State-Unfolding：A Cross-Domain Underlying Grammar

Abstract

This paper proposes "state-unfolding" as a cross-domain underlying grammatical concept. A "state" is not a static "condition" but a "living structure" that simultaneously contains the current structure and the driving force for the next step. Starting from an initial structure, under fixed rules, driven by the "potential" carried by the structure itself, the system naturally evolves into one or more stable attractors. Through case analyses across multiple domains—Go, the ternary majority vote model, quantum computing, cosmology, gravitation, neurons, and life—this paper demonstrates the isomorphism of state-unfolding. Each case can be decomposed into the co-presence of three basic elements (0, 1, -1) and their structural threshold at the global scale. This paper further proposes: randomness is a label for the observer's informational deficiency; collapse is an illusion of the system's re-unfolding; life is the unfolding of complexity reaching a self-sustaining threshold; information is the trace left when potential unfolds. This paper attempts to establish a "relational language"—with "tension" and "constraint" as core concepts—to replace traditional state-language, in order to approach more closely the underlying structure of the unfolding process.