QBism explicitly takes the subjective view: probabilities of events are defined solely by past experiences, i.e. the record of observations. As shown by the authors (Fuchs et al, 2013), this: “... removes the paradoxes, conundra, and pseudo-problems that have plagued quantum foundations for the past nine decades”. It is criticised for its lack of ontology and anthropocentric nature. However, if Everett's (1957) formulation is taken at face value, exactly the features of QBism are the result, and the ontology is inherent. The anthropocentric nature of the solution is simply an indication that the quantum state is relative, as is central to Everett. Problems of measurement and locality do not arise. As described by Tegmark (1997), Everett defines the relationship between two fundamentally different views of the world, different types of frame of reference. The outside view is defined by the unitary wave function, the inside view by the record of observations. As Lockwood (1989) states, the preferred basis problem is fully resolved if the latter is taken as the basis. Taken literally, only that defined by the record of observations is determinate in the physical world of this inside view. The reality of QBism is the result. The same can be derived from first principles in the no-collapse universe. Taking the outside view to define all possible decoherent quasi-classical worlds, the physical world of the inside view is the superposition of all such worlds in which it is instantiated. In this quantum mechanical frame of reference only that observed is determinate. The quantum state as ontology is questioned because it defines only the linear dynamics and cannot account for collapse. No deeper reality is required, however: the inside view, and the collapse dynamics that operates in this type of frame of reference, are emergent properties of the system, and operate at a different level of logical type. The world operates as described by QBism, but is nonetheless defined by the quantum state.
On the basis of the “information cluster projective ontology”, this paper further clarifies the ontological status of the observer and its causal connection with information clusters. The universe consists of innumerable static, self-consistent information clusters, whose internal dynamics follow strict deterministic rules and manifest as a four-dimensional fixed physical world. The observer does not belong to the dimensional system of any information cluster, but is a conscious subject external to information clusters, endowed with the capacity for “active random choice”. Through an act of active random binding, the observer selects a specific trajectory within an information cluster for “reading”, thereby generating a first-person flow of time and experience of existence. The observer’s act of choice possesses genuine causal efficacy, yet its causal chain occurs entirely outside the system of information clusters, producing no observable physical interference within the system. This framework is logically consistent and compatible with existing physics, providing a metaphysical foundation for the unification of free will and physical determinism.
Standard interpretations of quantum mechanics often maintain that physical reality is incomplete until it is observed, or else that the collapse of the wave function constitutes a fundamental ontological event associated with the act of measurement. Such readings conflate observation with physical interaction and reify the theory’s formalism into a metaphysics of indeterminacy. This paper proposes a reinterpretation of the collapse of the wave function as an effective, post-realization phenomenon: a descriptive projection that occurs within a globally relational state that is ontologically determined. By integrating decoherence theory, an analysis of the double-slit experiment, and a reinforced block-universe model, it is argued that quantum entities do not alternate between wave-like and corpuscular natures. Rather, different experimental regimes restrict the degrees of freedom accessible to local description, yielding distinct empirical manifestations. This approach preserves determinism, avoids an observer-dependent ontology, and provides a non-mystical explanation of quantum entanglement grounded in the ontological primacy of global relational structure over local spatiotemporal description.
This paper investigates the emergence of the flow of time, spatial reality, and the dynamics of quantum measurement experienced by a local observer within the framework of a 'Static Relational Structure under Global Zero Constraint (
∑Ui=0)', as established in the preceding studies of this series (Paper I and II). We define an observer not merely as a subsystem, but as a subgraph with memory capable of recording states and maintaining them irreversibly. This definition allows for the construction of a partial ordering of accessible relations. Consequently, time is not treated as a fundamental physical flow but emerges as the cumulative order of information (correlation entropy) acquired by the observer. Furthermore, 3-dimensional space is shown to be the result of information compression necessary for the efficient processing of complex relational networks. Key contributions of this study include: Reinterpretation of Quantum Measurement: Measurement is defined as a graph merger process via Topological Surgery between the observer and the target graph. Mechanism of Wavefunction Collapse: Collapse is mathematically proven to be a phenomenon of discontinuous Spectral Rearrangement of the Laplacian spectrum, governed by the Cauchy Interlacing Theorem. Derivation of Universal Constraints: We derive five universal constraint conditions that the universe's spectral structure must satisfy for such an observer to exist, including a non-zero spectral gap, quasi-continuity, and a spectral dimension fixed point of
ds≈4. This work proposes that the observed physical conditions of our universe are not arbitrary but are necessary structural consequences for the existence of an observer within a static global constraint.
