Spacetime emergence in quantum gravity: functionalism and the hard problem

Spacetime functionalism is the view that spacetime is a functional structure implemented by a more fundamental ontology. Lam and Wuthrich have recently argued that spacetime functionalism helps to solve the epistemological problem of empirical coherence in quantum gravity and suggested that it also (dis)solves the hard problem of spacetime, namely the problem of offering a picture consistent with the emergence of spacetime from a non-spatio-temporal structure. First, I will deny that spacetime functionalism solves the hard problem by showing that it comes in various species, each entailing a different attitude towards, or answer to, the hard problem. Second, I will argue that the existence of an explanatory gap, which grounds the hard problem, has not been correctly taken into account in the literature.

Automated summary

Spacetime functionalism suggests that spacetime is a functional structure implemented by a more fundamental ontology, aiming to address the issue of empirical coherence in quantum gravity. However, it does not fully solve the hard problem of spacetime as there are different species of spacetime functionalism with differing approaches to the problem, and the explanatory gap that underlies the hard problem has not been adequately addressed in the literature.