One of the great mysteries of physics is how a universe governed by relatively simple fundamental laws produces such extraordinary complexity. From elementary particles to atoms, molecules, stars and eventually living organisms, matter develops increasingly intricate structures. But why does nature favour the formation of stable structures rather than simply remaining a collection of independent components? In VERSF, we explore whether part of the answer lies in the relationship between information, the permanent records left by physical events, and the way those records influence what happens next.
This new paper investigates that possibility using Algorithmic Information Theory, which explores the relationship between information, patterns and complexity. The central idea is surprisingly simple: when two things share information, describing them together can require less information than describing them separately. In VERSF, where completed events leave irreversible records, this raises an intriguing question. Could the information shared between previous events influence the formation and stability of physical structures? And could the accumulation of such relationships help explain how complexity emerges without nature needing an explicit rule that favours complexity?
To investigate this, we developed mathematical tests using VERSF’s seven-state framework. Importantly, we went beyond an illustrative model and calculated information directly from an existing VERSF history law. The calculation found approximately 0.88 bits of shared information between successive states, while a completed seven-state history lasted an average of 21.28 fundamental updates. We also tested how information sharing might influence the attraction and repulsion between developing structures. The results revealed an important distinction: although shared information can encourage association in an assumed interaction model, too strong a preference for information sharing can actually undermine stable structures by encouraging complete overlap. In other words, the emergence of complexity appears to require a balance between association and the preservation of distinct structure, rather than simply maximising shared information.
How does this advance VERSF’s derivation of the Standard Model?
The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles of matter and three of nature’s fundamental interactions: electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force. A central ambition of VERSF is to derive the mathematical structure and relative strengths of these interactions from a deeper theory based on irreversible physical events and their recorded histories. Previous VERSF papers have developed mathematical connections between committed facts, record overlap, currents and field responses. This new work strengthens that programme by introducing a quantitative information-theoretic test derived from an existing VERSF history model, allowing us to measure how much information different parts of a history genuinely share.
The calculations also establish an important constraint on the Standard Model derivation. Information sharing alone cannot explain why the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions have different strengths. Those differences must emerge from additional physical structure, such as how records couple to different types of particle charges and fields. The paper therefore helps distinguish mathematical effects that genuinely contribute to the derivation from those that merely describe correlations. It does not yet derive the observed force strengths, but it provides a more rigorous foundation for investigating how recorded history could influence them.
The broader significance is that VERSF is beginning to connect three fundamental ideas — information, irreversible history and the emergence of physical structure — within a common mathematical framework. If these connections can ultimately be derived from the complete physical event dynamics, they may help explain not only how fundamental interactions arise, but also why a universe built from elementary events can develop the stable, increasingly complex structures we observe around us.