> This is a particularly sci-fi element. I don't think it's immediately obvious how to separate the universe into "meaningful" computation and the sort of computation a stationary rock is "performing" as its atoms jiggle around, such that one can distinguish at the level of the laws of physics themselves between a rock and a car engine or other simple mechanical device.
It sounds like what you’re asking boils down to “is entropy a real thing, or is it subjective / relative to our purposes and measurements.” And that the Zones essentially work by enforcing an “entropy quota” on things according to where they are in the galaxy- things in the Slow Zones must be very high-entropy (and somehow are forced to become so if they weren’t before) and things in the Transcend can be low-entropy in ways we couldn’t currently imagine.
It sounds like what you’re asking boils down to “is entropy a real thing, or is it subjective / relative to our purposes and measurements.” And that the Zones essentially work by enforcing an “entropy quota” on things according to where they are in the galaxy- things in the Slow Zones must be very high-entropy (and somehow are forced to become so if they weren’t before) and things in the Transcend can be low-entropy in ways we couldn’t currently imagine.