Guardat en:
| Autor principal: | |
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| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Idioma: | anglès |
| Publicat: |
Zenodo
2026
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| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20172531 |
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- <p><strong>Title:</strong> The Causal Hourglass: A Unified Geometry of Node Formation in Relational Systems</p> <p><strong>Description:</strong></p> <p>This preprint presents the Causal Hourglass, a unified mathematical framework for understanding how events—nodes—crystallize from relational webs of constraints across physical, social, and agent-level systems.</p> <p>The framework bridges information theory and dynamical systems to model node formation through three phases: (1) Convergence of Possibility Space, where contextual entropy declines as constraints accumulate; (2) Effective Deterministic Closure (EDC), where accumulated constraints force the system into a realized node; and (3) Constrained Reopening, where new possibilities emerge anchored to what has crystallized.</p> <p>Key contributions include:</p> <ul> <li> <p>A formal definition of Effective Deterministic Closure (EDC) as a local, temporary phase transition between probabilistic and effectively deterministic regimes</p> </li> <li> <p>Relevance kernels that quantify the weight of historical events, allowing structurally foundational influences to persist indefinitely</p> </li> <li> <p>Nested EDCs across physical, social, and agent layers, with gating determined by the earliest closure</p> </li> <li> <p>Hidden and latent EDCs, formalizing why closure often appears sudden and why embedded observers systematically miss narrowing</p> </li> <li> <p>Observability horizons that define the fundamental limits of detection for observers within the systems they study</p> </li> <li> <p>A bounded logistic dynamical envelope capturing the competition between constraint accumulation and systemic amplification</p> </li> <li> <p>Post-EDC constrained reopening modeled as a stochastic process anchored to the realized node</p> </li> </ul> <p>The framework is substrate-independent, applying to systems ranging from cosmology and developmental biology to social dynamics and individual cognition. It draws on and formalizes insights from multiple intellectual traditions, including dependent origination, the Tao Te Ching, ubuntu, process philosophy, symmetry breaking in physics, and contemporary causal theory.</p> <p>This is the first complete manuscript presenting the Causal Hourglass as a unified framework, prepared for journal submission. Earlier versions (v1–v6) focused on model development; this version integrates the full formalism, related work, implications, limitations, and supporting appendices.</p> <p><strong>Keywords:</strong> causal hourglass, effective deterministic closure, relational ontology, nested EDCs, dynamical systems, information theory, multi-level causality, complex systems, emergence, constraint accumulation, observability horizons</p>