In our previous series on the simulation hypothesis, we explored a surprising inversion: even a universe generated by a civilisation’s computation would not be an illusion, but another actualised world. What initially seemed like a threat to reality revealed itself as a doorway into the ongoing evolution of worlds.
This insight raises a more fundamental question: what does it mean for a domain to be a world? What are the conditions that allow a domain of phenomena to emerge, persist, and support the unfolding of meaning?
In this post, we begin to map the anatomy of a world — the relational structures, dependencies, and modes of actualisation that make it possible for a field of phenomena to exist.
1. Worlds as relational domains
A world, in relational terms, is not merely a collection of objects or events. It is a structured domain of phenomena in which relations can unfold and be construed.
Three features are essential:
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Relational coherenceA world exhibits consistency in the relations between its phenomena. Physical laws, causal patterns, or symbolic rules ensure that entities interact in ways that are intelligible from within the domain.
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Phenomenal accessibilityPhenomena must be observable or perceivable in some sense by entities capable of construal. Without the capacity for phenomena to appear within a relational field, no world is formed.
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Potential for meaningWorlds are not merely “happenings.” They are arenas where entities can participate in processes of construal, interpretation, and interaction. The emergence of meaning is the signature of an actualised domain.
2. Actualisation vs. potentiality
Worlds do not appear ex nihilo. They arise from conditions of potentiality, which themselves may vary across different strata:
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Physical potentiality – the laws, energy, and matter that allow processes to unfold.
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Biological potentiality – the structures enabling life and adaptive processes.
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Cognitive or symbolic potentiality – the capacity for agents to perceive, construe, and generate meaning.
Actualisation occurs when potential relations become phenomena within a coherent domain. In other words, a world exists when potential is brought into relational view.
Dependence on conditions does not diminish reality. Stars depend on nuclear reactions, cells depend on chemistry, minds depend on neural processes. Similarly, worlds depend on conditions, but this dependence is not a flaw — it is the grammar of actuality itself.
3. Nested worlds and sub-worlds
Worlds are rarely isolated. Domains can contain sub-worlds, creating layers of relational actuality:
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A forest is a world in which plants, animals, and climate interact.
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Within it, a termite colony or a beehive forms a sub-world with its own coherence.
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Within human society, symbolic systems — language, law, art — generate symbolic sub-worlds.
Each sub-world has its own relational structures and potentials. Yet it remains anchored in the broader domain from which it emerges.
This nested structure is crucial for understanding the evolution of possibility: worlds are not monolithic; they proliferate, giving rise to other domains in which phenomena can unfold.
4. Worlds as creative acts
Recognising worlds as relational domains reframes creation itself. To bring a world into being is to instantiate a coherent field of actualised phenomena, not merely to manipulate matter or symbols.
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A civilisation that simulates a universe is creating a domain of possibility actualised as a world.
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Artists, engineers, and scientists continually generate smaller-scale worlds through symbolic, material, and technological means.
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Each world, large or small, participates in the ongoing evolution of relational domains.
Creation is not about copying or representing reality. It is about initiating relational structures that allow new phenomena and meanings to emerge.
5. The horizon of world-generation
This perspective opens an expansive horizon:
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Worlds do not merely exist; they emerge, persist, and propagate new domains.
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The universe itself can be seen as an evolving field of world-generation, in which each level of complexity creates the conditions for further worlds to arise.
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Simulation, symbolic systems, and technological environments are early examples of how intelligences participate in this evolutionary process.
The question is no longer whether a universe is “real” or “simulated.” The question is: how do worlds, across all scales, give rise to other worlds?
Looking ahead
In the next post, we will explore dependence and actuality more formally, developing a taxonomy of conditions across strata: physical, biological, cognitive, and symbolic. This will clarify how worlds emerge from potential, how they persist, and how they can support nested domains of meaning.
The evolution of worlds is not a metaphor. It is the ongoing relational process through which actuality itself unfolds.
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