Standard interpretations often struggle to reconcile non-local correlations with relativistic causality, leading to complex proposals such as hidden variables, multiple worlds, or retrocausality.
From a relational ontological perspective, however, non-locality is not a mysterious influence skipping across space. Instead, it is a natural consequence of the primacy of relational structure over spatial separation.
1. Classical Locality and Its Assumptions
Classical physics assumes:
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Objects exist independently at points in space,
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Influences propagate at finite speeds through space,
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Local causes produce local effects.
This creates an expectation: correlations between distant events require signals or forces travelling between them.
2. Quantum Non-Local Correlations
Quantum experiments, especially those testing Bell inequalities, reveal correlations between entangled particles that cannot be explained by any local hidden variable theory.
These correlations:
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Are instantaneous,
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Defy any classical causal story confined to spacetime,
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Suggest a deep challenge to locality or realism.
3. Relational Ontology: Beyond Space as Container
In a relational ontology:
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Space is not a container holding objects,
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It is a network of relations — a topology of constraint and coherence,
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Spatial separation is a property of the relational field, not a barrier.
Entangled particles are not separate objects with independent states; they are aspects of a unified relational configuration.
4. Non-Locality as Systemic Coherence
Non-local correlations emerge because:
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The relational field embodies coherence patterns that span what classical thinking calls distance,
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These patterns are global properties of the system, not mediated by local signals,
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The “instantaneous” correlations are simply reflections of a single, holistic actualisation of relational potential.
There is no need for faster-than-light communication — the “connectedness” is ontological, not causal.
5. Reconciling with Relativity
Because spacetime itself is emergent from the relational field, the tension with relativity’s light-speed limit is resolved:
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The speed limit applies to signals within the emergent spacetime,
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The underlying relational field is not bound by those constraints,
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Non-locality is a feature of the pre-spatiotemporal realm from which spacetime arises.
Closing
Non-locality dissolves from a paradox into a natural feature once we shift perspective from isolated objects in space to relational configurations of potential.
Entanglement is not spooky action; it is the unity of the system expressing itself beyond classical boundaries.
In the next post, we will explore how this relational understanding of quantum phenomena invites a rethinking of time itself — from fixed dimension to emergent process.
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