You understand me James! Thank heavens somebody finally does. If you were standing before me I would surely pin a medal to you :) This is my third attempt at expressing these ideas, and although each attempt achieved levels of interest, you are the first to step forward and declare comprehension, and appreciate it as potentially being more that artistful fantasy. But the prior descriptions I fashioned were pretty rough, so the fault was definitely mine.

Your complement is a great one, perhaps the most meaningful one I will receive. And I reflect it back to you, for I could not experience this conversation but for somebody comprehending. It is good to have met you.

I really appreciated your personal accounts. Learning of your mother Lillian Rose and father Milton Rose, and the lessons they passed to you, and their associations with Dr Einstein in academia and social. Quite remarkable. Is it possible an influence, a mindset fashioned by Dr Einstein and passed to your parents, was instructed too and survives in you? A mode of mind that is broad, that you might recognize potentials within unfamiliar ideas? That would be a remarkable circumstance if it were so.

If being a general systems thinker identifies me as your kin, then I'm honored to be such. I do think it maybe the appropriate fit.

Yes, what business do we have meddling in affairs outside of our training. Funny how things work out. Yes it might be that we are well suited as collaborators. If what I have uncovered happens to be correct, which of course I'm inclined to think so, but allow me to fain circumspect, then now that you know of it you might actually be better at it than me. I can hope, so that I might delegate all the hard work :)

Yes eurika moments are something arnt they. I think I danced to a few. I look forward to sharing some new ones with you.

I appreciate the informal less serious banter. Its not all about science, or science fiction as it might turn out.

I'm taking a couple of days away to surf and camp. But I will tune in on whatever is posted, and I will return to more of what you last shared with me soon. In the mean time I hope you reach out to people, to gather more exposure for your essay. It will be good to see it receive the rating it deserves.

Steve

Dear Steven,

You indicated being a student of nature, but aren't we ALL? High graded professors can inform us about the state of research, but it will ALWAYS stay research...the mystery is eternal...

You are naming a paragraph: "Probabilities within Infinities", I was using this expression for the "place" from where our reality(s) emerge...so we have lots of thoughts in common.

The problem I see with "clocks" is that they always need a reference, and the real problem is that "the reference of reference" is not found, it always becomes a tower of turtles.

"time causes clocks to function because clocks measure time." This is really a difficult reasoning Steven. A clock is a material tool driven by technique (force and movement), time is an unknown emergent phenomenon. In my perception, it cannot be the reason (cause) that the clock measures it. It gives us an indication where the NOW was a moment ago, an idea about the length passed inside our temporal position. You say "the clock spring from space has expressed a larger value of force than its counterpart." indeed but doesn't this confirm that "time" is an until now incomprehensible emergent phenomenon. It is the apparatus that is indicating to the agents differences in its working, in my humble opinion time cannot be the cause of that.

"Time is the mistaken identity of force." You may be right, but I cannot agree with that. Between two separate moments of time reality can be compared and it will be different. But TIME is NOT the origin of this difference. It is comparing two different photo's. Each photo is representing a point of reality. In-between the photos there is no energy that is the "cause" of the difference of the photos...

"We assume a beginning point, a primordial matter whose character resembles nothing of today" You are approaching here the basic idea of my "model" of reality.

The primordial "matter" however is the infinity of probabilities.

"Our stable Solar system"? Our solar system is only for a specific time stable. That this time is very long compared to our lifetimes gives only a "short" certainty I think.

"The goal to build a molecular structure by whatever means." Isn't this the "counterforce" of entropy you are looking for? In my own perception that is what consciousness is thriving at. If there was no consciousness all matter would be in the "best possible" energy distribution, no more fluctuations, no changes.

I thank you, Steven, for your thoughts, ALL our thoughts together are an indication of which way the agency of humanity will go on in order to come nearer to the truth, but it will always stay asymptotical.

I have rated your essay up (even if there are things we differ on) in the contest because of the originality and the effort to find a fresh insight. I also hope that you can spare some time to read, comment (I really wonder what you think of my approach) and rate my contribution: "Foundational Quantum Reality Loops".

Best regards an keep on thinking FREE.

Wilhelmus de Wilde

    Dear Steven,

    Thank you for reading and commenting on my essay.

