Fact-Momentum: Why the Universe Doesn’t Forget
At its core, this paper shows something very simple—but very deep:
The things that happen in the universe are not passive. They actively shape what happens next.
In standard physics, we’re used to thinking of forces and fields—like gravity or electromagnetism—as being sourced by things like mass or charge. But we rarely stop to ask a more fundamental question:
Why those things? Why are those the sources of influence at all?
This paper offers a new answer.
Reality is built from facts
In the VERSF framework, the universe isn’t made from static “stuff” at the deepest level. Instead, it is built from events—specifically, irreversible moments where something definite happens.
These are called commitment events:
the moment when a possibility becomes a fact.
The paper shows that, under very minimal and unavoidable requirements—things like repeatability, causality, and the need for stable records—the only kind of thing that can act as a source of physical influence is:
a stable record of something that actually happened
Not possibilities. Not probabilities. Not reversible processes.
Only facts.
That leads to a striking conclusion:
Reality is driven by facts, not possibilities.
One idea, four parts of physics
This result doesn’t just sit in isolation—it connects directly to the rest of the VERSF framework.
Across different areas of physics, we already describe the world using quantities that count or measure change:
- Time → the accumulation of events
- Entropy → the count of irreversible changes
- Mass → how densely those changes are packed
- Fields → how influence spreads through space
What this paper shows is that all four are tied to the same underlying quantity:
the number of committed facts
That’s a major unification.
It means the framework is no longer just conceptual—it now has:
- a clear mathematical structure
- a defined physical mechanism
- and a direct connection between different parts of physics
Just as importantly, it resolves a long-standing gap.
Previously, the strength of a source—how strongly something influences a field—had to be assumed. Now it’s derived:
The strength of an influence is simply how many real facts were created.
No tuning. No arbitrary parameters. Just counting what actually happened.
The surprising part: the universe remembers
One of the most important results in the paper is about what happens after an event occurs.
In many physical models, effects fade quickly. Systems “reset.” The past becomes irrelevant.
But here, something very different happens.
When something happens, its influence doesn’t vanish—it lingers.
And not just briefly.
It fades slowly, like 1/time in the effective spacetime we observe—not exponentially.
That means:
- Events don’t just happen and disappear
- They leave a trace in the underlying field
- That trace continues to shape future events
So instead of the universe constantly resetting itself, the picture is:
The universe remembers—faintly, but persistently.
Interestingly, this behavior emerges within the same 3+1 dimensional spacetime used in standard physics—not because it was assumed, but because the framework naturally recovers that structure at large scales.
What this might mean in everyday terms
At a human level, this idea feels familiar.
We already experience the world as something shaped by the past:
- memories influence decisions
- experiences change perception
- history shapes outcomes
What this work suggests is that this isn’t just psychological.
It may be built into the structure of reality itself.
Every irreversible moment—every decision, every interaction, every event—adds to the “ledger” of facts that defines the present.
And those facts don’t just sit there.
They continue, in a subtle way, to influence what can happen next.
Not in a dramatic or deterministic way—but as a persistent background effect.
The big picture
If this framework is right, then the universe isn’t just evolving forward in time.
It is carrying its entire history with it.
And the laws of physics aren’t just describing motion or forces.
They’re describing something deeper:
how facts accumulate, interact, and continue to shape the future long after they occur.