The Universe as the Proof of Work: The Elemental Reason

This text examines a simple feature of scientific practice that usually goes unnoticed. Every act of measurement presupposes three conditions: a system must maintain a distinguishable identity, it must enter into interaction with the instrument, and it must produce an organized result that can be recorded and interpreted.

These conditions appear consistently across all domains of empirical inquiry. From particle physics to cosmology, from chemistry to biology, scientific observation unfolds through configurations in which identity is preserved, interactions generate signals, and results take structured form.

Seen from this perspective, what is called “matter” appears through stabilized configurations of these processes. Objects persist only as long as their configuration remains operative. When that configuration dissolves, the object ceases to exist in its previous form.

The argument developed here follows this line to its conclusion. Empirical reality presents itself as a continuous configuration of coherence, interaction, and complexity. In this sense, the universe can be understood as the ongoing proof that these processes are operative and stabilized in existence.

Read the full paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/KODTUA