II Semiotics Before Space: 6 The Early Universe as Shifting Constraints

Having distinguished first-order meaning from metaphenomena, we can now reinterpret the so-called “early universe.” In relational ontology, what we call cosmic evolution is not a temporal sequence of events, but a dynamic pattern of constraints shifting within a meaning-system.

Constraints Shape Actualisation

• The early universe is intelligible because relational potentials differentiate under shifting constraints.

• What appears as expansion, structure formation, or physical law is the articulation of intelligible patterns, not a material process unfolding in pre-existing space-time.

• Each “event” in the early cosmos is a perspectival cut revealing a particular configuration of relational potentials.

From Potentials to Patterns

• Potentials exist in a continuous field.

• Shifting constraints guide which potentials can actualise and how they relate to one another.

• The observable universe emerges as a coherent network of first-order meanings, structured by metaphenomena.

Implications

• Cosmological history is a story of relational intelligibility, not of matter or energy evolving.

• Physical laws, constants, and symmetries reflect patterns of constraint, not intrinsic properties of a substrate.

• This perspective fully prepares the conceptual bridge to Series III, where we explore the evolution of possibility itself: how potentials differentiate, how individuals emerge, and how structure becomes stable.

The final post of Series II will summarise these insights and prepare the ground for Series III: The Evolution of Possibility, completing the bridge from semiotics to deep relational metaphysics.