Relational Ontology of Evolving Potential: 5 Innovation as Stabilised Thinning

In the previous post, we examined sedimentation and stabilisation: the accumulation of density over time, producing continuity and historical structure in potential fields. Yet no system is static. Novelty emerges from low-density regions, which are underdetermined, flexible, and generative. This is innovation as stabilised thinning.

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1. Low-Density Regions as Engines of Novelty

Thin regions of potential have the following properties:

• Rarely actualised, hence less constrained by established patterns

• Flexible, allowing new configurations or reinterpretations

• Selectively stabilised when actualised repeatedly, potentially becoming new dense regions

Innovation is therefore a natural product of the system’s topology, not an external intervention.

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2. Cross-Domain Examples

• Technology: experimental designs or prototypes explore underused combinations of components, some of which become new standards

• Culture: avant-garde art or emergent genres arise from underexplored motifs or forms

• Social systems: novel practices or policies emerge in spaces where conventions are weak or absent

In every case, low-density regions provide opportunity for transformation, while thickened regions provide continuity.

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3. Visualising Stabilised Thinning

Structured potential field

███████   ← sedimented / stabilised regions (tradition)
██                         ← emerging innovations (thinning regions gaining density)
█                             ← unexplored potential (open space for novelty)

• Middle layer = innovations in process of stabilisation

• Low-density regions = raw potential for future novelty

• Recursive actualisation thickens some innovations while leaving others fluid

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4. Key Principles

1. Relational emergence: Innovation depends on interaction with the existing density landscape

2. Cumulative dynamics: Repeated actualisation gradually reweights density, producing evolution

3. Invariant logic: The same density principles observed in semiotics operate across any structured potential field

By framing innovation as stabilised thinning, we capture how systems remain generative, even after long periods of sedimentation and stability. Novelty is built into the relational ontology, not imposed externally.

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5. Preparing the Synthesis

In the next and final post of Series 2, we will synthesise:

• Vertical cline (potential → actualisation)

• Lateral cline (agent variation / density)

• Temporal dynamics (development, sedimentation, innovation)

The goal: a complete topology of evolving potential, showing how structured possibility unfolds, accumulates, and generates novelty in any domain.