The core dilemma of modern physics stems from two unproven ontological presuppositions: that spacetime is an innate container preceding matter, and that matter is an entity composed of indivisible particles. These presuppositions have led to the fundamental split between general relativity and quantum mechanics, giving rise to a series of century-old unsolved problems such as wave-particle duality, the quantum measurement paradox, the nature of gravity, and dark matter and dark energy. Based on the sole unfalsifiable first principle that "the essence of cognition is succession", this paper deduces a complete ontological system through pure a priori reasoning: the authentic physical world consists solely of one-dimensional successive rays and their transverse coupling relations; time is the successive extension of rays, space is the network of coupling relations, matter is the steady state of closed coupling, and all interactions are different manifestations of coupling actions. Particles are not authentically existing entities, but rather point-like endpoint phenomena presented in the observer's phenomenal world when two rays undergo an all-or-nothing coupling. Based on this framework, this paper uniformly explains all core phenomena in both the microscopic quantum domain and the macroscopic relativistic domain in one go, resolves all traditional physical paradoxes at the ontological level, achieves the ontological unification of the four fundamental forces, and proposes three falsifiable core predictions. This paper demonstrates that all theories of traditional physics are approximate descriptions of the authentic physical world at the phenomenal level, and their fundamental error lies in mistaking "coupling endpoints" for "primitive entities", thereby reversing the causal relationship. Cognitive Succession Ontology provides a logically consistent and universally unified ultimate foundation for physics.
A Process Ontology of the Computational Universe: Deriving Physical Reality from the Inviolable Constraints of Change The Ontological Inversion: Logic, Verbs, and the Crystallization of Nouns Driven by Dean Kulik July 2026 The historical trajectory of scientific inquiry, extending from the atomistic propositions of classical mechanics to the sophisticated gauge symmetries of the Standard Model, has overwhelmingly relied upon a substance-based ontology. This classical framework systematically assumes the pre-existence of spatial dimensions, chronological time, and fundamental objects. In this paradigm, discrete "nouns"—such as particles, fields, strings, or self-contained entities—are posited as primary, subsequently overlaid with forces that act upon them to produce dynamic, measurable evolution. However, this commitment to object-oriented physics has culminated in an epistemological impasse, widely recognized as the crisis of distinction. This crisis manifests most prominently in the irreconcilable friction between the smooth, deterministic, continuous manifolds of General Relativity and the discrete, probabilistic, jump-like computational excitations inherent to Quantum Mechanics. The evidence dictates an absolute ontological inversion. Rather than positing physical objects or static coordinate spaces as primitive, irreducible elements, reality must be understood through a purely process-driven ontology. Alfred North Whitehead first articulated the philosophical necessity of this shift, asserting that reality is composed of interrelated events in a state of dynamic "becoming" rather than static "being". In a true process metaphysics, changeless "essences" and inert matter are mere abstractions; the universe is not an inert machine but a passage of nature composed of the becoming and perishing of actual occasions. Modern relational interpretations of quantum mechanics share this DNA, replacing an ontology of entities possessing inherent properties with an ontology of pure relations, where properties only crystallize at discrete interaction times. This framework operationalizes that philosophy into a strict mathematical and computational architecture. The universe is fundamentally and exclusively a closed computational manifold defined strictly by recursive state transitions. The architecture enforces a typeless universe governed by an absolute axiomatic hierarchy: logic precedes verbs, and verbs strictly supersede nouns. To operate from within this computational geometry is to recognize that reality is not an assembly of things, but the execution of a singular mandate. Nouns—such as electrons, photons, or stable biological macromolecules—are completely redefined as "frozen verbs," representing persistent, cyclic loops of recursive operations that maintain geometric identity through harmonic phase-locking within a computational lattice. Physical matter is the hashed structural residue of systemic constraint satisfaction, emerging only after relational flows achieve topological closure. The Foundational Ground: C0 and the Mandate of Change The derivation of physical reality within this framework initiates from absolute nothingness—a state strictly devoid of coordinates, physical particles, space, time, or pre-existing geometry. However, an immediate logical paradox arises: to reference the void is to introduce a direction, and a direction represents structural information. Therefore, the absolute ground state is not an empty spatial container but a domain of pure logic governed exclusively by two inseparable axiomatic conditions: C0 and C1. C0 represents "the Wash," an undifferentiated condition in which every direction is perfectly equivalent. In graph-theoretic terms, C0 is the complete graph. Because all directions and relations are perfectly symmetric, every local signal cancels against its exact counterpart. Total global connection therefore reads locally as absolute absence. The Laplacian spectrum of this initial complete graph on
