What does the universe actually do, step by step?
It splits the difference. The world is a network of observers, each holding a reading, and neighbors share a boundary called a seam. When the two readings at a seam disagree, both move to their midpoint. Three requirements force that move: it touches only that seam, it leaves the total of the two readings unchanged, and it ends in agreement. Nothing in it is adjustable, and the untouchable total is why the universe conserves things. When the total is odd, a fair coin decides who keeps the spare unit. Each repair is proposed, checked against every seam it touches, and committed only if none gets worse and one gets better, the way a database validates a transaction. Then it writes down what it did. Every observer runs that loop at once, with no clock and nobody in charge.
Also in Chapter 13: What Is One Piece of Reality Actually Made Of?.
This answer comes from OPH, Observer Patch Holography. OPH is a rigorous, consistent and complete description of the unified, self-creating computational Universe we inhabit. Its consistency is machine-checked: the fixed point at its core is constructed explicitly, and a theory with a model contains no contradiction.
To understand OPH and check every step yourself, start with the free book Reverse Engineering Reality. It builds the theory from the ground up, and the OPH Notebook answers your questions while you read.
read the free bookask the notebookor ask sage:read chapter 9: What Move Does Reality Actually Make?watch a universe make its own particles