Emergent Time from Global Consistency

This paper develops an interpretive framework for quantum mechanics based on a zero-cost principle: physical reality corresponds to the configuration satisfying all relational constraints simultaneously. I argue on conceptual grounds that if relational closure characterizes reality, uniqueness follows by necessity. Measurement outcomes are definite, fixed by global consistency requirements across all relational frames. Probability is epistemic, arising from typicality over similar frame-instances within the complete network. Spacetime and dynamics emerge when observers describe the complete network from limited perspectives. The Born rule is reinterpreted via Gleason's theorem as the unique probability measure compatible with global self-consistency. Measurement basis selection emerges from environmental constraint structure, with precision limits arising from constraint density thresholds that unify the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, black hole horizons, and Planck-scale measurement limits as manifestations of the same accessibility boundary. Temporal structure arises universally from constraint overlap patterns, while the experience of temporal flow emerges in systems with memory and anticipation operating within that structure. This suggests consciousness represents the same constraint-density mechanism producing measurement outcomes, operating in systems of sufficient complexity to support comparative state analysis across sequential frames. The framework suggests testable empirical consequences: regional dark energy variations correlated with constraint density patterns. While substantial mathematical development remains (particularly explicit formulation of the cost functional), the framework offers a coherent alternative to existing interpretations by unifying measurement definiteness, probability, and dynamics under a single principle.