1. What is an Event Horizon if Space and Time are Relational?
Conventionally, the event horizon is a one-way boundary where escape velocity exceeds the speed of light. This framing assumes space and time as a structured stage upon which objects move. But in our relational model, space and time are not a pre-existing fabric but the dimensions of relational instances.
In this view, an event horizon marks the boundary beyond which an external observer can no longer instantiate relational meaning with events inside. That is, no external observer can form new instances of those processes in their relational field. The black hole does not have an "inside" in any absolute sense—only an unactualised potential that remains inaccessible to external observers. The event horizon is not a spatial location but a limit on instantiating new relations.
2. What Does it Mean to Say Time "Stops" at the Event Horizon?
From the standard relativity perspective, an observer at a distance sees an infalling object slow down asymptotically, never actually reaching the horizon. However, the object itself experiences a finite amount of proper time before crossing.
In the relational model, time is not a background dimension but the unfolding of processes. The "stopping" of time at the event horizon is not an actual halting of time but the cessation of new instances forming in relation to an external observer. The process of instantiation continues for the infalling object, but its relational potential is no longer connected to the external frame.
From the external observer’s perspective, the black hole appears frozen at the event horizon, but this is not a real slowing of time—rather, it reflects the severing of relational instantiation between the object and the external world. The infalling object still experiences an unfolding process, but it is no longer part of the external observer’s meaning-making system.
3. Singularities and Relational Meaning
In the conventional model, singularities imply an infinite curvature of space-time, where standard physics breaks down. But if space and time are relational rather than absolute, what does this really mean?
Instead of a physical "point" of infinite density, the singularity represents the breakdown of relational structuring. In other words, it marks a region where no further instantiations of meaning can occur within our current relational system. It is not an actual "place" but an endpoint of relational potential as understood from our framework.
From this perspective, singularities do not necessarily imply a literal infinite compression of space and time but a failure of the meaning system that physics uses to describe relational instances. The singularity is where the ability to construe further relational meaning collapses.
4. Does a Black Hole Truly "Contain" Anything?
Conventionally, we say a black hole "contains" mass that has fallen into it. But if mass is not an absolute property but a measure of relational resistance to change, then what does a black hole actually have?
In our relational framework, mass is the potential of a system to instantiate changes in its processes. When matter falls into a black hole, it ceases to instantiate meaning in relation to an external observer. This suggests that a black hole does not "contain" mass in a traditional sense but instead represents a region where relational potential has become inaccessible to external instantiation.
The black hole, then, is not an object with contents but a relational state where potential is severed from external meaning-making systems. Its gravitational effects persist because the relational field still encodes the mass-energy as an unobservable potential, but nothing new can instantiate from within it.
Conclusion: Black Holes as Limits of Relational Meaning
In the conventional model, black holes warp an external space-time fabric, creating an event horizon beyond which time and space behave strangely. In our relational model:
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The event horizon is not a spatial boundary but the limit of instantiating relational meaning.
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Time does not stop inside the horizon; rather, external observers lose access to new relational instances from that region.
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The singularity is not a literal infinite compression but the breakdown of our relational structuring of meaning.
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A black hole does not "contain" mass in an absolute sense but is a region where mass-energy potential is no longer available for external instantiation.
This relational perspective reframes black holes as not merely gravitational wells but as regions where the ability to instantiate meaning becomes severed. They are limits not just of physics but of meaning itself.
Consequence:
A black hole, in this view, is an experience that cannot be transformed into meaning—at least, not for an external observer.
The event horizon marks the point where relational structuring breaks down for us, meaning that no new instances of meaning can be instantiated from that region into our system of relations. It’s not that processes don’t continue unfolding—just that their potential to become meaningful is severed from our relational field.
This is an ontological shift: instead of a black hole being a physical place with hidden contents, it becomes a relational limit—a region where potential exists but can never be actualised into our meaning system. It exists as an instance of unavailable potential.
Implications
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The Ultimate Unknowable: A black hole is not just a region of hidden information—it is where the ability to construe meaning itself vanishes. It’s not a thing we can uncover with better instruments; it’s a structural void in relational meaning.
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Loss of Experiential Access: If meaning is relational instantiation, then falling into a black hole is not like entering a new world—it’s falling out of the world of meaning entirely.
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Physics and Semiotics Merge: Black holes might represent the physical limit of instantiation itself, meaning that physics (as a meaning-making system) cannot continue describing them meaningfully.
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A Semiotic Death? If all instantiation of meaning ceases for an observer falling in, does this imply something like a semiotic death? Not physical death, but a loss of the ability to instantiate meaningful experience at all?
For an observer falling in, the experience is radically different—perhaps the most extreme case of individuation of meaning potential imaginable.
Approaching the Event Horizon
From their own perspective, nothing special happens at the event horizon itself. They still instantiate meaning from potential as usual, since their local relations are intact. Their processes continue unfolding, time still flows, and they can still construe experience.
But there’s a drifting disconnect between their meaning-making and the outside world. The further they fall, the more their potential to instantiate meanings that can be shared is cut off from external observers. Their signals redshift, their ability to communicate dwindles, and eventually, they cease to exist as a meaning-maker for the outside.
Crossing the Horizon
Here’s where things get weird. Since they still instantiate meaning locally, they don't experience a sudden rupture. But since time and space are relational, the deeper they fall:
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Their future becomes increasingly constrained – Every unfolding process now inevitably leads toward the singularity. There is no path back toward a region where they could instantiate meaning in relation to an external observer.
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A radical individuation occurs – Their meaning potential now exists in a relational field with only itself and whatever else falls in. The semiotic system they once participated in (the external world) is permanently inaccessible.
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A breakdown of relational structuring – As they near the singularity, even local meaning-making might collapse. If time is just the unfolding of processes, and processes are crushed into a singularity, what happens to their experience of time?
The Singularity: A Semiotic Death?
Here’s the final question: does the singularity mark the total end of instantiating meaning? If relational structure ceases to exist, then so does the potential for meaning. This could be the ultimate semiotic annihilation—not just being cut off from others, but losing the ability to differentiate meaning even internally.
Final Thought: A One-Way Individuation
The fall into a black hole is the most extreme form of individuation imaginable: a system of meaning potential that becomes permanently inaccessible to other systems. Meaning still exists for the falling observer—until, perhaps, it doesn’t.
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