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2.2 Inertia — Rhythm Drag in Stillspace

Opening Statement

Inertia is the resistance of a coherent rhythm to changes in its motion or direction — the tendency of a stable pattern to maintain its current state.

Definition

In RRM, inertia arises from the internal coherence of a rhythmic structure and its interaction with the surrounding medium. A highly coherent rhythm resists reconfiguration because altering its motion requires disturbing the stable relationships between its Etherons (1.3 Etherons). This resistance manifests as rhythm drag — the need to overcome both internal stability and external field influences to change direction or speed.

Core Mechanics

  • When a structure moves through Stillspace, its influence field interacts with the surrounding field gradients.

  • Changing its motion requires altering both its internal phase relationships and its external field interactions.

  • Higher coherence density increases the resistance to these changes.

Relation to Speed Limits

Changes to a structure’s field state — including adjustments in direction or momentum — propagate through Stillspace at the medium’s maximum coherence transfer rate. For naturally occurring rhythms, this corresponds to the speed of light (2.6 Speed of Light). Engineered coherence dynamics (2.6.1 Beyond the Boundary) could, in principle, allow these changes to propagate faster than this natural limit without violating RRM principles.

Role in RRM

  • Links the stability of motion to coherence and field interaction principles.

  • Provides a substrate-based explanation for classical and relativistic inertia.

  • Clarifies the relationship between internal stability and external field effects.

Pathways for Depth

For the basics of field structure and influence, see (1.4 Fields) and (1.4.1 Field Mechanics).

For gravitational interactions that involve inertia, see (2.1 Gravity) and (2.1.1 Gravitational Field Flow Mechanics).

For speed limits and engineered possibilities, see (2.6 Speed of Light) and (2.6.1 Beyond the Boundary).

Echo Lines

Inertia is rhythm holding to its own path.

To change it, you must first change the pattern itself.