Bidirectional α (1/137): Record Formation, Temporal Wobble, and Closure

This paper presents a grammatical reinterpretation of the fine-structure constant α ≈ 1/137 as a bidirectional permission boundary governing when unordered physical processes become serializable into stable records. In this framework, time is defined as the ordering of records, and entropy is retyped as order-entropy: the unavoidable cost of ordering under finite recordability. Rather than treating forces as causal agents, the work retypes all interactions as permission gradients—allowing, neutral, or disallowing specific reconfigurations by degree. Forward α marks the threshold at which stable records, time, and entropy become meaningful; reverse α corresponds not to opposition but to the exhaustion of admissible verbs, terminating further ordering. A mandatory intermediate recordable regime is identified, characterized by record blurring, timing wobble, and joinability degradation prior to dissolution. The framework is demonstrated across scales using worked appendices on atomic binding (hydrogen → plasma → helium) and steady-state ecological systems (coral reefs), showing scale-invariant grammar without introducing new forces or modifying existing equations. The paper is falsifiable, non-anthropomorphic, and compatible with standard physics, offering a unifying explanatory layer for time, entropy, force, and observation.