Relational ontology dissolves both cases, showing that the multiplication of universes is not required once potential and construal are properly understood.
The Multiverse in Cosmology
The multiverse arises from attempts to explain:
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Fine-tuning of constants: Why do fundamental constants allow complex structures and life?
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Inflationary patchwork: Certain inflation models suggest “pocket universes” form independently.
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String theory landscape: Thousands of vacua exist, each corresponding to a different universe.
The multiverse is posited to account for coherence that our own universe seems “too lucky” to possess. In other words, it is a patch to the problem of apparent fine-tuning.
Many-Worlds in Quantum Theory
Quantum mechanics, confronted with superposition and measurement, proposes many-worlds:
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Each quantum event spawns a branching of reality, so all possible outcomes occur.
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This eliminates the need for wavefunction collapse — every possibility becomes actual in some branch.
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Yet these branches are unobservable, posited solely to preserve the illusion of a deterministic evolution of universal wavefunctions.
A Parallel Table
| Problem | Mainstream Framing | Patch / Solution | Relational Dissolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fine-tuning of constants | Constants appear “just right” for complex structures. | Multiverse: innumerable universes with different constants, we exist in a lucky one. | Fine-tuning is a misread: constants are part of the construal of potential; no alternate universes are needed. |
| Inflationary patchwork | Inflation may create independent “pocket universes.” | Multiverse: multiple universes form naturally. | “Universes” are perspectival instances actualised in a single potential; multiplicity is not required. |
| String landscape | Thousands of vacua imply many universes. | Multiverse: all vacua exist. | Landscape is systemic potential; actualisation is cut, not proliferation. |
| Quantum superposition | A particle is in multiple states until observed. | Many-worlds: every outcome occurs in some branch. | Measurement is the perspectival cut; actuality is constituted in construal, not by branching realities. |
The Ontological Fallacy
As in previous cases, the fallacy is consistent:
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Potential mistaken for history: the multiverse and many-worlds treat potential outcomes as literally real in separate spatiotemporal locations.
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Coherence mistaken for multiplicity: reality is “duplicated” to enforce alignment that is already guaranteed by the cut.
Relational Dissolution
Relational ontology reframes both puzzles:
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The universe (or “multiverse”) is a single system of potential; instances are perspectival cuts actualising this potential.
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Quantum outcomes are not separate worlds but different aspects of the same construal.
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Multiplying universes or branches is unnecessary; coherence is intrinsic to alignment, not to replication.
Beyond Proliferation
Where physics has responded with episodes, hidden entities, and proliferated realities, relational ontology responds with a shift in perspective:
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System as structured potential: multiplicity is latent, not literal.
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Instance as perspectival cut: actuality is given in the cut itself.
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Construal as constitutive: coherence does not require repetition, propagation, or duplication.
The multiverse and many-worlds are therefore not discoveries about hidden or branching realities, but symptoms of the same misalignment that inflation, dark matter, and wavefunction collapse reveal. Once reality is reconstrued relationally, the proliferation of universes dissolves: there is only the actualisation of potential, fully aligned in construal.
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