Many fundamental physical equations are time-reversible: running them forward or backward yields mathematically valid solutions. Yet physics sometimes treats this formal symmetry as if it were a statement about reality itself: the universe, at its core, is reversible.
This is the distortion: the mathematical property of an equation is mistaken for an ontological feature of the world.
The Physics Move
Newtonian mechanics, Maxwell’s equations, and the Schrödinger equation are often cited as evidence that physical processes are fundamentally reversible.
Discussions of entropy and the “arrow of time” sometimes frame irreversibility as emergent, implying that fundamental physics is timelessly symmetric.
Cosmology and statistical mechanics occasionally use reversibility to argue that past and future are equally determinate, downplaying the role of relational actualisation.
Why This Distorts Ontology
Reversibility is a property of formal representation, not of actuality. Events unfold in time; constraints and alignments actualise possibilities asymmetrically. Treating equations as dictating ontological symmetry misrepresents the temporal unfolding of reality.
The distortion lies in conflating representation with becoming: what is reversible on paper is not necessarily reversible in relational actuality.
The Relational Reframing
From a relational standpoint:
Equations describe patterns among possibilities; they do not impose symmetry on the process of actualisation.
Entropy, decay, measurement, and causation reflect directional alignment, not violations of mathematical reversibility.
Time asymmetry emerges naturally from the unfolding of relational configurations, without contradicting the utility of reversible formalisms.
Thus, reversibility is intelligible — but only as a feature of formal description, not as a property of the actual relational world.
No comments:
Post a Comment