&gt; These graphs have to be embedded into a computation device to be real and changing in time.<p>No, no, no!  These graphs are meant to be more fundamental than spacetime. They can change in the sense that there are algebraic rules for stepping them from one state to another, but this step isn&#x27;t in our time. Our space and time should be generated by operating on these graphs (let&#x27;s say &quot;stepping&quot; them, as long as we remember that it&#x27;s not a time-step in our spacetime, but just an algebraic operation).<p>EDIT&gt; I should say that this whole idea is a model. The question of whether a model is real or not independent of the system being modeled is a philosophical one that we can&#x27;t really do justice to in an HN comment thread.