The concept of a causal chain is a fundamental physical and scientific reality
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the evidence says no
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Scientific and physical literature discusses causality as a foundational concept while noting that quantum mechanics and general relativity present deep challenges to the traditional notion of linear, one-way temporal causal chains at a fundamental level.
explanation of other concepts of progression than as something to be explained by yet more fundamental ideas. The concept is like those of agency and efficacy
Causality is an influence by which one event, process, state, or subject (i.e., a cause) contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (i.e., an effect) where the cause is at least partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is at least partly dependent on the cause. The cause of something may also be described as the reason behind the event or process.
In general
Causality is an influence by which one event, process, state, or subject (i.e., a cause) contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (i.e., an effect) where the cause is at least partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is at least partly dependent on the cause. The cause of something may also be described as the reason behind the event or process.
In general, a process can have multiple causes, which are also said to be causal factors for it, and all lie in its past. An effect can in turn be a cause of, or causal factor for, many other effects, which all lie in its future. Thus, the distinction between cause and effect either follows from or else provides the distinction between past and future. While the former viewpoint is more prevalent in physics, some writers have held that causality is metaphysically prior to notions of time and space. Causality is an abstraction that indicates how the world progresses. As such, it is a basic concept, and one might expect it to be more apt as an explanation of other…
Traditional physics and classical intuition rely heavily on the concept of unilateral, linear causality, in which causes strictly precede their effects in time. However, deep conceptual challenges arising from quantum mechanics, general relativity, and modern theories of quantum gravity indicate severe limitations of this one-way temporal causal chain at the fundamental level. This paper proposes an alternative physical paradigm: causality is not a localized process evolving unidirectionally along a fixed time axis, but rather a synchronic network jointly determined by the holistic physical structure, global boundary conditions, and topological-geometric features of the system. By analyzing delayed-choice experiments, quantum entanglement, action principles in classical and quantum field theories, and closed timelike curves in general relativity, we formulate a mathematical framework for "holistic structural causality" that operates independently of a unidirectional arrow of time. This framework demonstrates that the forward flow of time is merely an emergent thermodynamic property at the macroscopic scale. At the fundamental level, global phase-space constraints dictate the co-existence and mutual relations of events. This paradigm offers new perspectives for resolving the quantum measurement problem and the time-symmetry paradox, while unlocking valuable theoretical potential for modern cosmology and quantum gravity.
Process Physics: Inertia, Gravity and the Quantum
Process Physics models reality as self-organising relational or semantic information using a self-referentially limited neural network model. This generalises the traditional non-process syntactical modelling of reality by taking account of the limitations and characteristics of self-referential syntactical information systems, discovered by Goedel and Chaitin, and the analogies with the standard quantum formalism and its limitations. In process physics space and quantum physics are emergent and unified, and time is a distinct non-geometric process. Quantum phenomena are caused by fractal topological defects embedded in and forming a growing three-dimensional fractal process-space. Various features of the emergent physics are briefly discussed including: quantum gravity, quantum field theory, limited causality and the Born quantum measurement metarule, inertia, time-dilation effects, gravity and the equivalence principle, a growing universe with a cosmological constant, black holes and event horizons, and the emergence of classicality.
Published as: Gen.Rel.Grav. 34 (2002) 1637-1656
arXiv categories: gr-qc
Causality and logic are both fundamental to our understanding of the universe, but our intuitions about these are challenged by quantum phenomena. This thesis reports progress in the analysis of causality and multi-agent logical paradoxes in quantum and post-quantum theories. Both these research areas are highly relevant for the development of quantum technologies such as quantum cryptography and computing. Part I of this thesis focuses on causality. Firstly, we develop techniques for using generalised entropies to analyse distinctions between classical and non-classical causal structures. We derive new properties of classical and quantum Tsallis entropies of systems that follow from the relevant causal structure, and apply these to obtain new necessary constraints for classicality in the Triangle causal structure. Supplementing the method with the post-selection technique, we provide evidence that Shannon and Tsallis entropic constraints are insufficient for detecting non-classicality in Bell scenarios with non-binary outcomes. This points to the need for better methods of characterising correlations in non-classical causal structures. Secondly, we investigate the relationships between causality and space-time by developing a framework for modelling cyclic and fine-tuned influences in non-classical theories. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for such causal models to be compatible with a space-time structure and for ruling out operationally detectable causal loop
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