so here's how to think about the universe. it's a skein, or fabric - better, tangle - if you like, consisting of rough twine tied together in a network. but the arrangement is random rather than cartesian; the underlying structure is not a grid. rather, we have many strings or ultimately a single string tied together in random patterns, forming something like a fabric at a distance, consisting of thousands of knots closer up. each knot is an individual; it has a distinct form and location and physical composition (that is, the [token] portion of material in which it consists is different from that of any other). it consists of absolutely nothing but a set of relations to other portions of the skein: it consists without remainder of string connecting it to other nodes of the skein. different points of view on the skein produce different impressions, so that at a wider angle larger structures emerge: clusters of knots etc. but nevertheless the skein itself does not depend on any point of view, interpretation, description.

we might say that you could pick out indefinitely many structures or introduce various ontological ordering principles for various purposes: taxonomies of knots, identifications of sub-knot elements to show the composition of particular knots etc. but for a given claim to be true, the skein has really to display the structure attributed to it.

then add this: the skein is continually being shaken, deformed, as though one person were holding it on each side and each was emitting a random set of up and down and side to side motions; so knots keep coming undone, tangles emerge and so on. and the whole thing is fraying, disintegrating.