    With respect to you essay, I am not sure how well I understand your reasoning. But I take it that a central theme is given by the statements, "However, it has to be realized that having observed and discerned mathematical patterns, isn't the same thing as having anticipated and or understood how and why these patterns of nature exist? Rather, the how's and why's of the world require a deeper understanding of system." The next point is that the how and why can be investigated by investigating the connections between force and time. For such an investigation, the procedure is an analysis of clocks. Certainly it is a merit of your proposals that they lead to a system in which Darwinian emergence characterizes large-scale cosmic processes. This emergence approach is in line with considerable recent discussion which tries to apply Darwinian ideas in these larger ways, outside of the specific biological areas for which they were first developed. I do not have enough background to be able to say much about specific mechanisms. But your general idea, as you say near the conclusion of the essay, is, "World product of evolved optimisation." Not just is a world product reached, but the processes leading to it are natural, in line with the relations between force and time. This is a useful approach.

    Laurence Hitterdale

      James

      I'm back from surfing! For now ?

      I've been chuckling for last few days. Re- your joke, "we look to each other to do the heavy lifting" haha lol. I do like your sense of humour.

      I didn't know about John Cowley until a few days ago. I'm amazed to learn about him and his achievements. I had heard murmurings we had a physicist in the extended family, but for some reason I didn't chase up the details of him and his work. I couldn't have anticipated what I might have found. Revelation to know it now.

      James, I understand your method of inquiry, and how you seek to deduce knowledge about the quantum systems which serve your subject matter. You imagine you are collecting statistical information from a machine, but you don't know the type or nature of the machine. A pachinko game machine for example, which we might imagine as being behind a screen so we cant view it, which serves as place holder for a quantum system. You form questions based on whether they would be effective in teasing out useful information about the pachinko game machine. Then you turn those questions toward the quantum system. This is a fine approach you must be commended on. You are as you say, "a systems theorist".

      As you know, the current method of analysing quantum systems isn't an ideal. It collects data on the interactions between two physical objects, but not having modelled the individual physical objects. They are as the pachinko game machines held behind screens.

      If a genie were to grant you three wishes, I suspect your first wish might be spent learning the model for the individual atomic systems. Am I right? So you could build a model based on first principles, beginning with characterisation of the individual objects, that would quite naturally extend to the interactive nature of the two objects, that would deliver quantum probability experimental results. It would be nice if this could be achieved with no shoehorning elements of the model, forcing or contriving fudge factors. And having successfully modelled quantum probability from first principles, ideally it would de-code Bells Inequality, and provide resolution for the entanglement puzzle.

      How does all this sound to you so far? Does this encapsulate what your efforts would deliver in an ideal world? Or do you have slightly different series of expectations?

      Steve

      The whole of universe is made of particles, not "mater fields of force".

      "However, it has to be realized that having observed and discerned mathematical patterns, isn't the same thing as having anticipated and or understood how and why these patterns of nature exist? Rather, the how's and why's of the world require a deeper understanding of system. These types of understandings are the realm of metaphysics, and measure of good metaphysics is abundance of how's and why's it can testify too." How and why are routiney questions asked in science, and it is task of science (not of metaphysics) to provide objective answers to such questions.

      "Big bang theory offers a metaphysics creation of the world". Big Bang is a physical theory; there is nothing metaphysical on it.

      "Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity are currently our frontier fundamental understandings of the world". What happened to the known extensions of Quantum Mechanics and General relativity? One example is Quantum Thermodynamics, which contains Quantum Mechanics as a special limiting case.

      "Science, the pursuit of reasoning, causes and effects. Causes and effects arrive in series, and the job for science is to identify and place them in correct succession. Sounds simple enough, however our fundamental theories haven't yet met this standard. General Relativity as signs time as cause, but without a theory of times operation it remains incomplete. Quantum Mechanics assigns force as cause, but without a theory for operation of fundamental force, it too remains incomplete." Our current scientific theories are satisfactory in identifying causes and effects for thousands of thousands of processes that happen in real world. Moreover, neither general relativity identifies time as cause, nor Quantum mechanics does for "forces". It is more, one can build quantum mechanical models without even mention forces at all.

