Spacetime Emergence: Collapsing the Distinction Between Content and Context?

Abstract

Several approaches to developing a theory of quantum gravity suggest that spacetime-as described by general relativity-is not fundamental. Instead, spacetime is supposed to be explained by reference to the relations between more fundamental entities, analogous to 'atoms' of spacetime, which themselves are not (fully) spatiotemporal. Such a case may be understood as emergence of content: a 'hierarchical' case of emergence, where spacetime emerges at a 'higher', or less-fundamental, level than its 'lower-level' nonspatiotempral basis. But quantum gravity cosmology also presents us with the possibility of emergence of context: where spacetime emerges from some 'prior' non-spatiotemporal state (replacing the Big Bang), due to particular conditions in the early universe. I present a general conception of emergence which is plausibly able to accommodate both pictures. This is a positive conception that does not rely on a failure of reduction or explanation in any sense (indeed, reduction is a necessary feature of quantum gravity, and is useful in understanding emergence in this case). I also consider the possibility that the distinction between content-and context-based explanations is blurred, or usefully 'collapsed', in the case of spacetime emergence.

Mereological Models of Spacetime Emergence

“…According to physics, it is expected that it is possible to derive an approximate description of spacetime as specified by the theory of general relativity (GR), from a theory of quantum gravity (QG) (Crowther, 2016(Crowther, , 2022Healey, 2017;Isham & Butterfield, 1999). Approaches to QG, such as string theory, loop quantum gravity (LQG) This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.…”

“…According to physics, it is expected that it is possible to derive an approximate description of spacetime as specified by the theory of general relativity (GR), from a theory of quantum gravity (QG) (Crowther, 2016, 2022; Healey, 2017; Isham & Butterfield, 1999). Approaches to QG, such as string theory, loop quantum gravity (LQG) and causal set theory (CST), suggest that spacetime or spatiotemporal properties may not be fundamental (Huggett & Wüthrich, 2013; Wüthrich, 2018).…”

An Intensional Probability Theory: Investigating the Link between Classical and Quantum Probabilities

“…Estes has stressed the importance of context for memory retrieval and visualization [12], which encroaches on the scope of quantum cognitive models [13]. Cohen and Grossberg have used the term in reference to the spatiotemporal pattern [14], which is also evident in quantum gravity [15]. Stewart indicates a link to the holistic paradigm and emergent phenomena [16].…”