Cosmological Continuity Presentism (CCP): A Generative Spacetime Ontology Compatible with General Relativity

Abstract

Cosmological Continuity Presentism (CCP) develops a presentist ontology compatible with relativistic field theory by treating spacetime as progressively generated rather than as a completed four-dimensional block. The theory begins from a phenomenological constraint: that the felt asymmetry between past and future — the sense of genuine temporal flow — cannot be explained by a static, fully determinate block universe, because structure alone does not constitute or produce dynamic experience. Something must be doing the experiencing, and that requires genuine temporal succession. CCP introduces a generation parameter σ, defined as an accumulated causal-work functional constructed from the stress-energy tensor and other fields, and promoted to a dynamical scalar field governed by the kinematic equation ∇_μσ ∇^μσ = −f(T_{μν}). This equation is derived as an Euler–Lagrange condition from a constrained action S(σ) = ∫_{M(σ)} √(−g) [L_GR + λ(∇_μσ ∇^μσ + f(T_{μν}))] d⁴x, where λ is a Lagrange multiplier; the kinematic equation is therefore not postulated but required by the variational principle. It ties the gradient structure of σ to the local matter-energy distribution without modifying the Einstein field equations. The generated manifold M(σ) is defined as the union of past hypersurfaces up to the present Σ_σ, explicitly excluding future hypersurfaces. We present a mathematically explicit formulation using the initial-value (Cauchy) structure of general relativity and the ADM decomposition. We develop theorem-style statements establishing well-posedness and causal closure under standard assumptions, and interpret σ as the integrated, invariant record of causal activity — a “cosmic ledger” of accumulated becoming. The dynamical-σ equation generates a falsifiable prediction: a causal skew parameter ε(σ) in CMB multipole correlations, distinguishing CCP from the block universe’s prediction of perfect time-symmetry. CCP addresses the relationship between temporal ontology and conscious experience, arguing that qualia are intrinsic to ongoing, non-digital physical processes at the present hypersurface Σ_σ. Past brain states exist as causal records within M(σ) but do not persist as qualia; memory is re-instantiation rather than continuation. A “non-digital” criterion is articulated: digital simulation can mirror the structure of physical processes but cannot instantiate the intrinsic physical becoming that CCP identifies as the vehicle of experience. We address major objections — relativity of simultaneity, Lorentz invariance, diffeomorphism invariance, foliation in strong-curvature regimes, and underdetermination — and delineate the framework’s empirical and theoretical commitments.