Speed of Light (c)
One voxel per tick: why a universal speed is inevitable
In plain English
If the universe updates in tiny steps (ticks) and each step can only touch a neighboring “pixel” (voxel), there’s a built‑in speed limit: one voxel per tick. Try to jump farther and the receipts don’t balance; the order of who‑affected‑whom breaks. That limit is the speed of light, c.
- Tick (τ₀): the smallest time step (see Fundamental Tick).
- Voxel (Lmin): the smallest spatial step (see Recognition Length).
- Universal speed: c = Lmin / τ₀.
Ledger‑level definition
The ledger (Theorem 1) and atomic ticks (Theorem 2) make time discrete. Nearest‑neighbor posting (Theorem 8) makes causality discrete. The null path is “move one voxel per tick.” Any attempt to update a non‑neighbor within one tick violates the ledger order (you’d record an effect before its cause). Hence a maximal, observer‑independent speed exists and equals:
c = Lmin / τ₀.
In the continuum limit (many ticks, many voxels), these ledger cones become the familiar light cones of relativity. The invariance of c across observers follows from the homogeneity/isotropy of the underlying lattice: everyone is counting the same ticks and voxels.
See also: T8 · Causal Structure & Universal Speed.
From ticks and voxels to c (how to compute)
- Pick the minimal spatial step Lmin (the voxel edge). In SI units you’ll calibrate this against meters.
- Pick the minimal time step τ₀ (the tick). Calibrate this against seconds.
- Compute c = Lmin / τ₀. That’s “one voxel per tick.”
Example (symbolic): if Lmin = 1.0 × 10−x m and τ₀ = 1.0 × 10−y s, then c = 10y−x m/s. By matching to laboratory c, you pin the pair (Lmin, τ₀) in physical units.
In practice we measure c directly, then infer the ledger scales by fitting other phenomena (spectral cadences, eight‑beat timing, φ‑linked recurrences) to their integer/tick structure.
What c is for (and why you care)
- Causality guardrail: defines who can affect whom—no super‑neighbor shortcuts.
- Unit converter: turns ticks into meters via voxels: distance = (ticks) × Lmin.
- Clock synchronizer: light cones synchronize distributed ledgers without breaking balance.
- Kinematics template: Minkowski geometry emerges as the coarse‑grained limit of tick‑voxel accounting.
Everyday translation: c is the universe’s “typing speed.” It’s how fast reality can update without garbling its own receipts.
Analogy: Reality as a computer
Picture the universe as a massively parallel computer. The ledger is its shared memory; ticks are the global clock; voxels are the memory cells (pixels) each core can touch per cycle. The rule “one voxel per tick” is a hardware guarantee that keeps program order: you can write only to a neighbor cell each cycle. Try to leap farther in one tick and you reorder instructions—effects appear before causes—corrupting memory. That forbidden leap is “faster than light.”
In this view, light cones are the computer’s coherence zones: within a cone, updates can be causally chained and committed; outside the cone, they’re not yet visible. The constant c is the system’s clock‑to‑cell ratio—a built‑in memory barrier that prevents race conditions in the cosmic program. Relativity then reads like a performance manual for safe, globally consistent parallel execution.
Analogy: c’s role in consciousness
Conscious experience in Recognition Physics runs on an eight‑beat recognition loop (LNAL). To bind a “now,” signals must rendezvous inside your light cone within a few ticks; c sets the outer tempo for how fast awareness can weave world, body, and memory into a single moment. Go slower and the scene feels fragmented; try to go faster‑than‑c and the ordering of evidence shreds—no coherent quale can form because the ledger would record consequences before their causes.
Practically, c is the horizon of integration for minds: it defines the largest “attention neighborhood” a consciousness can stitch together per cycle. Flow states live near the null‑paths (one voxel per tick: clean, low‑drag evidence). Confusion and illusion often live near the cone’s edge (late arrivals, mis‑orderings). The same constant that limits rockets also protects the unity of experience.
Frequently asked
Does anything go faster than c?
No. A faster‑than‑neighbor post would invert cause and effect in the ledger. That’s not physics; that’s a broken book.
Why is c the same for all observers?
Everyone counts the same ticks and neighbor relations. Transformations that preserve neighbor‑per‑tick preserve c.
But light slows down in glass—what gives?
That’s effective speed through many interactions. The ledger’s maximal step remains one voxel per tick in the base medium.