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Underlying Potential

Definition

Underlying potential is the set of physically admissible possibilities available to a system prior to the imposition of specific constraints or distinctions.

It denotes what could occur, not what is realized.

Ontic / Core Claim

Underlying potential is not a substance, field, or superposed object.
It is a pre-partition description of state space before constraints carve accessible regions and dynamics select trajectories.

As constraints, noise, and dynamics act:

• potential is reduced to accessible state space,
• distinctions emerge as partitions,
• persistence and records become possible.

Underlying potential therefore describes possibility space, not structure, memory, or information.

Distillation

Potential is what exists before anything is ruled out.

Why it matters

• Distinction: Distinctions only make sense relative to unrealized alternatives.
• Constraint: Constraints act by eliminating portions of potential.
• Entropy: Entropy governs how systems explore remaining potential.
• RDD coherence: Prevents treating possibility itself as a physical object.

Links

• Related atoms:

  • State Space
  • Constraint
  • Distinction
  • Entropy
  • Potential Energy (if introduced later)

• Used in molecules:

  • (none yet)

• Conflicts with:

  • Interpretations that treat potential as a physical field or information store

Sources (contextual anchors)

• Source: Bohm, D. (2002). Wholeness and the implicate order (Online-Ausg). Routledge.
  - Key: @bohmWholenessImplicateOrder2002a
  - Use here: Illustrative analogy for unpartitioned possibility without claiming physical identity.

• Source: Rovelli, C. (2019). The order of time (E. Segre & S. Carnell, Trans.; First Riverhead trade paperback edition). Riverhead Books.
  - Key: @rovelliOrderTime2019
  - Use here: Supports non-fundamental status of time and configuration-based descriptions.

Re-contextualization Log

• 2025-12-26 · context: Alignment with State Space, Constraint, and Entropy
  effect: clarified
  note: Removed superposition and infinity language; reframed potential as pre-partition possibility space.