The Ev Framework — Transformation as the Fundamental Process of Physical Reality

This paper presents a conceptual and mathematical framework, here called the Ev framework, which explores the hypothesis that transformation — the succession of distinguishable configurations of a physical system — may be more fundamental than time, and that time may be an emergent description of this process. The proposal does not modify the equations of general relativity, quantum mechanics or thermodynamics; it introduces an additional descriptive level intended to characterise the configurational dynamics of systems. Four quantities are introduced: an evolutionary velocity, an evolutionary amplitude, a structural complexity (interpreted as the dimensionality of the configuration space), and a coherence coefficient. A geometric interpretation is proposed in which a system is a trajectory in a configuration landscape, with the Fisher–Rao metric of information geometry as a natural ruler for configurational distance. The framework is presented honestly as a research programme rather than a completed theory. The structural correspondences discussed (radioactive decay, mammalian allometry, controlled combustion) are treated as motivating analogies, not as evidence. A single falsifiable prediction is advanced: that the temporal asymmetry of a process may depend not only on entropy production but also on the length of the configurational path, measured by the Fisher–Rao metric.