Tuesday, 25 November 2025

II Semiotics of the Macrocosm: Meaning at Cosmic Scale: 2 Laws of Physics as Construal Protocols

In our first post, we saw that cosmic phenomena are actualised relational patterns, intelligible only through perspectival cuts. We now turn to the structures that govern these patterns: the laws of physics.

Relational ontology dissolves the traditional view that laws exist independently of the universe. Instead, laws are construal protocols: codifications of relational coherence that stabilise patterns of potential.


Conservation Laws as Relational Invariants

Consider energy, momentum, and angular momentum:

  • These are not primitive substances or properties.

  • They are invariants of relational potential, expressing what must be preserved for coherence across cuts.

  • Observing these laws is tracing the stable skeleton of relational actualisation, not discovering hidden entities.

In short, conservation is a signal of relational integrity, not a metaphysical mandate.


Symmetries as Semiotic Constraints

Symmetries — translational, rotational, gauge — are not features of objects. They are:

  • Constraints that ensure the intelligibility of relational patterns under transformation.

  • Indicators of which cuts are compatible with global coherence.

  • The reason that phenomena “behave the same way everywhere” is that relational invariants persist across perspectival shifts.

Symmetry is therefore the language of pattern preservation, not a rule imposed on a passive universe.


Constants and Universal Ratios

Constants such as the speed of light or Planck’s constant are not pre-existing properties. They are:

  • Stabilised features of the relational lattice, emerging from the structure of actualisation itself.

  • Indicators of the limits and potentials of coherent cuts.

  • Tools for predicting how relational patterns propagate, not metaphysical givens.


Forces as Patterns of Constraint

Gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear forces are expressions of relational tension:

  • They describe how local cuts adjust to maintain coherence with global constraints.

  • Forces are protocols of relational adjustment, not entities exerting causal power independently.

  • What we measure as “interaction” is the manifestation of underlying semiotic structure.


Implications

  • Physics is a language of relational actualisation, codifying stable patterns across scales.

  • Laws are meta-semiotic regularities, intelligible only because relational potentials are stabilised.

  • The universe is not a backdrop governed by laws; laws emerge from the very act of constraining relational potential.


Next Steps

In the next post, we will examine observers as co-actualisers, exploring how perspectival cuts at the local scale shape the universe itself. We will see that observers are not passive witnesses but active stabilisers of relational coherence.

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