      "Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity do have something in common, clocks. Look at it like this, "clocks are quantum mechanical systems (Look at it like this, clocks are quantum mechanical systems (made of QM) and they serve as the instrument that measure General Relativities effects, time dilation. It can be said that clocks are a study in QM, and GR is a study of clocks. Behaviour of one instrument servicing the study of two independent fundamental theories of the world , but they haven't benefited unification? A unified theory might frame QM as the study of matter, and re-frame GR as being a study of QM matter in relative environments of space." Precisely time is one of the reasons why QM and GR are incompatible. Time is QM is a parameter that describes the implicit time evolution of states and observables. Time is a dimension in GR. Clocks in quantum mechanics cannot be quantum mechanical systems, if they were quantum then a proper definition of evolution time would be impossible; it is the same reason why time in QM is a parameter, not an observable with associated Hermitian operator. Also QM is not the study of matter but the study of (quantum) motion and GR cannot be 're-framed' as the study of QM matter, because GR is a classical theory.

      "If force drives clocks, then do clocks serve as a measure of force? Surely this logic is self-evident." Not only this is not self-evident, but it is incorrect. Clocks measure a scalar. Forces are given by vectors, so we cannot measure the latter from the former. At best we can obtain the magnitude of a force from reading a clock.

      "to a larger value of expressions of force, defined as newtons, force summed by travel/distance." This is confounding a physical property with an unit of measurement. Also the proper unit is "newton" (without plural). And what unit is "travel"?

      There is no definition of what concept of relativistic force is being used here; moreover, time dilation in GR is a consequence of gravitational potentials, but those gravitational potentials don't generate gravitational forces (gravitational-guided motion in GR is "free"). All of this and the remarks above simply state there is not such principle of nature named "force dilation".

      "The clock spring is made of EM forces". It is not. The spring is made of matter, i.e. atoms.

      "They both ascribe to the theory of charge. They are both engaged in the activity of bond forming, Gluons binding atomic nucleus, Photons binding molecular structure." This not a correct description of 'binding'. Molecular bonding is not explainable only by electromagnetism, and one can explain bonding without any needed for photons, virtual or otherwise.

      Dark matter doesn't exist. It is the modern relativistic reincarnation of the old Vulcan planet invented by astronomers to explain discrepancies between Newtonian theory and observations. MOND is correct, but only has limited empirical validity.

      "Force Dilation = Variable Mass". Introducing a concept of variable mass here has the same validity (i.e., none) than the older concept of speed-variable mass introduced in the early years of special relativity. The author doesn't give any relevant detail of his 'model', but it seems likely that the same physical effect is being counted twice here: one as time variable and another as mass variable.

      MOND can be seen as a modification of gravitational force or as a modification of inertia.

      "This redistributes galaxy mass from where it is presumed to reside, and places it as an effective predict or for galaxy rotation velocities." There is no reason to redistribute mass; using the observed distribution of mass we can predict the observed velocities.

      The five 'Darwinian' principles aren't principles at all, but only vague descriptions of phenomena is not fundamental as "trees reaching out to gather sun's rays." In fact it is not true that "structures spread out across area and volume of space". There are structures that reduce its size, because the optimal (equilibrium) state is one of smaller size; a gas into a volume higher than correspond to its temperature, will evolve spontaneously towards a smaller volume final state, when piston is released.

        Juan

        To give you fair warning. My reply reflects your combative demeaner

        Your comments and counter arguments are representative of your personal opinion, and do not carry the weight of scientific consensus or even general community opinion, which it seams by your tone, this is what you would have us believe.

        I am going to take the time to counter this series of comments, however don't form a series of new ones please. You and I are remote of opinion, and I don't see that effort to close the gap as likely to succeed anything.

        You state

        "The whole of universe is made of particles, not "mater fields of force"

        The Gluon field and EM field are matter fields. They are also force fields, or force carrier fields. There is wave particle duality, which gives an interpretation inclusive of particle behaviour, but it is in association with waves or field theory. Not exclusive of it. It is not a scientific consensus that only particles are real and that fields are not. What you are doing here, is speaking with authority towards your own opinion, which excludes existence of electromagnatism.

        You state

        "How and why are routiney questions asked in science, and it is task of science (not of metaphysics) to provide objective answers to such questions.

        Big Bang is a physical theory; there is nothing metaphysical on it."

        You seek to distance yourself and conventional science and theory from being or being associated with (metaphysics). I guess then, that you and science have no use for any of these.......

        wiki

        Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to one another.

        I said

        Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity are currently our frontier fundamental understandings of the world.

        you countered

        "What happened to the known extensions of Quantum Mechanics and General relativity?"

        I spoke towards and acknowledged limits of our theoretical understanding, and I take your comment as an objection. But in effect all you did was point to what is known, as if that somehow excuses or counters the subject of what is unknown. You might be pretending that unknowns are unimportant or don't exist.

