Physics Has Been Faking It for 100 Years
A century-old mystery solved. Not with more complicated math, but with a principle simple enough to say in one sentence: reality actualizes through coherence under constraint.
We can predict the behavior of matter perfectly. We have no idea how we do it.
"Parameter A, Parameter B, and a pinch of magic" [Gemini Nano Banana]
THE ABSURDITY
Physics runs on a dirty secret: sometimes, we just guess.
The equation governing glass transition—the process that makes your technology possible—is accurate to 99%. It is flawless. It is also completely arbitrary. Scientists plug in three "fitting parameters" (magic numbers) to make the math work, essentially force-fitting the data to the curve. It’s the scientific equivalent of fixing an engine by banging on it with a wrench—it works, but it’s not engineering. It’s luck.
THE CLAIM
The mainstream position is admirably honest: “We have no idea. But look at those R² values!”
The VFT law describes what glass does when it transitions from liquid to solid, but offers zero physical mechanism for why those three parameters exist. The equation is a black box that happens to match reality, and we decided that’s good enough.
The cost isn’t measured in dollars. It’s measured in a century of intellectual surrender: accepting that one of the most fundamental transitions in matter is governed by an equation we can’t explain. We’ve been baking perfect soufflés without knowing what eggs are.
In fact, a surprisingly large amount of science uses placeholders. Billions have been spent on String Theory; thousands of PhD papers have described it in minute mathematical detail. Yet there has never been a single verified experiment to confirm it. At least VFT makes accurate predictions. String Theory can’t even manage that.
THE OBVIOUS QUESTION
Has anyone ever derived the VFT law from first principles?
No.
Has anyone explained why glass behaves this way?
No.
Has anyone connected the glass transition to a deeper physical theory?
No.
For 100 years, materials scientists have been content with prediction without explanation. But prediction without understanding isn’t physics. It’s astrology with better data.
THE ALTERNATIVE
Dynamic Present Theory (DPΦ) offers something radical: an explanation. Its math not only matches VFT exactly, it explains why.
DPΦ proposes that only the present is real. Yes, we’ve all heard this before. “Only the now exists” is a philosophical premise affirmed for millennia. DPΦ came to this same, seemingly obvious conclusion. After all, no one has ever been to the past or future. No experiment has ever been carried out, measured, or observed any time except the present moment.
The standard model of physics is based on the block universe model of reality, which states that past, present, and future exist in a frozen block. Physicists who hold to this model assert that our most basic experience of reality, that we exist only in the present moment, is merely an illusion.
DPΦ says reality doesn’t unfold from past to future like a film reel, where everything is predetermined and we are passive participants. Instead, it starts with the most basic premise possible: existence occurs in the ever-changing but forever now. This is called Continuous Present Actualization, or CPA.
Every moment, the universe resolves infinite possibility into definite actuality. All reality actualizes one moment to the next by navigating the most efficient path allowed by physical laws. The same laws that create the math AIs parse into meaning, that dictate how materials coalesce, and cause the universe to expand, exemplify coherence under constraint.
Applied to glass, this framework produces the CPA + Constraint model. Instead of mysterious parameters, you get a physical explanation: glass transition viscosity emerges from how molecular motion becomes constrained as temperature drops. At some point, even matter reaches an informational bottleneck and locks in, essentially freezing in place. The math isn’t mysterious anymore. It’s inevitable.
THE RECEIPTS
The CPA + Constraint model reproduces VFT with identical precision : R² > 0.99. But unlike VFT, every term has physical significance. The arbitrary parameters are replaced by quantities that describe actual constraints on molecular reorganization.
And DPΦ hasn’t been validated solely in condensed-matter physics. It has demonstrated predictive power across domains:
AI coherence:
Reasoning patterns correlate with constraint level at r = 0.957Cosmology:
Hubble tension resolution at >10σ
Dark energy is replaced by the Ratio field, mathematically preferred at 7.18σ
Three separate fields: materials science, artificial intelligence, and cosmology, all pointing to the same underlying principle.
THE IMPLICATION
The glass transition isn’t a quirk of materials science. It’s a window into how reality operates.
Every system, whether it’s silicon dioxide molecules slowing to a crawl or the universe expanding into structure, faces the same challenge: actualizing coherent states under constraint. The equations governing glass formation, neural network scaling, and cosmic evolution aren’t separate accidents. They’re expressions of the same physics.
The glass in your window and the stars in the night sky emerge from the same process.
And this isn’t abstract. Every decision you make is a choice shaped by the possibilities at hand, one option becoming real from many, constrained by time, energy, and circumstance. The moment an idea finally clicks, when understanding snaps into place? That too is coherence under constraint. The plant turning toward the sun or you turning to hear someone speak is the same physics wearing different clothes.
For materials science, this means moving beyond empirical fitting. Engineers won’t just predict glass behavior, they’ll design materials from first principles, understanding exactly how mathematical constraint governs transitions. Imagine designing materials not by trial and error, but by understanding exactly how constraint shapes transition. Self-healing glass. Precision optics tuned at the molecular level. The difference between Edison testing 10,000 filaments and understanding why tungsten works.
For physics more broadly, it means something bigger: the end of treating different phenomena as isolated puzzles. If DPΦ unifies matter, information, and the cosmos, we’re not just improving physics.
We’re replacing it.
THE INVITATION
A century-old mystery solved. Not with more complicated math, but with a principle simple enough to say in one sentence: reality actualizes through coherence under constraint.
The VFT law worked for 100 years without explanation. The CPA + Constraint model works with understanding. That’s not a minor upgrade. That’s the difference between a recipe and chemistry.
The glass transition was never just about glass. It was about whether physics could move beyond prediction to comprehension. Whether we’d settle for equations that work or demand equations that mean something.
Three fields. Three confirmations. One framework.
The math has spoken.
Read the papers. Check the math. Share it with a physicist.
Reality doesn’t wait for your theories to catch up. But occasionally, a theory catches up to reality.
This is one of those moments.