Gradient Emergence Theory (GET): A Unifying Informational Framework for the Emergence of Stable Entities from Noise

Gradient Emergence Theory (GET) presents a working unifying framework for describing the emergence of stable entities from noise across different domains of reality. The theory introduces an internal cohesion potential of an entity Φ_entity = H·f, where H expresses state diversity and f the frequency of effectively acting changes, and further a relative contrast against reference noise ΔΦ, from whose gradient a general informational force is derived. On this basis, GET formulates a common language for the emergence and dissolution of entities, pairwise bonds between them, transitions between orders of emergence, and the temporal and perceptual structure of different layers of reality. The work presents the hypothesis that physical, material, biological, social, and artificial systems can be understood as different domain realizations of the same cohesion principle.