A new set of physics and new Universes, where space-time and 12 particles are obsolete

If we imagine a new set of physics and a different universe where our known space-time and the Standard Model’s 12 particles (quarks, leptons, and force carriers) are not fundamental, we could explore several possibilities:

1. Beyond Space-Time: A Different Fundamental Structure

• Discrete Information Lattice: Instead of continuous space-time, the universe could be structured as a giant information network (akin to a computational universe), where reality emerges from discrete, evolving data points.
• Higher-Dimensional Flows: Instead of space-time being a smooth 4D manifold, reality could be built from flows in a higher-dimensional space (e.g., a 6D or 10D structure).
• Nonlocal Connectedness: Instead of distances and time intervals, entities could interact based on an intrinsic connectivity, like an entangled web of relationships.

2. Alternative Building Blocks: Particles & Forces

• Energy Fields Instead of Particles: Reality could be made up of dynamic energy fields where localized excitations take the role of what we call “particles,” but without strict categorization like quarks or leptons.
• Self-Organizing Vortices: Instead of point-like particles, fundamental entities could be swirling vortex-like structures in an underlying medium (akin to fluid dynamics but at a cosmic scale).
• Gravity as a Primary Force: Instead of gravity being a weak emergent force, it could be the primary interaction shaping matter-energy configurations.

3. Causal vs. Acausal Universes

• No Fixed Past or Future: Instead of a universe where past affects the future, time itself could be non-linear or emergent from deeper patterns of interactions.
• Retrocausality: Events in the future could influence the past, leading to a fundamentally different structure of causality.
• Quantum-Like Universality: Instead of wavefunction collapse and probabilities, reality could be deterministic but branching, where all possibilities coexist in a fractal-like superstructure.

4. Different Conservation Laws

• Variable Energy and Momentum: Instead of conservation of energy and momentum, we could have a universe where these quantities fluctuate dynamically based on contextual interactions.
• No Universal Symmetries: Instead of laws being invariant under transformations (Lorentz invariance, gauge symmetry), they could be locally defined, changing from place to place.
• Charge as a Continuum: Instead of quantized charges (e.g., ±1 for electrons, protons), charge could exist on a continuous spectrum or even be an emergent property.

5. Other Universes With Different Physics

• Dimensional Hierarchies: Some regions of the universe may have extra dimensions influencing local physics differently.
• Non-Material Existence: Instead of mass-energy, existence could be purely informational or consciousness-based.
• Time as an Internal State: What we perceive as “time” could be an emergent property of a system’s internal state transitions rather than an external flow.