        You say

        "Our current scientific theories are satisfactory in identifying causes and effects for thousands of thousands of processes that happen in real world. Moreover, neither general relativity identifies time as cause, nor Quantum mechanics does for "forces". It is more, one can build quantum mechanical models without even mention forces at all."

        Again you point to the processes that are believed to be understood, as if that denies importance or relevance of the conversation for what is not understood of these and other processes. Then you suggest that GR doesn't identify time as being a cause, but general relativity is the theory of spacetime. You're arguing with me that a fundamental theory whereby the principle ingredient isn't associated with cause? But you cant back this up with explanation, because that would entail telling me fundamentals of spacetimes operation, which clearly you cant. You also suggest that quantum mechanical models can be built without even mention of forces at all. I would judge such a theory about as useful as toilet without toilet paper. (What type of interaction could ever occur in the world that was something other than a forceful interaction?) How does something interact with another something, without issuing of forceful influence. A large part of the predictability of quantum mechanics is due to the principle of equal and opposite reaction. Equal and opposite reaction of forceful interactions. How might you get your bum cleaned in the absence of interactive forces! Have fun testing that theory.

        You say

        "Precisely time is one of the reasons why QM and GR are incompatible. Time is QM is a parameter that describes the implicit time evolution of states and observables. Time is a dimension in GR. Clocks in quantum mechanics cannot be quantum mechanical systems, if they were quantum then a proper definition of evolution time would be impossible; it is the same reason why time in QM is a parameter, not an observable with associated Hermitian operator. Also QM is not the study of matter but the study of (quantum) motion and GR cannot be 're-framed' as the study of QM matter, because GR is a classical theory."

        What you are basically doing here is telling me that conventional theory, or your interpretation of it, cannot be re-framed. You back this up with interpretations and arguments, one of which is "QM is not the study of matter". I think it a basic deduction that it is, and don't feel a need to argue these points.

        I said

        If force drives clocks, then do clocks serve as a measure of force? Surely this logic is self-evident.

        You countered

        "Not only this is not self-evident, but it is incorrect. Clocks measure a scalar. Forces are given by vectors, so we cannot measure the latter from the former. At best we can obtain the magnitude of a force from reading a clock."

        What you have failed to understand is, the front of the clock measures a scaler quantity, parameter of time. That is to say "physical quantity that only has magnitude and no other characteristics". But the front of the clock is but a puppet dictated to by the spring, and the spring does so dynamically and quantifiably in terms of expressions of force. You want some vector?

        Please answer this question in terms that sound scientific? The answer must include forces, because forces drive clocks!

        Forces drive clocks, clocks measure time. How do clocks measure time?

        I said

        to a larger value of expressions of force, defined as newtons, force summed by travel/distance.

        To which you countered

        "This is confounding a physical property with an unit of measurement. Also the proper unit is "newton" (without plural). And what unit is "travel"?

        Quantifying a physical property in terms of units is not confounding! And thanks for the gramma lesson. I do wonder if I could have lived without it. Travel is equivalent to distance, and it emphasises that a clock springs capacity for force corresponds to an unwinding or "travel span", a distance. Its not promising that I have to explain such things. I judge that you are just generally disagreeable and it doesn't really serve a purpose to answer such questions.

        You said

        "Dark matter doesn't exist. It is the modern relativistic reincarnation of the old Vulcan planet invented by astronomers to explain discrepancies between Newtonian theory and observations. MOND is correct, but only has limited empirical validity."

        Here we have another of your personal opinions which you cast off with the customary authority.

        you state

        "There is no definition of what concept of relativistic force is being used here; moreover, time dilation in GR is a consequence of gravitational potentials, but those gravitational potentials don't generate gravitational forces (gravitational-guided motion in GR is "free"). All of this and the remarks above simply state there is not such principle of nature named "force dilation"."

        I did point to the springs of two clocks that had spent time apart from each other within diverse gravitational environments, subjected to time dilation effects. Bringing together for comparative we do observe that their measures of time had diverged. We pealed the faces from both clocks and observe that the springs positions had also diverged, and we quantified the springs divergence in terms of expressions of force/newton(s). So in summary, "we took an observable, quantified it in terms of parameter and measure, labelled it with a term "force dilation" so that from then on after we might have some simple reference term. But of course, you disagree, because that's what you will do even in the face of observation, measure. That is your superpower.

