Deep Field / source

The Singular Universe and the Flow of Time: An Inquiry into the Compatibility of Process Realism and Modern Cosmology

At the heart of modern theoretical physics lies a profound conceptual conflict often termed the "problem of time".1 This is not a single problem but a deep schism that arises from the fundamentally incompatible ways in which our two most successful physical theories, quantum mechanics and general relativity, treat the nature of time. In the standard formulation of quantum mechanics, time is treated as a universal and absolute background parameter—a fixed, external stage upon which the drama of quantum events unfolds.1 In stark contrast, Einstein's theory of general relativity demotes time from this privileged position, weaving it together with space into a dynamic, malleable four-dimensional manifold—spacetime—