Dimensions ⧖ Time ✦ Space ◉ Matter ◎ Observer ⚡ Energy ⧉ Information
⧖ Time × ✦ Space × ◉ Matter

Time, Space & Matter

The physical universe in full

Time, space, and matter together constitute the classical scientific description of the physical universe. Matter occupies space and changes through time. This triad is the domain of mechanics, …

⧖ Time × ✦ Space × ◎ Observer

Time, Space & Observer

The situated knowing subject

Every observer exists at a particular place in space and a particular moment in time. This spatial-temporal situatedness is not incidental but constitutive: what the observer can know, …

⧖ Time × ✦ Space × ⚡ Energy

Time, Space & Energy

The dynamic fabric of the cosmos

Energy propagating through space over time is the domain of fields, waves, radiation, and the fundamental forces of nature. Electromagnetic waves travel through space at the speed of …

⧖ Time × ◉ Matter × ◎ Observer

Time, Matter & Observer

Embodied consciousness through time

The observer is a material being who lives and dies in time. Embodiment, memory, mortality, and development all arise from this triad. The observer does not merely observe …

⧖ Time × ◉ Matter × ⚡ Energy

Time, Matter & Energy

Transformation, entropy, and physical law

The domain of thermodynamics and physical chemistry: energy transforms matter through time. Combustion, nuclear fusion, radioactive decay, metabolism — all are instances of the triad at work. The …

⧖ Time × ◎ Observer × ⚡ Energy

Time, Observer & Energy

The energetic act of knowing through time

Consciousness unfolds in time and requires energy. Every act of perception, memory, attention, and reasoning has a metabolic cost; the brain is the most energy-intensive organ in proportion …

✦ Space × ◉ Matter × ◎ Observer

Space, Matter & Observer

The embodied observer in physical space

The observer is a material body located in space. This triad captures the fundamental condition of embodied perception: the body is both a material object among objects (viewed …

✦ Space × ◉ Matter × ⚡ Energy

Space, Matter & Energy

The content and dynamics of physical reality

Matter and energy distributed through space — this is the subject matter of physics in its most comprehensive form. General relativity describes how matter and energy curve the …

✦ Space × ◎ Observer × ⚡ Energy

Space, Observer & Energy

Situated perception and energetic participation

The observer is spatially located and participates in the world through energetic processes. Vision requires light (electromagnetic energy) traveling through space; hearing requires sound waves; touch involves energetic …

◉ Matter × ◎ Observer × ⚡ Energy

Matter, Observer & Energy

The living, knowing, energetic being

The observer is a material system that processes energy to sustain and generate consciousness. This is the domain of neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind: the brain …

⧖ Time × ✦ Space × ⧉ Information

Time, Space & Information

Signals, light cones, and the causal structure of knowledge

Time, space, and information together define the causal structure of what can be known. Light cones set the boundary of information transfer across spacetime: no signal can travel …

⧖ Time × ◉ Matter × ⧉ Information

Time, Matter & Information

Memory, fossils, and the material archive of time

Matter is the substrate in which temporal information is encoded and preserved. Fossils record the history of life; geological strata encode climatic epochs; DNA carries instructions refined over …

⧖ Time × ◎ Observer × ⧉ Information

Time, Observer & Information

Memory, learning, and the temporal arc of knowing

The observer is a temporal being who accumulates information over time through memory, learning, and experience. This triad captures the epistemological arc of a conscious life: from ignorance …

⧖ Time × ⚡ Energy × ⧉ Information

Time, Energy & Information

Entropy, computation, and the thermodynamic arrow

The second law of thermodynamics binds time, energy, and information into an indissoluble triad. Entropy — the measure of disorder, energy dispersal, and missing information — increases with …

✦ Space × ◉ Matter × ⧉ Information

Space, Matter & Information

Structure, encoding, and the geometry of knowledge

Space, matter, and information describe the physical library of the universe: material objects distributed through space, each one a carrier of informational content. A crystal encodes its formation …

✦ Space × ◎ Observer × ⧉ Information

Space, Observer & Information

Perspective, horizons, and the situated knower

The observer is always spatially situated, and this situation shapes what information is available. A distant galaxy is known only through the light that has traveled across space …

✦ Space × ⚡ Energy × ⧉ Information

Space, Energy & Information

Fields, radiation, and the energetic transmission of knowledge

Information travels through space on carriers of energy: light, radio waves, gravitational waves, and sound all transport informational content across spatial distances using energetic means. The electromagnetic spectrum …

◉ Matter × ◎ Observer × ⧉ Information

Matter, Observer & Information

Brains, minds, and the material basis of knowledge

The observer is a material system that processes information: the brain is made of matter, and its neural activity encodes, stores, and retrieves the information that constitutes knowledge, …

◉ Matter × ⚡ Energy × ⧉ Information

Matter, Energy & Information

Landauer's world: the physical substrate of data

Matter, energy, and information together constitute Landauer's world: the domain in which information is always physically embodied in material substrates and always requires energy to process, store, and …

◎ Observer × ⚡ Energy × ⧉ Information

Observer, Energy & Information

Cognition, attention, and the metabolic cost of knowing

The observer processes information using energy: every thought, every perception, every act of attention has a metabolic cost measurable in calories and ATP. The brain, which constitutes roughly …

Triplets vs. Pairs

Where dimension pairs examine the relationship between two dimensions in isolation, triplets reveal the emergent complexity that arises when three interact simultaneously. Each triplet opens questions that neither pair within it fully addresses — the whole is philosophically more than the sum of its parts.