        You argue that

        "Force Dilation = Variable Mass". Introducing a concept of variable mass here has the same validity (i.e., none) than the older concept of speed-variable mass introduced in the early years of special relativity. The author doesn't give any relevant detail of his 'model', but it seems likely that the same physical effect is being counted twice here: one as time variable and another as mass variable."

        I did attempt to draw a line between the dots for you. I pointed to observations and measures, then delivered an argument for the principle I termed "force dilation". I argued that force dilation applies to Gluon activity, and Gluons give mass. I then ask the reader to consider variable mass based on variable Gluon activity/force. Then I suggested to the reader that if we move on from circumstantial justifications, and just apply the principle to see what happens. Does it deliver anything of prospective use? As it turns out, all we have to do is suppose that Baryon mass scales dependent upon gravities square law proximity to matter, and the newly supposed distributions of mass fall in line, as if to predict galaxy rotation velocities. Geometric arguments being mathematical arguments serving as evidence. But of course none of this counts as valid, because you relate it to some old theory. Delivering a devastating blow!

        You say

        "The five 'Darwinian' principles aren't principles at all, but only vague descriptions of phenomena is not fundamental as "trees reaching out to gather sun's rays." In fact it is not true that "structures spread out across area and volume of space". There are structures that reduce its size, because the optimal (equilibrium) state is one of smaller size; a gas into a volume higher than correspond to its temperature, will evolve spontaneously towards a smaller volume final state, when piston is released."

        Again you are generally argumentative and arguing nul points. I referred to the five principles as being "basic Darwinian principles". And you argue with me on the basis of whether of not they are principles in any respect. When infact "A principle is a concept or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation." And my use of the term principle is certainly encapsulated by that.

        I judge you will rate my essay as poorly as is within your power, so please go ahead and issue it. I expect you will have issued a splattering of 1's about the place already, and I would feel left out if I wasn't to receive mine.

        Mr. Andresen?

        So I read your essay posted on my page, but I don't know what to do next. How is it going?

        Should I be the first, among us, who rates you with a 10 and then you will return the grade? Or should we do it vice versa (you first and I returning)? or maybe we both grade each other (with a 10, of course) in the same time ?

        I hope you do have some sense of humor

        Joyfully,

        Silviu

          There are some connections between your view of clocks and what Barad says about time:

          "we assume that time is a given externality, just a parameter that marches forward, and that the past already happened and the present, that moment "now" just slipped away into the past, and that the future is yet to come. But if we examine this carefully, again using the insights from feminist theory, from post-structuralist theory, and things that Cultural Studies has been telling us, and so on, and bring them into the physics here, what we can see is that what is going on actually is the making of temporality. There are questions of temporality that are coming to the fore here. What we are seeing here is that time is not given, it is not universally given, but rather that time is articulated and re-synchronized through various material practices. In other words, just like position, momentum, wave and particle, time itself only makes sense in the context of particular phenomena." etc. The reference is https://www.academia.edu/1857617/_Intra-actions_Interview_of_Karen_Barad_by_Adam_Kleinmann_

          Dear Steven,

          Thanks for visiting my FQXi Essay page.

          You wrote an interesting and provocative Essay. I am a physicist of gravitation, so, I will insert below some comments/questions on the gravitational issues of your Essay:

          You state that "Big bang theory offers a metaphysics creation of the world". Actually, big-bang theory is founded on plausible assumptions, like the Cosmological Principle, and GR through rigorous mathematics. It fails to understand what happened at the big bang instant based on the lack of unification of GR and QM that you correctly stress in your Essay.

          Your approach with time in GR and QM is very interesting.

          You state that "Mechanical spring force can be said to scale with shifting gravitational potential, allowing me to coin the term "gravitational force dilation'." But gravitational potential cannot be localized in GR based on Einstein's Equivalence Principle which has today a strong empiric evidence. How do you solve this issue?

          You should consider also extended theories of gravity in addition to MOND. In fact MOND seeks to amend parameters of Newton's gravitational theory while extended theories of gravity seeks to amend parameters of GR. In a certain sense, extended theories of gravity are the relativistic counterpart of MOND in the same way that GR is the relativistic counterpart of GR. Maybe this paper, of mine can further clarify this issue.

          In any case, you wrote a nice and entertaining Essay, deserving my highest score.

          Good luck in the Contest.

          Cheers, Ch.

