Unified Relational-Structural Framework

Abstract

This work presents a unified framework synthesising two complementary investigations: a relational-structural ontology deriving physical law, complexity, and consciousness from a single primitive (minimal distinction), and a computational-quantum framework examining the simulation hypothesis through the lenses of quantum mechanics, integrated information theory, and information thermodynamics. Beginning with the axiom that existence requires differentiation within a unified relational totality (U), the framework demonstrates how logical consistency necessitates ordered dependency, from which causal structure, entropy, metastable complexity, and consciousness emerge as structural necessities. The second part extends these foundations to examine quantum superposition as computational optimisation, wavefunction collapse as system-call mechanics, and non-locality as informational unity. A central equation is proposed— R= O·Ψ·∆E — representing realised reality as the product of consciousness, quantum possibility, and informational energy. The fine-structure constant α is developed as a measure of relational coherence at the physical level, directly analogous to Φ (phi) in Integrated Information Theory. Together, these frameworks offer a unified vocabulary for physics, biology, consciousness studies, and philosophy of mind, grounded in structural ontology and generating testable empirical predictions. This new version includes a supplemental paper examining the body as a local instantiation of the framework, focusing on blood cooling and the thermodynamics of consciousness. Paper IV, completes the relational-structural theory by grounding qualia in evolutionary self-preservation salience, showing that felt experience is what it is like to be a system for which outcomes matter.