\documentclass[12pt,onecolumn]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm}
\usepackage{natbib}
\usepackage{orcidlink}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue,urlcolor=blue,citecolor=blue}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\setstretch{1.08}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
\setlength{\headheight}{14pt}
\lhead{Onset and Direction}
\rhead{John C. W. McKinley}
\cfoot{\thepage}
\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}
\newtheorem{definition}{Definition}
\newtheorem{remark}{Remark}
\title{\Large\textbf{No Closed Physical System Internally Fixes the Onset and Direction of a New Causal Chain}\\
\large A Structural No-Go Result}
\author{John C. W. McKinley\,\orcidlink{0009-0005-7097-5035}}
\date{7 April 2026}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begingroup
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{}
\footnotetext{This version published at \href{https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19464780}{\color{blue}https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19464780}.}
\endgroup
\begin{abstract}
This note states a structural no-go claim. No closed physical system internally fixes both the onset of a new causal chain and the lawful target toward which it proceeds when multiple lawful targets are open. A closed physical description may govern lawful evolution once a process is underway, and it may specify which targets are lawfully available. What it does not by itself supply is a sufficient internal fixing condition that determines both why a new chain begins at one definite moment rather than not yet and why one lawful target is realized rather than another. The purpose of the note is not to add machinery, but to block the mistaken identification of lawful structure with actual fixation.
\end{abstract}
\section*{Introduction}
This note makes explicit a structural distinction that is often blurred: lawful propagation within a closed physical description is not the same as internal fixation of the onset of a new causal chain and the direction it takes. The paper’s target is not lawful evolution as such, but the mistake of treating lawful structure as though it already fixed definite onset and definite direction.
\section*{Statement}
The thesis of this note is simple:
\begin{quote}
\textbf{Core Thesis.} No closed physical system internally fixes the onset and direction of a new causal chain among multiple lawful possibilities.
\end{quote}
Let $S(t)$ denote a closed physical state description of a system over some interval. Suppose that, at a definite moment $t^\ast$, a new causal chain begins and that more than one lawful continuation is physically admissible. The claim is that the closed description does not itself fix either the onset of that chain or its realized direction.
\begin{definition}[Closed physical system]
A \emph{closed physical system} is a system whose description contains only the laws, state-terms, and causal resources internal to the system itself.
\end{definition}
\begin{definition}[Onset]
The \emph{onset} of a new causal chain is the definite fact that the chain begins at $t^\ast$ rather than not yet.
\end{definition}
\begin{definition}[Direction]
The \emph{direction} of a new causal chain is the realized lawful target toward which it proceeds.
\end{definition}
\begin{proposition}[No-go for internal fixation in closed systems]
No closed physical system internally fixes the onset and direction of a new causal chain among multiple lawful possibilities.
\end{proposition}
\begin{proof}
Assume for contradiction that a closed physical system internally fixes both the onset and the direction of a new causal chain. Then the closed description must contain a sufficient internal fixing condition that determines both why the chain begins at $t^\ast$ rather than not yet and why one lawful continuation is realized rather than another.
That requirement cannot be met in either of the only available ways.
First, if the alleged fixing condition is identified with some prior internal state, differentiation, or lawful structure, then the work of fixation has only been moved earlier. The same question immediately reappears: what internally fixes the relevance of that prior condition, and what internally fixes its realized outcome rather than another? Relocation is not resolution.
Second, if the closed description is said to provide only laws of propagation or a set of admissible continuations, then no sufficient internal fixing condition has been supplied at all. Propagation governs how a chain unfolds once underway. Admissibility specifies what may occur. Neither fixes the definite onset of a new chain or its realized direction.
So the closed description yields either displaced fixation or no fixation. Neither gives internal fixation of both onset and direction. This contradicts the assumption. Therefore no closed physical system internally fixes the onset and direction of a new causal chain among multiple lawful possibilities.
\end{proof}
\begin{remark}[Propagation is not onset]
A closed physical description may govern lawful evolution once a chain is underway. That is not the same as fixing the onset of a new chain.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}[Admissibility is not direction]
A closed physical description may specify multiple lawful continuations. That is not the same as fixing which continuation is realized.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}[Relocation is not resolution]
Reassigning the work of fixation to earlier internal structure does not solve the problem. It restates it at an earlier point.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}[Scope]
This note addresses only whether a closed physical description internally fixes the onset and direction of a new causal chain.
\end{remark}
\section*{Falsifier}
This claim fails only if a closed physical description is exhibited that internally fixes both (i) the onset of a new causal chain and (ii) its realized direction among multiple lawful alternatives, without merely relocating either task to prior internal structure and without reducing the claim to propagation rules or admissibility conditions alone.
\section*{Conclusion}
Closed systems may contain laws, states, and lawful possibilities. That is not yet an internal fixing condition. The claim of the present note is that no closed physical description, taken strictly as closed, internally fixes both the onset and the direction of a new causal chain.
\end{document}