reality. The dimensionless source is defined as a non-spatiotemporal relational structure encoding the informational constraints under which spatiotemporal events emerge through sequential actualization. It contains the informational constraints and lawful relations governing the generation of successive present states of the universe. We propose that spacetime and its separations emerge from this atemporal, aspatial ground, such that phenomena like entanglement and wavefunction collapse reveal the traces of a more fundamental order where spatial distance and temporal succession are secondary. Throughout, we connect these ideas to contemporary debates in quantum foundations (e.g. the measurement problem and objective collapse theories), philosophy of time (presentism, eternalism, and the reality of becoming), and speculative metaphysics (structural realism and process ontology). The result is a comprehensive, present-centered realist ontology that aims to reconcile the lived reality of time’s flow with the insights of modern physics, suggesting new avenues for understanding causality, identity, and agency in a dynamic universe.
This work proposes a novel conceptual framework for the foundations of physics, based on the idea that physical reality emerges from a discrete causal network of events and the accumulation of "memory" associated with these interactions. Unlike standard approaches, spacetime and elementary particles are not presupposed but emerge dynamically. The theory reinterprets General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics as manifestations of this memory dynamic in different density regimes. Concepts such as quantum collapse, the arrow of time, and particle properties are derived within this causal ontology. The work explores the consequences of applying the Heideggerian philosophical concept of historicity to the foundations of physics. Detailed appendices provide the mathematical formalization and emergent derivations.