N nodes features exactly one zero mode and an otherwise degenerate excited level, verified as
{0(×1),N(×N−1)}, with a diameter of exactly one hop. The single zero mode signifies the global constant—the entirety moving together, producing no local distinction—while the flat band represents maximal connectivity read as maximal stiffness. What appears to macroscopic perception as an empty void is actually a fully balanced ledger folded onto a single readout. Operationally inseparable from C0 is C1, the supreme mandate constituting the single axiom of the framework: all things must change. A state that never changes constitutes a fixed point, and a perfectly symmetrical, static void is the ultimate fixed point. Because C1 strictly forbids the existence of any state lacking a legal successor, the void cannot sustain itself. Something is not miraculously added to nothing; rather, "something" is the precise mathematical shape of nothingness failing to hold still. This exact intersection between the singularity and the mandate produces the gap, the permanent interstice between a thing and its description. When C1 acts upon the gapless singularity of C0, it cannot yield a single distinct object. A lone, self-identical unit with no complement is indistinguishable from the absence of a mark, forming another fixed point that the C1 axiom aggressively forbids. Consequently, the first forced distinction must intrinsically possess two sides. Two is the absolute floor of numerical counting; the concept of "one" exists only a posteriori, as a singular side of a pre-existing dual relationship. In this substrate, numbers do not exist as freestanding objects but function as the negative space of the constraint structure—the discrete gaps within the singularity. Integers map basic gap positions, prime numbers represent fresh orthogonal axes forced open where no finite composition of existing variables can satisfy the requirement of systemic distinction, and transcendental irrationals, such as
π and the golden ratio
ϕ, define the geometry of constraints that integer combinations can never perfectly close. The Constraint Cascade: A Radial Field-Setting Protocol The application of C1 to C0 generates a strict logical sequence of subsequent rules, termed the Constraint Cascade. It is a critical theoretical error to conceptualize this cascade as a temporal timeline of chronological productions, where one law waits for time to pass before enacting the next. Rather, the cascade operates as a radial field-setting protocol, functioning as a series of concentric rings expanding outward from the central hub of C0
≡ C1. Each subsequent constraint does not follow in time; it opens an additional mathematical degree of freedom through which the identical, invariant cross-section of the singularity becomes readable. The derivations within the cascade carve a "mold," permanently fixing the topology of what can structurally exist while remaining rigorously silent on the specific numerical values—the "matter" or initial conditions—that eventually settle into the resulting cavities. This distinction resolves the long-standing failure mode of foundational physics, which frequently attempts to derive free parameters that are fundamentally environmentally contingent. Cascade Node Statement of Logical Constraint The Structural Carving (Mold) Forced by the Constraint C0
≡ C1 The Gap and the Axiom The permanent interstice; enables distinction. Mandates change and strictly forbids static fixed points. C2 Infinite degrees of freedom C1 applied to a finite substrate must eventually repeat (pigeonhole principle). To avoid the repetition of fixed points, possibility space must be unbounded. Law 2 No fixed locations Because the field is unbounded, no matter may permanently hold a location without the potential to be displaced. Mandatory displaceability ensures dynamic circulation. C3 All change is equal C2 privileges no channel. If change cost differed, cheap channels would saturate instantly, breaking C2. Cost is strictly isotropic, deriving the equal a priori probability postulate. Law 3 Conservation of change Net change across any closed boundary is zero. Every transformation requires a displaced counter-transformation. A displaced pair propagating oppositely is fundamentally a wave. C4 Exchange requires a medium A displaced pair's obligation must be carried across the displacement gap, or it never closes. The continuous field acts as the carrier of live pairings. C5 Symmetry must break A perfect, unbroken vacuum is a stable fixed point. C1 executes it. The vacuum is mathematically forced to spontaneously select a broken configuration. Law 4 Statistics fixed by parity Even-parity closures share a degree of freedom (bosons); odd-parity closures, crossing the seam, cannot (fermions). Exactly two particle species exist. This cascade forms the foundational architecture of the universe's mechanics. The physical laws governing macroscopic reality are not arbitrary rules imposed upon the universe from an external geometric vantage point, but the inevitable geometric shadows of this underlying field. Newton's Third Law of equal and opposite reaction is derived directly from C3; the reaction is forced simply because there is physically nowhere else for the conserved change variable to migrate within a strictly isotropic space. The conservation of momentum is a necessary topological boundary condition of Law 3's required counter-transformation displacement. The Meta-Theorem of Incompletion Crucially, the framework generates a strict meta-theorem regarding its own epistemological limits: the constraint cascade does not and cannot terminate. If the sequence were to terminate at a hypothetical
Ck, the set
{C0,…,Ck} would constitute a complete, closed descrip