Perspectival Physics: 6 Perspectival Physics in Practice

Thus far, we have reconstructed physics from the ground up:

1. Objects are relational patterns rather than independently existing entities (Post 1: Physics Without Objects).

2. Entanglement is co-individuation across horizons of possibility (Post 2).

3. Time emerges relationally from successive actualisations (Post 3: Temporal Asymmetry and Becoming).

4. Space arises as relational potential rather than a pre-existing container (Post 4).

5. Physical laws are construals, emergent patterns of actualised possibilities (Post 5).

In this post, we bring these principles together, showing how perspectival physics operates in practice and how it transforms the conceptual landscape of physical phenomena.

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1. Reinterpreting Quantum Phenomena

Consider the canonical “paradoxes” of quantum mechanics:

• Measurement problem: A particle’s state is not predetermined. Instead, the measurement is a cut in the horizon of possibilities, stabilising one outcome.

• Superposition: A system’s multiple potential states exist horizontally across the horizon, not as contradictory facts.

• Entanglement: Correlations are not signals travelling faster than light; they are co-individuated actualisations within shared horizons.

Relational thinking dissolves the paradoxes by removing the assumption of pre-existing objects. Quantum mechanics is intelligible as the study of how relational cuts stabilise potentialities across horizons.

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2. Rethinking Classical Mechanics

Even classical systems can be reframed:

• Newton’s laws describe the repeatable patterns of relational constraints among interacting bodies.

• Trajectories are not absolute paths in space-time but stabilised sequences of actualisations within relational horizons.

• “Forces” are shorthand for constraints guiding which cuts can stabilise.

This approach preserves classical predictive accuracy while clarifying why laws appear necessary without presuming independent entities.

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3. Cosmology and Horizons

Cosmological phenomena also illustrate relational principles:

• Expansion of the universe: Can be seen as reconfigurations of relational horizons, generating new potentialities for matter, energy, and structure.

• Cosmic microwave background fluctuations: Arise from constraints in early relational horizons, not pre-existing spatial patterns.

• Black holes and event horizons: Are limits of relational possibility, not merely geometric surfaces.

Across scales, horizons, cuts, and constraints remain the organising principles, unifying physical understanding under a relational lens.

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4. Thought Experiments Revisited

Relational thinking also clarifies classic conceptual puzzles:

• Schrödinger’s cat: The cat’s state is a cut within a horizon of potential outcomes, not a simultaneous “alive and dead” object.

• EPR paradox: Correlations reflect co-individuated horizons, not faster-than-light influence.

• Twin paradox: Time is relational; each twin’s proper horizon defines their temporal actualisations.

These examples illustrate the practical intelligibility of perspectival physics, showing that phenomena become coherent when stripped of object-centric metaphysics.

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5. Lessons for Physical Understanding

1. Predictive power remains intact: Relational reconstrual does not diminish calculational accuracy; it clarifies interpretation.

2. Metaphysical simplification: No need for independently existing particles, absolute space, or intrinsic time.

3. Conceptual unification: Horizons, constraints, and cuts provide a single framework bridging classical, quantum, and cosmological domains.

4. Continuity with semiotic and mathematical systems: Just as meaning and mathematical categories are actualised through relational cuts, so too are physical phenomena.

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Conclusion: The Horizon of Physics

Perspectival physics transforms the discipline:

• Objects become patterns, not givens.

• Time, space, and laws are emergent, not intrinsic.

• Phenomena are intelligible only relationally, through constraints and horizon-dependent actualisations.

The series closes not with finality, but with a horizon:

Physics is the study of actualised possibility, a relational landscape in which distinctions, correlations, and laws emerge contingently yet intelligibly.

This relational lens sets the stage for the next series, The Evolution of Possibility: After Gödel (Revisited), where we will explore how even our own theoretical constructions evolve within the constraints of possibility, completing the meta-theoretical loop.