The Universe as One Record: A Primitive Ontology of Irreversible Systems

The Universe as One Record (A Primitive Ontology of Irreversible Systems: Time, Perturbation, and Collapse Across Domains) This paper proposes a foundational shift in how we characterize change, temporality, and significance across scientific domains. By moving away from the assumption of time as a background parameter, the author posits the universe as a "Universal Record"—a total, self-consistent configuration of all correlations produced by prior interactions. In this framework, the distinction between physical causation and semantic meaning is dissolved. Using a shared primitive vocabulary, the paper derives: Induced Time: Time as the local partial order of record accumulation. Irreversibility: The migration of information beyond a system's accessibility horizon. Functional Meaning: The causal biasing of future trajectories by persistent, hardened constraints (commitments). The ontology is demonstrated via a minimal computational proof-of-concept using a one-dimensional cellular automaton, proving that time and meaning emerge naturally from bounded record-keeping. The result is a domain-agnostic language capable of unifying the physics of dissipation with the mechanics of cognitive and institutional agency. This paper does not propose new physical laws but provides the structural mechanics through which irreversibility and semantic constraint co-emerge.