Rethinking Space-Time: From Continuum to Configurational Field

Space and time are the stage on which physical events appear to unfold.

In classical and relativistic physics, this stage is treated as real, objective, and continuous — a four-dimensional manifold within which all things exist and move.

But in the quantum regime, this assumption begins to fracture.

And from a relational perspective, it no longer holds.

Space and time are not containers.

They are emergent patterns of relation — configurations of potential coherence.

Let’s trace how this shift transforms our understanding of reality.

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1. From Background to Emergence

In Newtonian mechanics, space and time are absolute:

• Space is a three-dimensional stage;

• Time ticks forward uniformly for all systems.

In relativity, they are unified into a four-dimensional continuum — curved by mass and energy, but still objectively “there”.

But quantum phenomena resist this framework:

• There is no consistent notion of position at small scales,

• No universal simultaneity,

• No clear distinction between past and future.

This breakdown reveals a deeper insight:

Space-time is not fundamental.

It is a pattern that emerges from relational constraints within physical systems.

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2. No Pre-existing Grid

If there is no space-time in which things are placed, then locality must be redefined.

Locality is not about distance in space.

It is about the degree of relational constraint between components of a system.

Two elements are “near” when they are tightly coupled in a shared structure of potential.

“Far” means weakly constrained or mutually irrelevant.

This reframing makes sense of quantum “nonlocality” without paradox:

The entangled system is topologically near even when metrically distant.

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3. Time as Transformation, Not Duration

Time is often treated as a linear dimension — a one-way axis along which systems evolve.

But this presupposes that:

• Systems exist independently of time,

• Change happens in time,

• And time is external to the process it measures.

Relationally:

Time is not a dimension but a perspectival abstraction of change.

It marks the transformation of configurations — how one arrangement of potential gives way to another.

There is no universal “now”, no flowing background.

There are only transitions within systems, indexed by relative construals.

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4. General Relativity as a Constraint Theory

Relativity already hints at relationality:

• Gravity is not a force but a distortion of space-time caused by energy and momentum;

• Motion is described by geodesics — paths shaped by the structure of the manifold.

But the manifold itself is still treated as real.

From a relational perspective:

The metric field of general relativity is a map of systemic constraint —

not a thing in which events occur, but a structure that emerges from events.

The geometry is secondary to the relations.

Spacetime is not the backdrop of relation, but its expression.

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5. The Disappearance of the Stage

All of this leads to a radical but coherent claim:

There is no stage.

There is only the play — and its pattern constitutes the space-time that appears.

What we call “geometry” is not a precondition of physics.

It is a condensation of interdependence — the form taken by systemic potential under coherent constraint.

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Relational Definition

We might say:

Space-time is the emergent topology of relational systems —

a patterned field of constraints, coherence, and transformation,

not a container but a form of actualised potential.

It is not what the world is in.

It is what the world becomes, when its potentials are resolved through relation.

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Closing

We began with the quantum rejection of classical notions of locality and simultaneity.

We now see that the real revolution is deeper:

Not just that space-time is curved, or discrete, or fuzzy —

but that it is not fundamental at all.

From a relational view, we do not live in space-time.

We live through configurations of meaning, coherence, and transformation —

Space-time is the footprint of that living.

In the next post, we will take up one of the deepest puzzles this perspective helps clarify: the quantum-classical boundary, and how we move from potential to objecthood without collapse or dualism.