On Discreteness and Continuity
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This article develops a view of discreteness and continuity as states determined by observational conditions, resolution, structural scale, and rules of change. A process may be described as continuous at a specified scale when its allowed neighboring relations produce no identifiable break; discreteness is examined through identifiable separations under those conditions. The paper distinguishes observational resolution from the structural scales of objects. Using displays with different pixel scales as an example, it discusses how objects may share a qualitative continuity reading while differing in their relative degrees of continuity and discreteness. Structural scale relations provide a basis for quantitative comparison. Finite resolution can also produce degeneracy: different structures may receive the same observational reading while retaining different internal relations. Inspired by spectral splitting, the article explores how such differences may become distinguishable under new relational conditions, including comparisons made at fixed observational resolution. It concludes by placing conditional states, quantitative scale relations, degeneracy, and splitting within a proposed general theory of scale.
Author: Wangyue
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7218354670
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