II Semiotics of the Macrocosm: Meaning at Cosmic Scale: 4 Cosmic Horizons and the Limits of Construal

In the previous post, we explored observers as co-actualisers: local cuts that stabilise relational potential. We now scale up, examining the boundaries of actualisation at cosmic scales. Horizons, singularities, and expansion are not independent objects or events—they are signatures of the limits of relational intelligibility.

---

Horizons as Limits of Coherence

Cosmic horizons—whether event horizons around black holes or the cosmological horizon—do not define “edges” of space. They are:

• Boundaries of perspectival actualisation, beyond which relational cuts cannot coherently propagate.

• Indicators of where potential cannot yet be stabilised into intelligible patterns.

• Signals that even the universe is constrained by the reach of relational coherence, not by pre-existing physical walls.

---

Singularities and Relational Tension

Singularities—points of “infinite density” in classical cosmology—are better understood relationally:

• They mark extremes of lattice tension, where local cuts cannot reconcile with global coherence.

• They are mathematical artefacts of representationalist extrapolation, not ontological catastrophes.

• Relationally, singularities highlight the limits of potential actualisation and guide the structuring of higher-order coherence.

---

Cosmic Expansion as Lattice Unfolding

The expanding universe is often treated as “space stretching,” but relational topology reframes this:

• Expansion is the dynamic unfolding of relational potential across the lattice, actualised perspectivally.

• It reflects the propagation of coherence limits, not the movement of a pre-existing metric.

• Observable phenomena—redshift, structure formation, cosmic microwave background patterns—are traces of these relational dynamics.

---

Implications for Cosmology

• Large-scale constraints are not physical forces, but indicators of the boundaries of intelligible relational actualisation.

• Dark matter, cosmic microwave background patterns, and inflationary effects can all be interpreted as manifestations of lattice stabilisation at cosmic scale.

• The “universe” is therefore a meta-construal, actualised through layers of coherent relational cuts, rather than a container populated by objects and events.

---

Next Steps

In the final post of this series, we will synthesise all these insights, presenting the universe as a nested system of semiotic layers, where meaning itself constitutes cosmic structure.

This will show that physics, cosmology, and geometry are unified as patterns of relational actualisation, intelligible only through perspectival cuts.