This work presents an effective theoretical framework in which the fundamental state of matter is identified with a universal compressive condition. Within this approach, gravity, time, and irreversibility emerge from the monotonic relaxation of this compressive state rather than from fundamental dynamical fields. The universe is modeled as a self-confined system subject to a homogeneous compressive background arising from the cumulative gravitational weight of its total content. Space is interpreted as the incomplete saturation of compression, while time is defined operationally through the evolution of this compressive state. The framework is formulated at an effective level and does not introduce additional fundamental fields or microscopic postulates. It remains compatible with established phenomenology while suggesting novel, testable consequences, particularly in coherent macroscopic systems. The work is intended as a minimal extension addressing the emergence of gravity, time, and the arrow of time
Pablo Garcia (Fri,) studied this question.