Dear Andy,
the key point of your analysis is that "the digital regime was due to embedding of space time / quantum mechanics within a larger non linear theory". Thus, my question is which is such a non linear theory? Is it standard General Relativity or is it an Extended Theory which takes into account the fact that space-time could be intrinsically curve? You could be right in claiming that it could be done in the pre Planckian regime but we need to understand which is the correct non linear theory before quantizing it!
Together with collaborators I realized the quantization of Extended Theories and of space-time curvature but ONLY in the weak field approximation and ONLY in an epoch post Planckian regime, i.e. the Inflationary Era, see pages 8-9 of my Essay.
On the other hand, in principle I agree with t'Hooft's idea of deterministic quantum mechanics, but this will be a successive step with respect to my present analysis.
Cheers,
Ch.