Physics as Scaffolding

Physics is often presented as the hidden code beneath reality, a set of equations written in the cosmos itself. The story goes that once we decipher this code, we can unlock the truth of the universe. But this image of physics as revelation—of a final unveiling—is misleading. Physics does not disclose a pre-written script; it constructs symbolic frameworks that scaffold our shared coordination with the world.

The Problem with the “Code” Metaphor

The fantasy of physics as code carries two powerful but misleading implications. First, it suggests that reality is already inscribed, waiting for us to uncover it—as if nature were a book and physics the act of reading. Second, it positions physicists as privileged translators of this divine text, a priesthood of those who can speak the language of the cosmos. Both obscure the actual practice of physics, which is far less about deciphering a hidden script and far more about enabling us to construe, predict, and act together.

When we treat theories as secret keys to reality, we miss their practical function. Theories are scaffolds: they enable practices, instruments, and infrastructures. Newtonian mechanics did not reveal the eternal truth of the universe; it made possible the coordination of ships across oceans, the prediction of planetary motion, the engineering of machines. Einstein’s relativity was not a mystical glimpse into the essence of space-time; it provided a new symbolic structure for synchronising clocks, calibrating satellites, and re-situating how simultaneity could be construed.

Reframing: Physics as Symbolic Scaffolding

In relational ontology, there is no uninterpreted “real” waiting to be disclosed. What exists are systems of potential, and what physics provides are symbolic architectures for cutting and aligning that potential. Theories scaffold the way we construe events: they stage how matter and meaning line up, how regularities can be projected, how possibilities can be realised.

Scaffolding is temporary, partial, and enabling. A scaffold doesn’t reveal a hidden building—it provides the structure within which building becomes possible. In the same way, physics doesn’t reveal an underlying ontology; it constructs the frameworks through which technological, scientific, and cultural projects can be staged.

Expansion: From Equations to Infrastructures

Once we see physics as scaffolding, we notice how deeply its symbolic frameworks permeate collective life. Consider GPS: its functioning depends on relativistic corrections to satellite clocks. Without Einstein’s symbolic cut into simultaneity, everyday navigation systems would drift into uselessness. Or consider quantum mechanics: not a glimpse into metaphysical indeterminacy, but a scaffold enabling lasers, semiconductors, and MRI machines.

Physics, in this sense, is infrastructural. It underwrites practices of measurement, prediction, and intervention. It does not bring us closer to the “truth of reality,” but allows us to coordinate collectively at scales and with precisions that would otherwise be impossible. It provides symbolic architectures that hold together entire technological and social ecologies.

This reframing also changes how we think about the history of physics. Each theoretical revolution—Newtonian, relativistic, quantum—was not a step closer to reality’s hidden core but a reorganisation of symbolic scaffolding. Old frameworks proved insufficient for sustaining new practices; new scaffolds were constructed to extend what could be coordinated, predicted, and aligned.

Closure: Physics as Collective Architecture

Physics is less a mirror of the world than a staging ground for collective alignment. Its theories do not reveal an ontological essence; they construct symbolic architectures that make possible the infrastructures of modern life. To see physics as scaffolding is to recognise its generativity: its power lies not in deciphering reality’s secret code but in building the frameworks within which construal and coordination can unfold.

Physics is not the language of the cosmos; it is the symbolic architecture through which the cosmos, reflexively, scaffolds itself through us.