semantic-spacetime
Semantic Spacetime
Semantic Spacetime (SST) is Mark Burgess's discrete, graph-theoretic model of meaning over time. A semantic element is one autonomous agent plus its scalar promises; a semantic spacetime is a collection of such elements in which a local change in state, promises, or configuration is a local unit of time. Time is proper time — there is no global clock (the precedence view Burgess credits to Lamport). Causality is cooperative: every adjacency requires an offer (+) and an acceptance (−) promise on both ends, so space is made of cooperating nodes and edges. The 2025 γ(3,4) formalism types the graph: three node meta-types (events, things, concepts) connected by four link types (0 = NEAR, ±1 = LEADS TO, ±2 = CONTAINS, ±3 = EXPRESSES). Absorbing states in partial graphs leak information, and intentionality enters at the boundary. SST is built on Promise Theory — for the promise vocabulary, load promise-theory instead of re-deriving it here. This skill is a thin router: load the dense material only when a row in Load By Need matches your task.