Being From Nothingness

Section 4: The Emergence of Causality

4.1 The Problem of Time

We have developed a geometric framework—constraint space with its potential Φ, gradient ∇Φ, metric, and curvature—without assuming time. Yet we experience time: sequences, before and after, cause and effect. Where does this temporal structure come from?

The standard move in physics is to assume time as a background dimension. Events are located in spacetime; dynamics is motion through time; causality follows temporal ordering. But this leaves time unexplained—a primitive structure smuggled in at the foundations.

Our framework suggests a different approach: temporal structure emerges from the geometry of distinguishability when configurations have sufficient complexity. Time is not a container in which things happen; it is a feature of certain relational structures—specifically, those with N ≥ 3 distinguishable features.

This section develops this claim. We show that:

1. At N = 2, no ordering structure is possible—the configuration is inherently symmetric

2. At N ≥ 3, ordering structure becomes possible—asymmetry can exist

3. What we call "time" is the ordering parameter for configurations with non-trivial asymmetry

4. What we call "causality" is asymmetric constraint structure between features

The emergence is not temporal (that would be circular) but geometric: certain configurations have structure that others lack.

Section 4 of Philosophy Paper

Supporting Information further logical and mathematical argument for Section 4 of Philosophy Paper

Supporting Information further logical and mathematical argument for Section 4 of Philosophy Paper