In the first post of this series, we introduced the concept of a world as a relational domain: a coherent field in which phenomena occur, relations unfold, and meaning can be construed. We also observed that worlds can contain sub-worlds — nested domains of actuality that themselves support phenomena.
The next step is to examine how worlds emerge from conditions of potentiality, and how dependence interacts with actuality. This is crucial: it allows us to understand how worlds can exist, evolve, and generate other worlds without ever becoming “less real.”
1. Dependence does not negate reality
The idea that a phenomenon depends on conditions beyond itself is familiar from everyday experience:
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Stars exist because nuclear processes occur in stellar cores.
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Cells exist because chemistry provides molecular interactions.
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Minds exist because neural networks support perception and construal.
In each case, dependence is a precondition for actuality, not a mark of unreality.
Similarly, a world depends on the conditions that allow its phenomena to emerge:
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Physical structure provides the basic substrate.
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Life introduces new levels of relational organisation.
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Symbolic systems expand the domain of phenomena into abstract and cognitive spaces.
Dependence across strata is the grammar of actuality: worlds are not autonomous in a vacuum, but they are nonetheless fully real within their own relational domains.
2. Stratified potentiality
We can distinguish several strata from which worlds arise, each supporting different kinds of phenomena:
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Physical stratum
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Matter, energy, space-time, and physical laws.
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Produces phenomena such as planets, stars, and chemical interactions.
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Worlds at this stratum are the most basic: coherent physical domains.
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Biological stratum
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Organisms, ecosystems, and adaptive processes.
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Introduces self-organising structures and evolving patterns.
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Worlds at this stratum are domains in which life emerges and interacts.
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Cognitive stratum
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Minds capable of perception, reflection, and interpretation.
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Produces phenomena such as intentions, knowledge, and experience.
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Worlds at this stratum are fields where meaning is construed.
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Symbolic stratum
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Language, mathematics, law, art, digital environments.
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Generates abstract structures that allow sub-worlds to emerge within human or technological contexts.
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Worlds at this stratum extend reality into intentionally constructed domains.
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Each stratum is built upon the conditions of the lower strata, yet each has its own relational integrity. Higher strata depend on lower ones, but dependence never diminishes the actuality of the phenomena in any stratum.
3. Actualisation as relational emergence
A world is actualised when potential relations become phenomena within a coherent domain. Actualisation is therefore a process of relational emergence, not a one-off event:
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Physical potentials emerge as stars, planets, and galaxies.
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Biological potentials emerge as life and ecosystems.
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Cognitive potentials emerge as perception, reasoning, and memory.
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Symbolic potentials emerge as abstract domains, simulations, and digital environments.
At each stage, new relational structures appear. Actualisation is always contextual: it is the bringing-into-relation of potential within a domain that supports coherent phenomena.
4. Nested and extended worlds
Dependence also explains the nested character of worlds. When one world emerges from another, it inherits the conditions of the lower strata while introducing novel relational structures:
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A neural network depends on biochemistry but produces new cognitive phenomena.
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A city depends on geography and social organisation but generates symbolic sub-worlds of law, economy, and culture.
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A virtual environment depends on hardware and software but supports emergent experiences for its inhabitants.
Nested worlds show how actuality can expand without violating the integrity of the original domain. Each world, while dependent, is fully actualised in its own right.
5. Worlds as evolutionary nodes
Dependence and actualisation together reveal a key insight: worlds evolve. Each new domain opens possibilities that were not present in previous strata:
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Life allowed the emergence of mind.
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Mind allowed the emergence of symbolic culture.
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Symbolic culture allows the creation of artificial and digital worlds.
Worlds are therefore nodes in the evolution of possibility, each generating conditions for subsequent worlds to appear.
This perspective reframes creation: whether biological, cognitive, symbolic, or technological, to create a world is to actualise relational potential in a coherent domain, producing phenomena that can participate in ongoing processes of meaning and emergence.
6. A bridge to symbolic and artificial worlds
Understanding dependence and actualisation sets the stage for our next focus: symbolic and artificial domains. Digital simulations, artistic environments, and technological creations can now be seen as legitimate worlds: dependent on conditions, nested within larger domains, but fully actualised in relational terms.
From this perspective, the simulation hypothesis is no longer an exotic philosophical curiosity. It is a special case of the general process by which worlds generate other worlds.
In the next post, we will explore nested worlds and symbolic domains in depth, examining how human culture, mathematics, language, and digital environments constitute new relational domains within which phenomena, relations, and meaning unfold.
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