Constraint, Construal, and Actualisation: A Relational Ontology — Chapter 5: The Transmission Model of Reality

5.1 The Classical Intuition

From childhood through scientific training, we experience reality as a network of independent entities:

• Objects possess intrinsic properties.

• Interactions occur via external contact or force transfer.

• Time provides a neutral stage on which change unfolds.

This model — the “transmission model” — assumes that reality is structured from the outside in: entities contain properties, which are then communicated or transferred to other entities.

It is intuitively compelling because it aligns with everyday action and observation:

• Push a ball → it moves.

• Heat a pan → it becomes hot.

• Drop a stone → it falls.

In each case, we imagine discrete entities transmitting effects across space and time.

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5.2 The Role of Independence

Independence is the hidden linchpin of this model:

1. Entities must exist independently to serve as reliable carriers of properties.

2. Properties must reside within entities, rather than emerging from relations or interactions.

3. Interactions are conceived as transfers between fully specified entities.

Without independence:

• Entities cannot “hold” properties intrinsically.

• Transfers have no source or destination that is coherent.

• The causal picture loses definitional coherence.

Independence is therefore not optional; it underwrites the very grammar of classical causation.

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5.3 Transmission as a Conceptual Operation

The transmission model can be formalised:

• Let A and B be entities.

• Let $P(A)$ be a property of $A$.

• Causation is modelled as:

Two critical assumptions are embedded:

1. $P(A)$ is intrinsic to $A$ — requires independence.

2. The function $f$ is well-defined because entities are distinct and separable — also requires independence.

Transmission is therefore a direct consequence of independence, not merely a feature of observation or theory.

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5.4 The External Relations Requirement

Transmission assumes external relations:

• Relations must exist between entities without altering the internal constitution of each.

• Interactions are conceived as “contacts” between independent containers.

• Space and time act as neutral mediators, allowing transfer without entanglement.

But with independence incoherent (Chapter 4):

• Entities have no self-contained properties.

• Relations cannot be “external,” because nothing exists independently to be related.

• The notion of interaction becomes empty — there is no substrate for transmission.

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5.5 Time as a Container

Classical causation presupposes a temporal container:

• Events occur in a pre-existing, linear sequence.

• The order of cause and effect is determined externally, not by internal structure.

Time is therefore another crutch of independence:

• It allows causation to “flow” from one independent entity to another.

• Collapse independence → collapse the container → collapse the linear chain of events.

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5.6 Implication for Everyday Experience

The transmission model feels real because:

• We interact with systems that behave as if independent entities exist.

• Regularity and predictability mimic independence.

• Measurement and description reinforce the illusion.

Yet structurally:

• Independence cannot exist.

• Therefore, the transmission model rests on an impossible foundation.

The familiar world — objects moving, forces acting, properties transmitting — is now revealed as a conceptual overlay, dependent on a non-existent substrate.

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5.7 Tight Summary

1. Classical reality assumes independent entities transmitting effects.

2. Independence underwrites objects, properties, relations, and time.

3. Without independence, transmission has no coherent mechanism.

4. The familiar causal picture is revealed as dependent on a concept that is structurally incoherent.