Fractal Origin of the Continuum: A Hypothesis on Process-Relative Definability (2504.04171v1)

Abstract: We propose a new constructive model of the real continuum based on the notion of fractal definability. Rather than assuming the continuum as a completed uncountable totality, we view it as the cumulative result of a vast space of stratified formal systems, each defining a countable layer of real numbers via constructive means. The union of all such definable layers across all admissible chains yields a set of continuum cardinality, yet no single system or definability path suffices to capture it in full. This leads to the Fractal Origin Hypothesis: the apparent uncountability of the real line arises not from actual infinity, but from the meta-theoretical continuity of definability itself. Our framework models the continuum as a process-relative totality, grounded in syntax and layered formal growth. We develop this idea through a formal analysis of definability hierarchies and show that the resulting universe of constructible reals is countable-by-construction (that is, each element is definable within some finite syntactic system, but no single procedure enumerates all of them uniformly) yet inaccessible to any uniform enumeration. The continuum, in this view, is not a static set but a stratified semantic horizon.