Constraints on Possibility: 2 Material Constraints — Physical Limits and Affordances

At the foundation of all possibility lie the material substrates and energetic flows that make actualisation feasible. Matter, energy, and physical laws do not merely impose limitations; they shape and enable the very topology of potential, defining what can emerge, persist, and interact within relational fields.

Physical Laws as Relational Structure

Constraints such as gravity, thermodynamics, and conservation laws provide a coherent framework within which possibilities unfold. They are relational: potentials only exist relative to these laws, and interactions between matter and energy are meaningful only within this structured field. Far from being passive restrictions, physical laws scaffold emergence, guiding the evolution of patterns and the propagation of effects.

Material Affordances

Affordances arise from the relational interplay of matter, form, and context. A branch affords perching for a bird, a surface affords support for a structure, and energy gradients afford work. Possibility is not pre-given; it is situated, relational, and contingent upon material properties and configurations. Material constraints simultaneously delimit and enable, focusing activity into viable channels of actualisation.

Structural Organisation and Boundary Conditions

Material systems are shaped by boundary conditions, spatial organisation, and energetic constraints. These structures create niches of stability and pathways for change, producing fields of potential where some interactions are permitted and others excluded. The emergence of complexity depends critically on these material scaffolds, highlighting the co-constitutive relationship between limitation and innovation.

Dynamics of Material Constraint

Constraints in material systems are not static. Phase transitions, feedback loops, and energetic interactions can shift boundaries and open new avenues of potential. In this sense, material constraints are dynamic modulators, enabling adaptation, self-organisation, and the generation of novel possibilities while maintaining coherence within the field.

Implications for Relational Possibility

By understanding the material underpinnings of possibility, we see that actualisation is never unconstrained. Every emergent phenomenon is enabled and channelled by the relational interplay of matter, energy, and structural conditions. Material constraints co-individuate possibilities, shaping what can emerge while preserving the generative capacity of the field.

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Modulatory voices:

• Ilya Prigogine: material constraints and the emergence of dissipative structures.

• Stuart Kauffman: autocatalytic sets and the generativity of physical limitations.

• James Gibson: affordances as relational potentials embedded in material reality.