Binary Field Theory: A Conceptual Proposal for an Emergent Discrete Substrate Underlying Spacetime and Matter

This paper presents a conceptual proposal, not a finished theory: a research-programme sketch in which spacetime, matter, and forces are treated as emergent, large-scale patterns of a single underlying Binary Field composed of Planck-scale two-state degrees of freedom called binons — informally, a "universal source code" from which higher-level physics could in principle be read out. Within this picture, gravity is interpreted as the large-scale geometric effect of gradients in the binon density, quantum fields and particles as coherent excitations of the substrate, and classical mechanics as a low-resolution limit. The aim is not to derive new quantitative predictions, nor to replace general relativity or quantum field theory, but to articulate an ontological framework in which these established theories could be understood as effective descriptions of a common discrete substrate. No such derivation is attempted here; mathematical development, engagement with Lorentz-invariance constraints, and contact with related research programmes (causal sets, emergent gravity, cellular-automaton interpretations of quantum mechanics, hypergraph rewriting) are identified as necessary next steps rather than completed work.