LayeredRealityObserverBoundedCoherence

We introduce an information-theoretic framework in which reality is modeled as a layered system composed of an underlying structural layer and an observer-accessible representational surface. Observers do not access the full system state directly, but instead construct representations under capacity constraints, formalized as a bound on mutual information between structure and representation. This constraint yields observer-bounded coherence: representations are internally consistent within an observer’s informational domain, yet may diverge across observers. To clarify the scope of the framework, we distinguish three classes of constraint—causal (cosmological), interactional (quantum), and representational (cognitive)—which are structurally analogous but mechanistically distinct. This separation avoids conflation while identifying a shared property: bounded access to total system information. We further define coherence overlap as the mutual information between observer representations, providing a continuous measure governing coordination, negotiation, conflict, and effective isolation. The framework reframes apparent inconsistency across observers as a structural consequence of constrained access rather than error or contradiction. It remains compatible with existing physical theories and suggests directions for multi-observer inference, epistemology, and distributed system modeling.