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Is Gravity a Force — Or an Emergent Effect? - Leejohnston - 01-08-2026
Is Gravity a Force — Or an Emergent Effect?
Gravity is the most familiar force in everyday life, yet it remains the least understood at a fundamental level.
This has led physicists to ask a radical question:
Is gravity really a force at all — or is it an emergent effect?
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The classical view: gravity as a force
In Newtonian physics, gravity is a force that:
• acts between masses
• weakens with distance
• causes acceleration
This model works extremely well for everyday phenomena and engineering.
But it is incomplete.
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Einstein’s shift: gravity as geometry
In general relativity, gravity is not a force.
Instead:
• mass and energy curve spacetime
• objects follow the straightest possible paths in that curved geometry
• motion under gravity is actually free-fall
From this view, gravity is a consequence of geometry, not interaction.
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The problem with quantizing gravity
Every other fundamental interaction has been successfully described by quantum field theory.
Gravity has not.
Attempts to treat gravity like a standard force lead to:
• mathematical infinities
• non-renormalizable theories
• breakdowns at small scales
This failure hints that gravity may not be fundamental in the same way.
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The emergent gravity idea
Some speculative models suggest:
• gravity emerges from microscopic degrees of freedom
• spacetime behaves like a thermodynamic system
• gravitational attraction arises from entropy or information flow
In this view:
• gravity is like pressure or temperature
• real, measurable, but not fundamental
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Hints that support emergence
Several clues motivate this idea:
• black hole entropy scales with surface area, not volume
• spacetime horizons behave thermodynamically
• gravitational equations resemble equations of state
These parallels may not be coincidental.
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What emergent gravity does NOT imply
Emergent gravity does not mean:
• gravity is an illusion
• gravity can be turned off
• Einstein was wrong
It means gravity could be a large-scale effect of deeper physics.
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Why this matters
If gravity is emergent:
• spacetime itself may not be fundamental
• quantum gravity may require new concepts
• reality could be built from information, not geometry
⸻
Open question
Is gravity a fundamental interaction —
or the macroscopic shadow of something deeper?
The answer could redefine what “space” even means.