The Discrete Nature of Time: A Causal Interaction Framework

ABSTRACT { We derive the discreteness of time from two empirically established results of Einstein (1905): the photoelectric effect (energy is quantized) and special relativity (time is relative). The derivation is algebraic: E = hf and E = mc² yield f = mc²/h and T = h/mc², establishing a mass-dependent minimum temporal resolution for any discrete energy packet. Combined with a principle of ontological parsimony that excludes unobservable continuous background time, this yields the central claim: time does not exist as a continuous substrate — it emerges as the discrete sequence of causal interaction events between energy packets. The framework generates a complete temporal ontology: the past is the absolute, immutable record of resolved events; the present is the local interface of causal resolution; the future is the genuinely open space of unresolved possibilities. Compatibility with special relativity is total; general relativity is partially superseded (quantitative predictions preserved, ontology replaced); statistical thermodynamics is superseded at the foundational level; quantum mechanics is compatible and extended. Three falsifiable predictions are stated: (1) a dual-regime discrete time signature (local T = h/mc² and universal t_Planck), (2) thermal gradient time dilation beyond GR predictions, and (3) finite maximum event density (no singularities). The derivability of fundamental constants (c, ħ, α) as geometric invariants of the discrete interaction structure is identified as a conjecture with known attack vectors, with α deferred to a separate paper. axiom_count: 2 (+ 1 postulate, 1 methodological principle) theorem_count: 6 prediction_count: 3 (falsifiable) + 1 (qualitative) new_definitions: 4 pages_equivalent: ~50 (Format A density)}