Rethinking Reality: Time, Fields, Quantum Measurement, and Cosmic Expansion
Modern physics presents a world that is often counterintuitive, where time is reversible in fundamental equations, fields pervade all space, particles behave as waves until measured, and the universe expands at an accelerating rate due to an unknown force. But what if some of these mysteries stem from the way we conceptualise space, time, and meaning itself? Using a systemic functional linguistics (SFL)-informed ontology, we can reconsider these four major issues in physics: the arrow of time, the nature of fields, wave-particle duality and measurement, and cosmic expansion.
The Arrow of Time: A Product of Instantiation?
In classical and quantum mechanics, time is often treated as a symmetric dimension, but our lived experience contradicts this—eggs break, but broken eggs do not spontaneously reassemble. The SFL-informed model frames time not as a pre-existing dimension in which things happen but as the dimension along which processes unfold. This means time does not exist as an independent entity but is the structuring of instances of potential into actual events.
Entropy increase is often cited as the reason for the arrow of time, but what if the directionality of time is more fundamentally about instantiation? In this view, potential meaning (the raw affordances of the system) is structured into meaning potential (an organised system of possibilities), and actual meaning instances emerge as real expressions. Applied to time, this suggests that what we perceive as the arrow of time is simply the process of potential becoming actual. The irreversibility we experience arises not from the fundamental laws of physics but from the way potential is instantiated.
The Nature of Fields: Relations, Not Substances
Physics describes the world in terms of fields—electromagnetic, gravitational, quantum fields—that are said to permeate all of space. But if space itself is not an independent entity, what does it mean for a field to exist "in" space?
From an SFL-informed perspective, fields are not substances spread out over a background of space but relations between instances. A quantum field, for example, is not a thing that exists everywhere but a structured system of potential interactions, only some of which are instantiated in a given situation. The appearance of a continuous field emerges from the network of potential interactions rather than from a pre-existing medium.
This relational view eliminates the problematic idea of fields "filling space" and instead sees them as structured patterns of potential interaction. Just as meaning does not exist in a vacuum but arises from a network of semiotic relations, physical reality does not emerge from pre-existing fields but from the instantiation of potential relations.
Wave-Particle Duality and Measurement: Instance vs. Potential
Quantum mechanics is infamous for wave-particle duality and the mysterious role of measurement. In the double-slit experiment, a particle appears to behave like a wave until measured, at which point it "chooses" a definite location. Traditional interpretations struggle with the idea that measurement changes reality.
In the SFL-informed model, this paradox disappears. The wavefunction represents potential locations for the particle, not a pre-existing wave smeared out in space. The act of measurement does not force a mysterious collapse but simply selects one actual instance from the set of potential instances.
This aligns with how meaning works: a word can have many potential interpretations (meaning potential), but when used in a specific context, only one meaning is instantiated. The so-called wave-particle paradox is just an instance of potential becoming actual—nothing more mysterious than choosing a word’s meaning from the options available.
Dark Energy & Expansion: An Increase in Potential for Relations
Cosmology tells us the universe is expanding, and the rate of expansion is accelerating, attributed to a mysterious force called dark energy. But if space is not an independent entity, what does it mean for the universe to expand?
In an SFL-informed ontology, space is not a thing that stretches but a set of relations between instances. Expansion, then, is not about a substance stretching but an increase in the potential for spatial relations. The universe is not being "pushed apart" by dark energy; rather, the set of possible spatial relations is increasing over time.
This also reframes the supposed necessity of dark energy. In the standard model, dark energy is invoked to explain why expansion is accelerating. But if expansion is better understood as the ongoing structuring of potential into instance, then acceleration may be a natural feature of how spatial relations unfold rather than evidence of a missing force.
Conclusion: A Different Way of Thinking About Physics
By reframing these issues through an SFL-informed ontology, we shift away from the idea that space and time are independent entities and instead view them as emergent relations. The arrow of time is not a fundamental property of the universe but a feature of instantiation. Fields are not substances but structured relations. Wave-particle duality is merely the distinction between potential and actual. And cosmic expansion is not the stretching of space but the increasing potential for relations.
This perspective does not contradict experimental physics but offers a different conceptual lens—one that may resolve some of its deepest paradoxes by shifting our understanding of what space, time, and measurement really mean.
Perhaps the greatest challenge in physics is not just uncovering new equations but learning to ask different questions.
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