            Steve,

            While I agree force, or rather energy is fundamental, I see it as in a dichotomy with information. In that energy manifests form, as form defines energy. Consider that galaxies are cycles of energy radiating out, as mass coalesces in. That as evolved beings, we have a central nervous system to process information and the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems to process energy. That our societies are the relationship of organic and social energy pushing out, as cultural, civil and economic forms coalesce in, giving structure to the dynamic.

              Dear Steven Andresen,

              I have read your Essay and suggest that you read Dark Matter: http://vixra.org/pdf/1303.0207v3.pdf

              Quantum Mechanics claims that an electron can be both spin-up and spin-down at the same time. In my conceptual physics Essay on Electron Spin, I have proved that this is not true. Please read: https://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/3145

              Kamal Rajpal

              Dark matter is non-baryonic and still it interacts with visible matter and htey get repelled in the process. How is that the nature of gravity reverses its usual attraction that it manifests within the visible world? If i postulate that dark matter is merely a frozen matter consisting of free protons, free neutrons and neutrinos how will you react to such a scenario? How to handle non-baryonic matter pauses the problem as we do not know how it interacts within and without?

              Steven,

              Many thanks for an enjoyable read. The numerous metaphors were nice. I especially liked the one about the glass slipper.

              I have previously considered the possibility that mass is constant and force varies. For example, in F=ma, the Lorentz Transform could be applied to mass using division or it could be applied to force using multiplication. The result would be the same. My question then becomes "How does this affect conservation of energy in a system such as a particle accelerator?".

              I agree that QM governs clock innards and that GM governs clock faces. This is another nice metaphor. I have considered something similar by proposing the following: PSI = t*[cos(omega) isin(omega)]. This creates a single "master time" that then creates two time-like parameters that can be inserted into GR and QM respectively.

              If I understand correctly your discussion of galactic rotation, you believe that the factor G in Newton's Law of gravity is not constant but that it is a variable dependent upon the local environment. I have also considered this possibility but I lack the knowledge of GR that would allow me to attempt to apply the idea.

              All in all this is a very nice essay. Well done.

              Best Regards and Good Luck,

              Gary Simpson

              Dear Steven,

              Excellent essay. It was nicely written and interesting so I think worth a good score. You are good at demonstrating the difficulty of combining QM with GR. The situation stands whereby we have two fundamental theories of the world, but just one world. I agree with you. But I think that merging is not possible because QM and GR looks at world from different positions. GR looks from observer positions in the moving frame. QM is all viewed as waves.

              For example, observer on the Earth see that Moon and Sun goes around. Observer on the Moon see that Earth and Sun goes around. But observer outside Solar system see that center is Sun. A perfectly correct scene can be seen only from the outside.

              GR and QM are correct theories. Both looks from inside of Universe. Hence, they show only part of reality.

              Good luck in the contest.

              Best regards

              Ilgaitis

                Dear Steven -- the best introduction I have read for a long time -- I love the tone and style and the way you make it feel so personal and you can feel the power of the forces of nature.

                I see many common threads in your essay with some of the other high-ranking writers in this great competition of the FQXi community.

                Your essay fills the mind with many new ideas and connections -- I have read a number of times the comments by the other people -- some are excellent like Edwin's and Peter Jackson's just to name a few of the obvious one's -- some not so like Álvarez's comments which are combative to say the least (and not generally helpful you should see the long long list of nit-picking "so-called mistakes" in my essay LOL) but you handle that with style and grace (well done).

                As to your fab essay (I will not repeat previous comments which you have answered fully) I have a couple of comments

