Selection as Ontology: A Non-Dual Framework for Time, Identity, and

A minimal ontological framework is proposed in which selection—the actualization of an element from a possibility space—is the sole primitive. From this postulate, a recursively grown selection graph and a local coherence measure kappa generate temporal partial ordering, identity as basin stabilization, and the subject-object distinction as an internal basin partition. Description is selection; first-person structure emerges as recursive self-indexed closure within stabilized basins; agency is self-indexed coherence elevation under indeterminacy. The framework introduces no new empirical predictions but constrains admissible ontological interpretations by eliminating category separation between structure and experience. The central result is a dissolution of the hard problem of consciousness: with selection as primitive, no additional primitive is available to ground a structure/experience distinction, and the distinction cannot be coherently formulated within the framework.

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Abstract

We propose a minimal ontological framework in which selection — theactualization of an element from a possibility space — is the soleprimitive. From this postulate, a recursively grown selection graph anda local coherence measure kappa induce temporal partial ordering,identity as basin stabilization, and the subject-object distinction asan internal basin partition. Description is selection; first-personstructure emerges as recursive self-indexed closure within stabilizedbasins; agency is self-indexed coherence elevation under indeterminacy.The framework introduces no new empirical predictions but constrainsadmissible ontological interpretations by eliminating categoryseparation between structure and experience. The central result is adissolution — rather than a solution — of the hard problem ofconsciousness: with selection as primitive, no additional primitive isavailable to ground a structure/experience distinction, and thedistinction cannot be coherently formulated within the framework. Thecoherence measure kappa is grounded as the zero-order approximation ofaverage pairwise mutual information, fixing the meaning of theneighbourhood scale k as a mutual-information horizon. Temporal order isderived by label-covariant sequential accretion, connecting the accountto causal set theory (Bombelli et al. 1987; Sorkin 2003), relationalquantum mechanics (Rovelli 1996), QBism (Fuchs, Mermin & Schack 2014),integrated information theory (Tononi 2004), and process ontology(Whitehead 1929). Open problems — Born-rule recovery, the numericalvalue of k, formal consistency verification, the combination problem,and the zero-depth limit — are stated without minimization.This preprint is part of an ongoing research program. A companionpaper, Selection Dynamics, Trace Ordering, and the Emergence ofTemporal Experience (doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.31225114), develops thetemporal-emergence claim at the phenomenological level, with aheart-rate-variability protocol for empirical test. Further companions:CDIL Unified Framework (doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.31566811); CoherenceBounds on Consciousness (doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.31724512); Kaluza-Kleinhidden-symmetry paper (doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.32916482).REFERENCES / RELATED MATERIALS (DOI field — cross-populates DataCite)---------------------------------------------------------------------10.6084/m9.figshare.3122511410.6084/m9.figshare.3156681110.6084/m9.figshare.3172451210.6084/m9.figshare.32916482