Toward a Discrete Ontology of Emergence

Realness as Quantised Event

Abstract:

This paper outlines a discrete ontology of emergence grounded in the hypothesis that all identifiable realities—including physical bodies, consciousness, and the sense of realness—are aggregates of quantised events. The emergence of reality is not a continuous phenomenon but a discontinuous, relational process shaped by momentary collisions of event quanta. We explore the notion of "realness quanta" or "particle-effect" as the perceptual outcome of quantum interactions in a relativity vacuum. We aim to develop a constructive, procedural theory of emergence rooted in discrete events observed as phenomena.

1.Introduction:

The longstanding assumption that reality is continuous, persistent, and self-same is increasingly challenged by developments in quantum physics and systems thinking. This paper proposes a discrete ontology of emergence, wherein identifiable realities—whether physical, biological, or phenomenological—arise as aggregates of confined quantum events. The emergence of "realness" is theorised as a quantised effect, not a ubiquitous and eternal given. Our approach reframes traditional ontological inquiry through the lens of event-driven dynamics.

2. Discrete Emergence:

A Structural Overview: An adult human can be described as an aggregate of approximately 36 trillion individual, autonomous cells. Each cell contains that human's genetic code and is composed of approximately 100 trillion atoms. These atoms are in turn aggregates of subatomic particles—quarks, leptons, bosons—confined and patterned within constrained, therefore ‘ruled’ quantum fields. Each level of organisation is a system of interactions, suggesting that emergence is recursive and relational.

This structure leads us to the hypothesis that any whole—human, molecule, or system—emerges as a unitised or quantised aggregate of discrete events, therefore as an event in itself. Identification of a reality is not a recognition of essence but of a localised event-collision—a perceptual inflection point that produces individual effects of realness. A series of such realness effects generated a cognizable trace that can be identified.

3. Realness as a Quantised Effect:

What we experience as realness, or presence, is not a smooth continuum but an intermittent particle-effect—a perceptual output arising when two event quanta make contact. This collision occurs in a relativity vacuum and yields a moment of absolute stabilisation perceived as realness. A series of such realness moments can be identified as form, consciousness, temporal or special location and so on.

The subjective internalisation of this process—consciousness—is interpreted here not as a mystery or higher-order phenomenon but as an analogue interface: a dynamic transformation of user-unfriendly digital data into a user-friendly display of system status signals. This internal screening system converts discrete quantum inputs (external or internal) into coherent, lived experience.

4. Momenta and the Event Collision:

We propose the term momenta to describe event quanta whose interactions result in observable or experiential output. When two momenta (i.e. quanta, whole units, or singularities) collide within a relativity vacuum, they create a momentary perceptual effect. This momentary effect of absolute presence defines the quantum of realness.

This interpretation reimagines the ontological ground of being not as substance, as Spinoza et al did, but as event-based interaction after-effect—where the real is the residue of structured collision.

5. A Planckian Reformulation of Mass:

Einstein’s equation, E = mc², is here reinterpreted through a discrete event lens, not rewritten. If mass is the consequence of confined, recurring interactions of energy quanta, then we might imaginatively compose a Planckian version either as:

M = Eh²

or as

M = Eq²

whereby a quantum of realness is defined as 1q².

In this formulation, "q" represents a quantum (unit, ganzfeld, Einheit, singularity and so on). The squaring symbol denotes a collision between two quanta when their relativity has been collapsed to zero—thereby producing the momentary effect of a quantum of mass. This is not a mathematical restatement but an ontological reframing: mass as the perceptual residue of interacting non-relativistic energetic events.

6. Reassessing Continuity:

The historical belief in continuity—most famously present in the doctrine of Sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss as Saguna Brahman) in Indian religious folklore—suggests a universal, eternal substrate. However, this (albeit comforting) view emerged prior to the development of discrete observational tools and must now be deemed erroneous. The Buddha’s early rejection of continuity in favour of impermanence and momentariness and Mahavira’s acceptance of observed phenomena as aggregations of (albeit eternal) atoms prefigures a discrete model of experience.

Contemporary observations support this: no truly continuous field has been empirically validated. The experience of enduring substance is now understood as a cognitive reification by a slower processing system of vastly more rapidly occurring events clusters.

7. Event Ontology vs. Metaphysical Speculation:

While metaphysics – an expedient but essentially semantic decoy - traditionally claimed to address foundational being, its own lack of positive definition renders it conceptually uncertain. This paper approaches the definition of realness by an alternate route, namely that of event ontology. The latter grounds itself in relational discreteness, with a focus on procedural emergence rather than abstract essence.

Observed from the quantum mechanical perspective an identifiable reality, like you and me, happens as a brief once-off grand event, indeed as an events festival. But what do you, as a festival of events, celebrate? That’s for you to define!

The ancient Indians described the event nature of identifiable reality with two metaphors. The first stated: ‘Life is the Dance of Shiva’ and ‘Life is the Play of Maya!’

Physics, understood here as metaphorical description, is a linguistic model for interactions. As such, we take physical theories as expedient scaffolding, not scripture. Our inquiry is into the underlying procedure of emergence—not as speculative metaphysics, but as a discourse of emergence of real (more precisely stated, realistic) events and pattern recognition (meaning identification).

8. Conclusion: From Event to Realness:

We conclude that reality is not a continuous entity but a discretely discontinuous emerging phenomenon made cognizable and experiential through the absolute (because 1 to 1) interaction of discrete events. The real is not a thing, but a moment—that ‘hardens’ a web of quantum co-affects. What is perceived as presence, consciousness, or even mass, are effects of event collisions, experienced in the lower data processing capacity of the perceptual apparatus of an observer as continuous, identifiable reality.

By shifting our ontological focus from substance to interaction, from continuity to quantisation, and from metaphysics to event dynamics, we open a pathway for a more coherent understanding of what it means for something to be.

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