                Does your model form a complete metaphysical system (on the surface that is what you are aiming for I feel) in regards to how the "metaphysical" and the "physical" are dealt with -- it comes across that the metaphysical is metaphorical and has a special status a part from the physical. It seems that the "cause" of metaphysics is "the nature of the "dual" aspects of how time is handled" that is evolution. As Edwin points out there is a strong surface resemblance in your essay to his idea that "what time we see on the clock face" is counting 'energy" while for you it is counting F vis "forces cause clocks to function"! you have spotted a deep connection between the face of the clock and the "the mechanism that drives the clock" as two different "conceptions" I think, that is, a very deep insight.It is not clearly expressed in physics texts enough that clocks in GM measure "duration' the difference between the start and the end of an "event". So an "event" can only reference another durations but only in restricted cases, so how events are connected is mysterious yet you conjecture they are connected to "forces qm and (classical)" which do have a strong concept of "events" eg the sum of all histories approach and or individual atom collision which we can mathematically determine "properties" of this one "event". So what is "time in general" is never dealt with explicitly in GR (only durations) or QM (only events). And it isn't even clear in our current theories if we can connect "different" durations as one whole to get a "holistic" picture of all durations (which we hope can be thought of as "time" since there is nothing else that functions on clocks apart from "duration" and forces=events) OR the totality of all "QM events" as one whole "concept" which could be equated with "time". You identify correctly this "paradox" clearly and precisely in your essay. Durations and events but what is "time" is just left hanging up in the air so to speak. Hence you make primary "cause" and avoid this "lack of specification of time itself". So is the cause of metaphysics beyond "durations" or "events" or is it due to "our inbuilt cognitive processes that are fine-tuned to the survival of the fittest in an ecosystem". It isn't clear "what your pan-evolution" environment is exactly. Mass is due to the Higgs field in QM not to "Gluon activity [which] is the primary giver of mass" while "mass is Tuv=Guv in GR)" as you point out. A new paper (see link) shows that Some black holes [can] erase your past or Einstein's equations allow a non-determinist future inside some black holes!

                So is time itself (as a thing-in-itself) the cause of "cause" in your metaphysics. As John English (and many before him) have pointed out evolution (or life) is due to "microstate filling order of marcoscopic entities" or the driving force of life is thermodynamics. Can life be considered a "force" as in a metaphysical manifestation of the metaphorical "thing-in-itself", and is it not really this "metaphysical force" that has the twin aspects that you mention in your essay as pertaining to clocks. We have a built-in clock "how DNA mutates at a constant rate" maybe you can add that to your purely physical explanation of "all interactions" of a clock. It would strengthen your argument a lot and would explain "this constant tick tock of the change of life-forms" for the animate, which nicely divides the inanimate from the animate.

                Secondly -- as pointed out it is Newton's law that is "wrong" in galaxies not GR, apart from that small technical mix-up, your point is that "life force" has cause that is "how we survive the progress of the universe from one tick to the next tock (so to speak), epistemological evolution says there is no "final predetermined goal to evolution" -- local affects are primary -- why do we have eyes that are perfectly adapted to the colour spectrum of the sun because the sun is the colour due to contingence". In full If you notice a fact about the world, you can put it in one of two categories: necessary or contingent. A necessary fact is one that has to be the case, whereas contingent facts could have been different. Contingency means the outcome was the result of events that might have occurred differently, whereas necessity means the outcome could only ever have gone one way.

                So you can think of it as a sliding scale:

                Necessary: must happen, cannot not happen

                Contingent: could happen or not, possible

                Impossible: cannot happen, could not have happened

                Is the time on the face contingent or necessary for evolution. Ask the same question for the mechanism for the clock workings.

                I feel this basic distinction isn't clearly delineated in the essay. Is the purely metaphysical thing-in-itself necessary or contingent in your schema it isn't obvious. What is necessary for clocks to "function" and what is contingent is not clear if we can make "life itself a clock". Clearly what is necessary is the "mechanism" and what is contingent is the time on the clock. Yes how can you reconcile that with the inverse of that for "life" what is necessary is thermodynamics what is contingent is the actual "life-form" itself. So doesn't that imply that TIME itself as a thing is contingent or are we inferring too much by making TIME necessary for the tick-tock of life's progress as a clock face. If you think of a DNA clock with face marks for each each life-form from the previous -- doesn't your theory -- suggest we are necessary, it strongly does. If you think along those lines -- life as a clock and its face shows the progress of evolution, what is the "mechanism" of the clock now and what is the "force" -- these are the best questions to think about. I have to say your essay is very deep and slightly perplexing as well.

                I hope you find some food for thought on my initial reading of your essay. My [link:fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/3133]essay[/linl] is here if you have time please read. It is all about the "imaginary unit"

                Like you I don't do low ratings. I only rate essays that set my mind a thinking. Since I cannot judge ones that don't make me think. And yours as done that a lot so I have rated it very highly. Yours Harri

                  I could say the above more concisely as == you have the animate (with its own clock) looking at (i.e. measuring an) inanimate clock -- so which is the primary clock or whose tick-tock is fist? Since both seem to fit you critical criteria. Harri. Two clocks both functioning yet -- which is necessary and which is sufficient isn't clear. And what are the how's and why's for the primary cause of cause is that outside the in/animate divide so to speak?

                  It is always what questions your ask? Is it not! Harri