Article The universe is a puzzle that fits together only one way (philosophy of spacetime)

[C C]

The universe is a puzzle that fits together only one way
https://iai.tv/articles/the-universe-is-..._auid=2020

INTRO: Heraclitus famously argued that you can't step into the same river twice. Here, philosopher JB Manchak argues that the whole universe is like that – and that such a universe has some interesting knock-on consequences. One being that although one can add more structure to a Heraclitus spacetime – by adding a big sign saying "here is the centre of the universe!" What one can’t do, Manchak argues, is reduce symmetries in a Heraclitus spacetime by adding such a sign. To illustrate the point, imagine the universe is a giant puzzle in which each event in space and time is a piece. In a non-Heraclitus universe, some pieces would be able to fit in several places. But in a Heraclitus universe, Manchak argues, there is exactly only one way to put the puzzle pieces of the universe together... (MORE - details)
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This reminds one of the quote attributed to Einstein: "Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself any more."

I have no idea what "Heraclitus spacetime" is ultimately getting at. Occasionally, it sounds like it's indirectly hinting at something along the line of superdeterminism ("Now notice that if we play the game and the original spacetime is Heraclitus, then it doesn’t matter how small the pieces are -- you are always able to figure out the puzzle.")

[Magical Realist]

That went WAY over my head. But the conclusion that any local spacetime, no matter how small, will contain the whole global structure of spacetime suggests to me abit of the holographic principle, Bohm's implicate order, and the geometry of self-similarity, as in fractals.